Volunteers lend hand to build playground

Source: The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.迷你倉Sept. 19--EDWARDSVILLE -- Mike, "The Indian," was leaving Edwardsville Township (Airplane) Park Wednesday afternoon, lugging about 200 pounds of his own tools.Mike did not want to be identified, but he was wearing a nametag with his first name. He and the interviewer settled on "Mike The Indian." He said he was an Indian, rather than a chief, because he likes to work with his hands, and the Edwardsville Rotary needed volunteers to build a new playground at the park."I always bring my own tools because I'm not sure how other people's tools are going to work," he said. Mike is retired and enjoys working with tools, so he volunteers his time to do that."I was in Staten Island last year just after Huricane Sandy hit," he said. He also has volunteered to work in St. Louis and Belleville after last year's violent storms.Mike, of Glen Carbon, was one of many dozens of volunteers who showed up for the Rotary community-wide effort to build, in "barn-raising" fashion, a new 12,000 square-foot playground.It replaces one built more than 20 years ago; it fell into disrepair and was demolished."It's a community pride thing," said Brian Mulhall, a Rotary Club spokesman. He said people came and went all day and into the night and will be working through Sunday to build the playground.The work was divided into site work, at which people were installing support structures and poles, and an assembly area, where people were putting together decking, fencing and the like.Many of the workers during the day were women who had never handled tools but enjoyed the volunteer day.Sarah Luesse was using a router to finish off a square piece of decking. She said sh迷你倉 had never routed before."I'm the cord holder," Irene Pendleton said. "I had so much fun this morning I came back this afternoon."Meg Solon said she and the other volunteers showed up and were instructed how to use the tools, assuming the didn't already know."The SIUE wrestling team was out here this morning putting poles in the holes," said Dan Abegg, the volunteer coordinator.Mulhall said several clubs from Edwardsville High School also showed up to help.There was an employee of the contractor, Leathers and Associates, at the site, instructing people how to install poles and supports. Another Leathers employee was supervising the assembly area. Leathers is a nationwide firm that specializes in building playgrounds. The firm was the same one that build the playground in 1991, Mulhall said.The poles, decking, fencing and support structures are made of a special extra-strong composite material that will last at least another 20 years, Abegg said. The metal swings, slides and so forth will be attached to the composite material.This week's building period comes after about a year of raising funds and design work. Mulhall said hundreds of families participated. Many helped build the first playground, and some of them, now adults, played on the playground when they were children.Children helped design the playground, Mulhall said.The workers were out until after dark."There is no quitting," Mulhall said.However, they did plan to quit within a few hours of sundown. But they will be back out at the site at 6:30 a.m. today.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.) Visit The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.) at .thetelegraph.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