Kids on Wheels has 60 days to raise $50,000 to build a skate park in Brown County, and the clock starts ticking this week.
Earlier this month, Kids on Wheels received news that they were approved for the CreatINg Places grant campaign. The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will give the group $50,000 if KOW can raise $50,000 through crowdfunding.
That $100,000 will go toward constructing a skate and teen park at Deer Run Park.
Their deadline to raise the money is Sept. 22.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]KOW is student-led with adult advisers. It operates as a nonprofit under the BETA Teen Center.
Deer Run Park was the group’s second choice for the skate park location.
At the end of January, Kids on Wheels had signed a purchase agreement for 3.66 acres between the Brown County Law Enforcement Center and the Brown County IGA along State Road 46 East. The price was reduced from $197,500 to $115,000 to help the group, but KOW won’t be able to raise enough money in time to get that property, said parent adviser Colleen Smith.
Earlier this year, KOW applied for the CreatINg Places grant to buy that land, but that grant was not approved because the state wanted permits in place on the property.
Now, the park location has switched back to Deer Run Park.
Smith’s son, Isaiah, is the skate park project manager. He made the skate park his senior project in high school. He has graduated now, but he’s still carrying it forward.
“When I started the project, it was a little bigger than I had anticipated,” he said.
For decades, a common complaint from youth in Brown County is that there isn’t anything for them to do here.
“There’s still a real need in this community for elements for teens,” Colleen said.
“We’ve already made it this far,” Isaiah said. “There’s so much energy for it and I think it needs to be finished at this point. I think it will be a good thing when we get it done.”
And they won’t stop there. Colleen said she will work to get a recreation building built for teens, too.
“We hope to develop it further. But we feel like if we don’t build something now, then people won’t really take us seriously,” she said.
As part of the CreatINg Places grant requirements, donations larger than $10,000 cannot count toward the $50,000 match. But that does not mean the group cannot accept donations larger than $10,000. Any money left over after the grant requirements are met can go toward building other elements of the park.
For example, the Brown County Community Foundation has given a total of $25,000 to the group from different grants, but only $10,000 of that can count toward the $50,000 matching grant goal. This means that least $15,000 of the BCCF’s gift can go toward landscaping, a hammock swing area or gaga pit, Colleen said.
The site they have in mind for the teen area at Deer Run is the field to the right of the first baseball field, as you’re coming down Deer Run Lane from Nashville. It has the ability to be handicap-accessible and it’s close to restrooms, Colleen said.
On Aug. 23, 2017, the Brown County Parks and Recreation Board unanimously voted to allow the skate park to be built at Deer Run Park if no other options were available and they could secure funding, according to the board’s minutes.
One hangup to putting the park at Deer Run is that teens can’t easy access it without getting a ride there, since there’s no sidewalk along Helmsburg Road and the Salt Creek Trail doesn’t yet extend that far from Nashville.
Colleen said the park would be turned over to Brown County Parks and Recreation for ownership and maintenance once it’s complete. Last fall, the Brown County Council agreed to fund the maintenance if it’s built on county land.
The movement to build a skate park began after two teens approached the Nashville Town Council in December 2016, asking for skateboarding rules to be relaxed in town. The council made no changes; skateboarding still is allowed only on a three-block stretch of Johnson Street.
Hunger Skateparks has agreed to build the park for KOW.
“We could potentially have this built this fall if we are successful with this campaign,” Colleen said. “It only takes two or three weeks to get our check, so we could schedule the construction to happen this fall if there’s an opening in Hunger Skate Parks’ schedule.”
In the meantime, she said KOW will continue to apply for smaller grants to go toward their $50,000 goal.
KOW will have a booth at the Brown County 4-H Fair where people can visit to donate and learn more about the project.
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Families are invited to attend Rock the Block in the Brown County High School parking lot on Saturday, Aug. 11. Seven local churches worked together to host the block party for families, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Untitled Skateboards will perform stunts during the party. Untitled Skateboard is a professional company that travels across the United States and the world doing skateboard demonstrations and sharing inspirational stories, a press release says.
Kids on Wheels also will have a booth at Rock the Block where they will collect donations for their CreatINg Places grant campaign.
Free food, carnival-style games, face painting, bounce houses, art, a photo booth, a kid zone and more will be at the party. More churches may be joining in to host the event.
Questions can be directed to Associate Pastor Cory Joy at New Life Community Church, 812-988-6543.
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Want to help Kids on Wheels reach their $50,000 fundraising goal in the next 60 days?
On July 25, the group’s fundraising campaign link went live on the CreatINg Places page at patronicity.com. Donations can be made online there.
KOW also will have a booth at the Brown County 4-H Fair to accept donations and share more information about the teen park/skate park project.
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