Powder Creek Playground

We did it!  Our playground was built in just 5 days.  The grand opening was at 5 pm on March 16, 2014.  Since then, kids have been enjoying the playground.  Volunteers have been doing final touch ups on the playground.  Volunteers have also been taking a well earned break!

Bills and last minute donations are trickling in.  At this point, it looks like we will be very close to having raised enough money.  Any money left over will be saved for our growing wish list.  Security cameras and more lighting are at the top of the list.  The city Parks & Rec Dept is already working on no-smoking signs and adding trash cans around the park. We have even given them some left over treated lumber so they can build containers for the trash cans to make them coordinate with the playground.  We have also heard suggestions of more picnic tables around the playground and more swings.

Many have already been asking about long-term maintenance.  Leathers & Associates gave us several copies of a booklet which outlines a plan of how we can keep this playground safe and looking good.  The Park & Rec Dept will be primarily in charge of the maintenance.  Community volunteers will also have opportunities to help maintain it.  Everyone is encouraged to help watch over the playground and if you see someone being destructive, tell them to stop and/or call the police if necessary.  The playground will need another coat of sealer in six months and annually thereafter.  Great Days of Service – Bonham has pledged to help with this need each year, which will be a great way for volunteers to lend a hand in keeping the playground up.

Our volunteer webmaster will begin updating this site over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, here is a link to all of our photo albums.  If you have photos to share – either from Build Week or from kids enjoying the newly built playground – send them our way at powdercreekplay@gmail.com

Raffle Tickets are for sale!  

$1 each or 6 for $5

Three prizes:

• $100 VISA gift card – donated by Todd & Kim Ford
• American Girl Doll
• Remote Control Helicopter – donated by Donnie & Judy Bewer

You select which drawing your ticket(s) go in.  For example, if you buy 6 tickets for $5, you can choose to put all of your tickets in one drawing or split them up and put some in two or all three of the drawings.

Drawings: at Playground Grand Opening on Sunday, March 16 from 5-7 pm.

Tickets for Sale:

• American Bank of Texas
• Fannin Bank
• Tax-Assessor Collector Office (aka Tag Office)
• From many playground volunteers
• Pay for your tickets on PayPal and send us an email at powdercreekplay@gmail.com telling us your name, phone number and which prize(s) you want your ticket(s) to be in the drawing for.

As of March 7, 2014, we have only 100 pickets left to sell.  They are going fast – we have sold 25 just this week!

Download the picket order form:  Picket-Form

Cost: $30 for individuals and $50 for business

You select the name to have routed into the fence picket – up to 18 letters, including spaces and punctuation.

Turn in your form and money to a playground volunteers or one the places listed below til noon on Tuesday, March 11.  Beginning Wednesday, you can turn it in at the playground site (assuming we still have pickets available.)

• American Bank of Texas
• Fannin Bank
• Fannin County Children’s Center
• Tax Assessor-Collector Office (aka Tag Office)

We are less than one week away from Build Week!  So much exciting news to report! In no particular order:

Home Depot Foundation awarded us a $5,000 grant for our playground!  Frazier Carpet Cleaning donated $170 this week.  Kiwanis Club donated $1,000 last week and Rotary Club gave $2,800.  The Bonham Mahjong group contributed $200.  We have continued to get many donations in memory of Pat Porter.   Several other donations, raffle ticket sales and picket sales have also come in the last few weeks.  All of it adds up to more than $115,000, which puts us only about $6,000 away from our goal.  Chi Lambda has pledged 10% of the proceeds from their charity auction event on March 22.  Plus we still have about 100 pickets left to sell, as well as raffle tickets and t-shirts!  Several area businesses and our elementary & intermediate schools are collecting coins for construction. 

Sanderson Surveying staked out the playground site this week & Fannin County Electric Co-op is digging the holes to get us ready to build!  We appreciate both of these companies donating their time, skills and equipment to our project!

Sue Taylor and the food committee have lined up all of the food & drinks for Build Week!  Many thanks to all of the following individuals, businesses, churches and other organizations who have contributed:

• Breakfast Foods & Snacks – from Brookshires, First Presbyterian Men’s Group, Robbie Freund, Cindy Godbey, Panera Bread, Sunny Delight, Walmart, John Womack and Boyd Baptist Church
• Lunches – First Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, 7th & Main Baptist Church, Cappy”s Cafe and Willow Wild Cemetery Association
• Dinners – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, First United Methodist Church, Church of God, Church of Christ and Bonham Fire Department
• Bottled Water – American Bank of Texas, Fannin Bank, Legend Bank and Kwik Chek

Free child care will be provided at First Baptist Church in Bonham for children 9 and under, provided the parents sign up to volunteer by 6 pm on Monday, March 10.  Children 9 and under will not be allowed at the build site due to safety concerns.  Parents must bring food, snacks and drinks for their children.  Children ages 10-13 may help but they must stay with an adult at all times.  Youth ages 140-17 can help without an adult by their side, but they cannot use power tools.

