HOW TO HELP
The Parks and Recreation Commission controls the Hamilton Parks and Recreation Foundation Fund (formerly the Friends of the Park Fund) through the Hamilton Community Foundation, and receives private donations from Hamilton residents to increase community involvement and activities in Hamilton.
To donate, visit hamiltonfoundation.org and search for Fund ID "Park&R"
Checks can be made out to the Hamilton Community Foundation, with “Hamilton Parks and Recreation Foundation Fund” in the memo section.
At the next RiversEdge concert, rest your dancing feet or enjoy your dinner at a picnic table, crafted with care by several retired men.
Berkeley Square residents were looking for a new pastime. The Parks and Recreation Commission were looking for new picnic tables to use at Hamilton events. Ken Snyder, a Berkeley Square resident and member of the parks commission, made the connection to use the continuing care retirement community’s woodworking shop to build the tables.
“The commission needed picnic tables, and these guys were enthused about it and it came together,” Snyder said.
The seven volunteers include Snyder, Bill Merritt, Jim Scott, Dan Antenen, Bob Cottrell, Neil Will and Jack Pierce, ages 79 to 92. The group started building the picnic tables about two months ago, and are completing the 20 picnic tables that will provide seating to visitors at RiversEdge concerts this summer (two tables made their debut at last week’s Revivalists concert) and at Operation Pumpkin this fall.
“We (the parks commission) were talking about how cumbersome it is to have maintenance people running around moving tables,” said Gerry Hammond, chair of the parks commission.
The commission provided lumber from the Butler County Lumber Company for the woodworking crew with approximately $2,500 of private funds through their Hamilton Parks and Recreation Foundation Fund (formerly the Friends of the Park Fund) at the Hamilton Community Foundation.
“We thank Berkeley Square for the collaboration in using the wood shop,” Hammond said.
Rica Heflin, executive director for Berkeley Square, said this was the biggest collaboration the nearly 25-year-old community has been involved with.
“It’s amazing that it all came together,” she said. “People don’t realize how active and busy people are here, and a lot of them enjoy giving back to the community.”
“This isn’t something that happens every day,” she added.
“I’ve been here 18 years, and it’s never happened before,” Merritt joked.
It certainly helped that several volunteers had backgrounds in construction and engineering. Antenen, 89, partnered with his brother, Jay, to run Antenen Construction Company and built commercial and industrial buildings for more than 35 years throughout southwest Ohio.
“We put this group together specifically to build these benches,” Antenen said.
They all vouch for the craftsmanship of the new tables. “These things are as solid as any table I’ve worked on,” Cottrell said.
The picnic tables will be stored in a location yet to be determined near downtown when not being used for events, Hammond said.
Berkeley Square, 100 Berkley Drive in Hamilton, is a continuing care retirement community that serves 270 residents through independent and assisted housing, rehabilitation services, and more. It is run through the not-for-profit Colonial, one of four not-for-profit organizations under Community First Solutions.
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