The Clay County Chamber of Commerce hopes to double its 50 volunteers signed up to help build the new Hermitage Springs playground.
Clay County Tourism Director Beverly Murphy said the playground, designed by Hermitage Springs Elementary School Students, is coming to life as part of First Lady Maria Lee’s Tennessee Serves initiative. She said volunteers are needed Saturday to haul concrete, cut wood, plant posts, and much more.
“This playground is so important for this community down there because they need that place where they can have their events,” Murphy said. “They need that place where the kids can go from school. They need that equipment.”
Murphy hopes to have the entire playground completed in just one day. She said it will volunteers will add fire pits and redo the volleyball courts as well. She said Hermitage Springs is a distressed community that stands to benefit greatly from those willing to offer their time.
“We’re going to be handling tools,” Murphy said. “We’re going to be wheelbarrowing concrete back and forth, we’re going to be setting posts, we’re going to be digging posts, we’re going to be building picnic tables, we’re going to be building planters for flowers.”
Murphy said members of the community will feed volunteers homemade baked goods. She said volunteers will be broken into 12 groups and assigned tasks. She said children are welcome and will be provided with a number of fun activities and ways to help out. She said Tennessee Titans players will be there to help as well.
“It just warms your heart to, you know, know that you’re going to be a part of it,” Murphy said. “That you’re able to offer something to help build a community because Hermitage Springs is an amazing community that has so much to offer anyway, and to say that you’re a part of it, to me, is just unreal.”
She said until now, the park has been minuscule and in dire need of repairs. Murphy said with enough willing hands and a little sweat, the park can become the centerpiece of Hermitage Springs and a source of pride for every person who helped build it, or in many students’ cases, dreamed up its design.
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