Volunteers are needed on all shifts, and especially all of the evening shifts and all day on Saturday and Sunday.  Our daily schedule will be as follows:  

• 8:00 am to 12:00 pm – First shift
• 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm – Lunch break (meal provided)
• 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm – Second shift
• 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm – Dinner break (meal provided)
• 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm – Third shift

Tools, Tools, Tools – we need to borrow lots of tools for one week.  Bring your tools to the playground site on Saturday, March 8 from 9 am to 2 pm or Sunday, March 9 between 2-5 pm.  Tools will be marked for identification purposes and accounted for on a daily basis.  They will be kept in locked storage containers.  Tool List

T-shirts – we will have a limited number of t-shirts for sale during Build Week.  They will be fluorescent yellow with the designs pictured at right.  Cost is $12 each.  We will have youth and adult sizes.  To reserve your shirts, send us an email to let us know how many and what size(s) at powdercreekplay@gmail.com

We are only 18 days away from the start of Build Week!

Our next planning meeting is Tuesday, Feb 25 at 5:30 pm at the Children’s Center at 112 W. 5th in Bonham.  We will discuss materials, tools, child care, food, volunteers, fundraising and more!  All are welcome.  

All types of volunteers are needed during Build Week (March 12-16). In addition to skilled and unskilled labor, volunteers are needed to check-in workers, provide child care for kids 9 and under, prepare and serve food and drinks to the workers, and complete artistic projects too. Volunteers must register here.

All kinds of tools and equipment are needed, including 3 chain saws, 10 push brooms, 25 five gallon buckets, 50 coffee cans or plastic jugs, 5 crow bars, 65 electric drills, 70 extension cords, 50 hammers, 20 hard hats, 30 levels, 10 nail punches, 10 post hole diggers, 30 rakes, 12 routers, 15 screwdrivers, 35 shovels, 50 tape measures, 10 utility knives and 30 wheelbarrows.  Tools can be dropped off at Powder Creek Playground on Saturday, March 8 from 9 am to 2 pm or Sunday, March 9 from 2 -5 pm. Tools will be marked and inventoried on a daily basis. They will be stored in a secured container. Tools can be picked up on Sunday, March 16 after 3 pm.  more

Donations of snacks and breakfast foods are needed during build week. To donate, contact Sue Taylor at suetaylor453@yahoo.net or Megan Massey at md_massey@hotmail.com.

Several fundraising plans are underway. At last report, about $107,000 has been raised towards the goal of $121,000. That means volunteers need to raise about $14,000 more.

Chi Lambda has pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds from their annual auction again this year. This group of philanthropic women have actually made this pledge for several years now. The dinner, auction and dance will be held on Saturday, March 22 at the Multi-Purpose Complex. Tickets are available from Chi Lambda members, including playground volunteers Michelle Griffith, Kim Ford and Kassi Bowen.

Picket sales – a limited number of pickets are being sold to individuals for $30 each or to businesses for $50 each. Each picket can be engraved with a name of your choice. Picket order forms are available at Fannin Bank, American Bank of Texas and the Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office and here.

Coins for Construction – several local schools and businesses are collecting coins for constructing the playground.

Just this week we collected over $150 from just 2 Kwik Chek stores!

Thank you to the following places who are collecting coins:

• Fannin Bank
• Finley Oates Elementary
• Granny Lou’s Bed & Breakfast
• IW Evans Intermediate
• 3 Kwik Chek stores
• Legend Bank
• Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office

Other businesses or schools who wish to join this effort should email us at powdercreekplay@gmail.com.

Raffle tickets – three items are being raffled off: $100 VISA gift card, American Girl doll and remote control helicopter. Tickets cost $1 each or 6 for $5. Drawings will be during the opening celebration of the playground on Sunday, March 16 from 5-7 pm. Tickets can be purchased from playground volunteers or at Fannin Bank, American Bank of Texas and the Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office.

Bryan Frazier, owner of Frazier Carpet Cleaning, has announced a special offer to help the playground. From now through February, they will donate $10 of each cleaning job to the playground. To schedule a carpet cleaning, call 903-583-1602.

Leathers & Associates has offered us a deal – if we can help them get 500 new Facebook Fans, they will give us a $250 discount on our design fees.  That means we need to get them to 5,344 fans by our Build Week.  Please go like the fb page for Leathers & Associates and ask all of your friends to do the same!

