July 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 55

as initially planned.
NRPA, OFPRD and our PBC
partners have dedicated themselves to seeing this project
through to completion despite the
hurdle of COVID-19. " I am very
happy to say that the 2020 Parks
Build Community project, Grand
Avenue Park, will be completed, "
says Stratton. " We remain dedicated to our partnership with OFPRD and our generous corporate
donors to complete the renovation of this 12-acre park. NRPA
recognizes how important this
park is to the community and the
people it serves. "

We Couldn't Do It
Without Our Donors
" This is the first time that we've
been involved with a PBC project, "
says Kevin Kinsley, brand leader,
Playground Grass, a subsidiary
of ForeverLawn. " We have done
thousands of jobs in Florida and
[our involvement] is a small gesture of appreciation to all of the
business Florida has provided to
our company over the years. We
are happy to step in and play a part
in this project because, ultimately,
it's going to be a great park for the
community. "
Designing, manufacturing the
products and finishing the build
are difficult tasks during a quarantine. " This is a new world for all of
us and has presented unique challenges, " says Pelham. " NRPA's
member companies are negotiating how to manufacture the pieces
around plant closures and personnel limits. I'm fortunate in that
I've been able to make the shift to
work from home seamlessly; it's
much more difficult for a company operating under stay-at-home

orders to build something. We're
profoundly grateful for the dedication of these companies to see
it through, and we all have to be
flexible in the way we go about
getting to the finish line. "

The 2020 Parks Build
Community Donors Include:
BCI Burke Company
(bciburke.com)
GameTime/PlayCore
(gametime.com)

Parks Help People Heal
For Brad Buzard, general manager
of Shade Systems, Inc., and donor
to the PBC project, it was essential
to do what they could, particularly during these times. " We are a
long-standing NRPA member and
wanted to do our part to beautify
a worthy park location, especially since it is in Florida, our home
state, " says Buzard. " And with the
current COVID-19 crisis, we feel
it is more important than ever to
invest in our public parks, which
offer fresh air and room to roam
and engage in healthful activities for people who have been
cooped up. "
" Parks are so important to our
society. They bring communities
and families together to enjoy recreational activities and events; they
are amazing places to see and learn
more about nature and wildlife;
and they promote healthy lifestyles
[through] playgrounds, sports
fields, walking paths and hiking
trails, " says Kara Oughton, marketing manager of Gared.
NRPA and its partners continue
to move forward on the Grand Avenue Park project so that one day the
community may enjoy all that this
park has to offer. Stephanie Devine,
vice president of marketing and
brand strategy, UltraSite, captures
it best: " [D]uring this trying time in
our nation, now, more than ever, we
need to come together in support of
our parks and [the people] who love
them. [We] believe in celebrating

Greenﬁelds Outdoor Fitness
(gfoutdoorﬁtness.com)
Musco Lighting
(musco.com)
Playground Grass by ForeverLawn
(foreverlawn.com)
Epic Outdoor Cinema
(epicoutdoorcinema.com)
DuMor Site Furnishings
(dumor.com)
Gared Sports
(garedsports.com)
Most Dependable Fountains, Inc.
(mostdependable.com)
Freenotes Harmony Park
(freenotesharmonypark.com)
Shade Systems, Inc.
(shadesystemsinc.com)
Ultra Site
(ultra-site.com)
community, celebrating parks, and
celebrating a project to better the
world around us. "
For more information about the
2020 Parks Build Community project and how you can be involved,
contact Gina Mullins-Cohen,
NRPA's vice president of communications and chief marketing officer, at gcohen@nrpa.org.
Paula M. Jacoby-Garrett is a Freelance
Writer based in Las Vegas, Nevada (paula.jacoby.garrett@
gmail.com).

P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G | J U LY 2 0 2 0 |

Parks & Recreation

July 2020 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2020 - Parks & Recreation