Welcome to the Russell Grafton Memorial Park Project
Anticipated Build Date:
07/28/07
We would like to welcome everyone to our website. Hume is a very small community in Central Illinois with a population of about 400 people. When starting this project, we thought it was almost impossible to raise the money needed because Hume is such a small community. However, over the past year, we have raised approximately $5,000 through our fund raising efforts and donations. We are a group of three mothers, all with young children, who want to see a safe place for our children to play supervised and unsupervised. We want to replace pieces of an existing playground that has been at the park for well over 60 years. We appreciate the support of the residents of Hume, surrounding communities and our families. We are getting closer to our goal every day.
Two members of our committee recently returned from New Orleans after attending a U-Play conference. Mary Cox and Angela Smith attended the conference provided by a non-profit organization called Kaboom. Kaboom assists schools, social services and communities in building play spaces and/or skate parks. We attended seminars on fund raising, grant writing, building a safe play place, ADA accessibility and playground design.
The new playground equipment for Russell Grafton Memorial Park is estimated to be between $15,000 and $20,000. The Hume Park Committee has been notified that a $5,000 grant from Kaboom has been awarded with the requirement that the play space be built before November 30, 2007. The group has already raised $5,000 through various fund raisers held throughout the last 2 years. Additional fund raisers are planned to raise the remaining balance prior to the build date which is tentatively set for July 28, 2007.
Volunteers, tools and equipment are needed to help construct the playground on that day and donations from any individual or organization to help meet the monetary goal are greatly appreciated. Should you have any questions about the grant, park equipment, or how to donate, please contact Mary Cox, Janet Haynes or Angela Smith. For more information on Kaboom, please see their website at www.kaboom.org. Thank you again for visiting our website and for any help in completing this project.