Thursday, September 02, 1999
Volunteers labor to finish park
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREEN TOWNSHIP — They could use more volunteers — they can always use more volunteers, organizers say — but first thing Wednesday morning, more than 50 showed up at West Fork Park to start building a mega-playground.
There were mothers and firefighters, inmates and a deputy corrections officer, a judge, scores of Kiwanians, a crew from Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co., architects and carpenters.
Amid the buzz of power saws and hammers striking nails and wood, the dream llowly was taking shape. More than a year in the planning, Fantasy Park at West Fork Park is to become a reality by Sunday, when a ribbon-cutting will open the 10,000-square-foot playground.
“That's the payoff for the kids,” said Rick Wallace, president of the White Oak- Monfort Heights Kiwanis, which led the drive and raised the money to build the playground. “Our payoff is watching the kids — because that's what the Kiwanis are all about.”
Volunteers, who organizers are hoping number in the hundreds, will work in four-hour shifts, 12 hours a day, until Sunday, to get the playground done.
The playground was the dream of Bill Holiday. He died a month ago at age 70 while he worked at a church festival trying to recruit volunteers for Fantasy Park.Mr. Holiday, an officer with the Kiwanis, encouraged township officials to let the organization proceed with the project. About 18 of the volunteers are from the Holiday family alone.
“He has family here all eager to get this dream built,” said Nancy Holiday, his widow, who was helping set up food and refreshments for volunteers. “He would have been thrilled.”
Said Tom Holiday, Mr. Holiday's son: “This is what he wanted to see. He said, "We can do it.' This was also important because he had eight grandkids.”
Carla Colina lives in Green Township and has two children — Carlene, 6, and Tony, 4 — so she found herself Wednesday morning operating a router and rounding and smoothing the edges of handrails.
“I figure my kids will be up here a lot,” Ms. Colina said. “I came and asked what needed to be done, and they routed me to the routers.”
Judge Ralph Winkler, of the Ohio's 1st District Court of Appeals, has been in Kiwanis for 20 years. He was helping to put in fence posts Wednesday and plans on putting in 80 hours of volunteer labor.
“It's for the community and for the kids, and that's what the Kiwanis are all about,” said Judge Winkler. “It's community service.”
Mike Nie, a firefighter with the Green Township Fire Department, was at the site with at least a half-dozen colleagues, all members of Firefighters Union Local No.2927.
“It's OK to get out and fight fires and take care of sick people, but it's neat to get out and do this, too,” Mr. Nie said.
Dana Cavanaugh, a construction consultant with Leathers & Associates, the Ithaca, N.Y., firm that designed the playground with input from the community, said Wednesday they could use more volunteers.
Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Arlinghaus was supervising six minimum-security inmates from the Queensgate Correctional Facility at the project.
“They're good workers,” he said. “The sheriff (Simon L. Leis Jr.) is proud we're out here, doing something like this for the community.”
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Volunteers labor to finish park
