New park facilities, a walking path and a community garden for the Grundy County Jail are among the projects being funded by the 2015 grants awarded by the South Cumberland Community Fund (SCCF).
“Since 2012, one of our core missions has been to cultivate resources by supporting nonprofit organizations across the Plateau,” said Margaret Woods, board president of the Community Fund. “We are thrilled with this newest series of projects, which create opportunities for our youth, build new community spaces and expand local support services for our communities.”
There will be a reception at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 2, in St. Mark’s Hall, in Claiborne Parish House at Otey Church in Sewanee to celebrate the new grant recipients and to thank the AmeriCorps VISTA members and volunteers.
The City of Coalmont, thanks to a group of volunteers led by Jeff Sholey working in partnership with county government and the South Cumberland Community Fund, now enjoys a public park on the shore of Big Creek Lake. The park was built in 2013 on county-owned land that had not been developed or maintained for recreational uses. The subsequent popularity of the park for families in the area has led to plans to add a 4,000-foot gravel walking trail. The SCCF grant of $10,000 will support the construction of the trail, which is expected to increase community access to safe areas for healthy exercise.
The City of Palmer has a town center where a public park, a museum of mining, the seat of government and the public school are all in close proximity.The park has many features, but lacks a restroom. In cooperation with the Conservation Committee of Grundy County and with the support of a $10,000 grant from SCCF, the community of Palmer will construct an ADA-accessible restroom to serve the park patrons and will extend the uses of the park.
The Grundy County Sheriff’s office, with the assistance of this $9,500 grant from the Community Fund, will construct a greenhouse and raised garden beds. Inmates, jail administrators, youth probationers and the community will maintain the garden and greenhouse, and food grown there will feed the inmates and be shared with the community. Taking care of the mini-farm will be a daily chore for inmates, who will receive training from community partners in planting and storing food.
The Grundy County Historical Society library and research center holds approximately 1,600 books, photographs, albums and newsletters, as well as thousands of loose historical documents that date as far back as the 1840s, including volumes of records pertaining to the coal, iron/steel, and railroad industries of the region. SCCF’s grant of $7,406 will enable the Historical Society to purchase library software to identify, organize and improve public access to its holdings. In addition, the grant will support the temporary employment of a professional librarian to implement the project and train voluntary staff in managing the Society’s records and special collections in the future.
North Elementary School, operating under the auspices of the Grundy County Board of Education, is working to make its gymnasium a more effective venue for multi-media presentations, programs, assemblies and sporting events. Lacking an auditorium, the gymnasium is the only setting for a variety of school-related and community presentations. The configuration of the gym with side seating makes it difficult for the audience to see and hear many such programs. With this Community Fund grant of $10,000, the school will purchase two automated projection screens, two wireless projectors and the hardware to operate them. In addition, new microphones and speakers will be purchased to upgrade the school’s public address system.
Palmer Elementary School, one of seven public elementary schools in Grundy County, was built in 1927. It is one of only two schools with both a gymnasium and an auditorium. This SCCF grant of $1,600 will enable the school to replace its 15-year-old public address system with Bluetooth and wireless technology to serve both venues. The school has more than 75 events (such as sporting events, spelling bees and holiday programs) during the year, in addition to daily assemblies. The completion of the $2,000 project will be made possible by additional investments by the town and the school, plus local business and individual contributors.
Miracle on the Mountain Play Outside Park (MOM POP) is a year-old organization formed to create a major public recreation area with special emphasis on children with special needs in Grundy and surrounding counties. The park will be constructed on 14 acres located on Highway 108 across from the high school, on land which will be leased from the county. This grant of $10,000 from SCCF will be applied toward the $51,900 cost of Phase I, which will include parking and roadway access, restrooms and a concession stand, an amphitheater, and paved pathways to make the entire area ADA-compliant.
Mountain Heritage Preservation Society was established to educate the community, especially its children, about the unique cultural heritage they inherit from growing up on the Cumberland Plateau. The hope is that people will be strengthened by an understanding of and loyalty to that heritage. The Preservation Society is best known for the annual Mountaineers Day Festival, but the organization is broadly committed to advancing the welfare of Mountain communities. This SCCF grant of $10,000 will enable the Society to partner with the local baseball/softball organization in the construction of batting cages at the current ballfield in Tracy City. The organizers of baseball/softball have renewed energy and stability, and will seek further upgrades and expansion of the facilities in coming years.
Mountain T.O.P. is a 40-year-old, interdenominational ministry dedicated to addressing issues of poverty in the rural Cumberland region. The organization has drawn upon a culture of faith-based social commitment to recruit individuals, families and church groups to work on projects that meet the social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of area residents. The projects are usually organized around the repair of homes and the operation of day camps for children and youth on the Plateau. The Adventure Guild in Chattanooga has assisted Mountain T.O.P. in the construction and operation of two challenge courses (a low and a high ropes course) on the Altamont campus. The Adventure Guild has given the courses to Mountain T.O.P. With this grant of $8,009 from the Community Fund, the organization will purchase equipment and do training for its staff for the ongoing operation of the courses. It is expected that the new arrangement will be more efficient and help Mountain T.O.P. recruit additional retreat groups that are attracted to the area’s wilderness hiking and camping resources.
The Sewanee Children’s Center is a preschool operated by a parents’ cooperative to provide early learning experiences in a full-day program to children ages 2 to 5. The Center also provides after-school care for preschoolers and children through 8 years of age. Under the leadership of new director Harriet Runkle, the SCC has planned a school/community garden to serve as an outdoor classroom to teach students gardening skills, healthy eating habits, life cycles of plants and animals, and good stewardship of natural resources. Produce will be shared with the Community Action Center and used for special events at Otey Parish. This SCCF grant of $9,587 will enable the construction of the 40-foot by 60-foot garden, including a deer-proof fence.
Sewanee Community Chest, organized by the long-standing Sewanee Civic Association (SCA), has raised a million dollars in the last decade to support local organizations serving the public good. During its storied history, the SCA has advanced the welfare of the unincorporated community of Sewanee and the region around it through initiatives as diverse as building the public elementary school in Sewanee, completing a state highway to the Marion County line, and raising money for a black community center. The Parks Committee of SCA has proposed to restore Elliott Park on the campus of the University at a cost of $70,000. The park, open to the public, will have a rich assortment of features to promote physical adventures by children. The Community Chest will raise the funds as a special project; this grant of $10,000 from the Community Fund will be applied to the overall cost of the park.
Earlier this year, the board of the Community Fund became aware of a plan to create a plateau-wide children’s choir to perform traditional Appalachian folk and gospel songs at the annual Trails and Trilliums spring festival produced by the Friends of South Cumberland State Park. This project was a perfect fit for the Paul S. McConnell Music Grant of $3,500, awarded to the South Cumberland Community Fund to support music programs in our region. The board reached out to the Friends group to offer support for the choir project. The presentation by 130 children in grades 4–8 from five elementary schools was one of the highlights of Trails and Trillium. The hope is that the choir will become an annual program.
