A long-decaying playground took on new life and possibilities Tuesday when nearly 300 volunteers gathered at Piney Woods Elementary School on a $180,000 project to erect new playground equipment, resurface a basketball court and more.
It was the 11th such playground to benefit from a KaBoom BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation grant.
BlueCross BlueShield donated about $85,000 each for previous playground projects. But for the playground across the street from the Emma Wheeler Homes public housing site, community support was so great the company doubled its usual contribution. Later Wednesday night, BlueCross Blue Shield tacked on an additional $10,000.
"They believed in us," said Dr. Elenora Woods, a local dentist and executive director of the Alton Park Development Corporation.
Volunteers included a host of former Alton Park residents or people who once had relatives living in the area.
The project began with a phone call from KaBoom project manager Rachel Malkusak to Woods asking if she wanted to play.
KaBoom, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing play to kids, chose the Alton Park Development Corporation because it is a nonprofit agency that serves youth in an area that needs a playground. And BlueCross BlueShield agreed to fund it.
Blue Care Tennessee Supervisor Ellie Barnette said her heart flutters when she thinks of the Alton Park community's potential. She calls the Emma Wheeler site the home of future U.S. presidents and doctors.
"If we don't give them something, they could go wrong. We want them to go right," she said.
More than 60 percent of Alton Park residents, including those in the Emma Wheeler Homes, live below the poverty level, according to city data. The unemployment rate for males in the area is 47.8 percent, the highest in the city, according to the Chattanooga Gang Assessment published in 2012.
The assessment also lists Alton Park as one of the highest crime areas in the city.
The playground had been deteriorating since the Piney Woods Elementary School closed in 1989. The swings were broken, and the other equipment wasn't safe.
"This is a breath of fresh air," said Woods, who also grew up in Alton Park.
She met with several youth and adults earlier this year to get ideas for the playground and learned that, although there were other recreational areas, some of them didn't allow children older than 12.
This playground was built with all youth in mind.
In addition to swings, slides, bright orange tunnels and climbing bars, volunteers resurfaced the basketball court and added walking trails.
They built sandboxes that double as sitting benches, picnic tables and a music wall with a xylophone, pots and pans and large wooden spoons to bang out sounds.
Several contractors including Hanner Construction, Tower Construction and Adamson Developers volunteered to prepare the site for the playground, said James Mathis, who did preparation work and designed the layout.
Woods changed the center's name from the Alton Park Piney Woods Resource Development Center to the Chattanooga Civic Center at Mountainside.
EPB donated computers for computer classes that will be available in the building. EPB will provide free WiFi to the center for a year.
Howard School's band played, and state Rep. JoAnne Favors and Hamilton County Commissioner Warren Mackey visited the site in celebration of the playground.
Greg Calhoun, president of the Alton Park Development Corporation, said he envisions a revitalization of the entire Alton Park community with the new playground being the catalyst.
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.