Give Now – We have also started an effort to find 200 people to give at least $10 each.  A few hours after starting this effort on Facebook & Twitter, we only need 193 more people to give!

Our next Playground Planning Meeting is Tuesday, Feb 25 at 5:30 pm at the Children’s Center at 112 W. 5th in Bonham.  We will be talking about materials, tools, food, child care, fundraising and more!  All are welcome!

Help us spread the word about the playground!  Here are some flyers you can print, post and share:

Playground Flyer Ways to Help

Playground Flyer full pg

Playground Flyer half pg

Picket-Form

Tool-Loan-Form

Here’s an easy way to help our playground effort: Go like the Facebook page for Leathers & Associates!  If we can help them get 500 new fans (to a total of 5,344) by our Build Week, then they will give us a $250 discount on our design fees.  Be sure to ask your friends to join you too!

We are having a call-a-thon on Monday, Feb 17, beginning at 4:30 pm at the Children’s Center at 112 W. 5th in Bonham.

We will be calling people to ask for their help in building the playground.  We will also offer to get folks signed up while we are on the phone with them.

Bring your cell phone!  If you have a laptop or tablet you can bring too, that will help us as we register volunteers.

We will stay until we are done calling everyone we can think of!

In less than one month, community volunteers will begin building a playground at Powder Creek Park in Bonham. Build week has been set for March 12-16.

All types of volunteers are needed. In addition to skilled and unskilled labor, volunteers are needed to check-in workers, provide child care for kids 9 and under, prepare and serve food and drinks to the workers, and complete artistic projects too. Volunteers must register here.

All kinds of tools and equipment are also needed, including 3 chain saws, 10 push brooms, 25 five gallon buckets, 50 coffee cans or plastic jugs, 5 crow bars, 65 electric drills, 70 extension cords, 50 hammers, 20 hard hats, 30 levels, 10 nail punches, 10 post hole diggers, 30 rakes, 12 routers, 15 screwdrivers, 35 shovels, 50 tape measures, 10 utility knives and 30 wheelbarrows. For a complete list of tools needed, go to http://www.powdercreekplay.org. Tools can be dropped off at Powder Creek Playground on Saturday, March 8 from 9 am to 2 pm or Sunday, March 9 from 2 -5 pm. Tools will be marked and inventoried on a daily basis. They will be stored in a secured container. Tools can be picked up on Sunday, March 16 after 3 pm.

Several fundraising plans are underway. At last report, about $106,500 has been raised towards the goal of $121,000. That means volunteers need to raise about $14,500 more.

Chi Lambda has pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds from their annual auction again this year. This group of philanthropic women have actually made this pledge for several years now. The dinner, auction and dance will be held on Saturday, March 22 at the Multi-Purpose Complex. Tickets are available from Chi Lambda members.

Coins for Construction – several local schools and businesses are collecting coins for constructing the playground. Fannin Bank, Finley Oates Elementary, Granny Lou’s Bed & Breakfast, IW Evans Intermediate, 3 Kwik Chek stores, Legend Bank and the Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office are collecting coins. Other businesses or schools who wish to join this effort should email powdercreekplay@gmail.com.

Raffle tickets – three items are being raffled off: $100 VISA gift card, American Girl doll and remote control helicopter. Tickets cost $1 each or 6 for $5. Drawings will be during the opening celebration of the playground on Sunday, March 16 from 5-7 pm. Tickets can be purchased from playground volunteers or at Fannin Bank, American Bank of Texas and the Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office.

Picket sales – a limited number of pickets are being sold to individuals for $30 each or to businesses for $50 each. Each picket can be engraved with a name of your choice. Picket order forms are available at Fannin Bank, American Bank of Texas and the Tax-Assessor Collector’s Office and here.

Bryan Frazier, owner of Frazier Carpet Cleaning, has announced a special offer to help the playground. From now through February, they will donate $10 of each cleaning job to the playground. To schedule a carpet cleaning, call 903-583-1602.

Donations of snacks and breakfast foods are needed during build week. To donate, contact Sue Taylor at suetaylor453@yahoo.net or Megan Massey at md_massey@hotmail.com.

A call-a-thon has been planned for Monday, Feb 17, beginning at 4:30 pm at the Children’s Center at 112 W. 5th in Bonham. Playground volunteers will be calling people to ask for their help in building the playground. Anyone interested in helping with the call-a-thon should bring their cell phone with them. Volunteers will also spend time meeting on Monday night to discuss fundraising and organizational details. Anyone interested in helping or simply learning more about the playground plans are welcome to attend.