Stephen Smiley and Bob
Oertel
Bob Oertel
Three
years ago, Bob Oertel saw an ad in the paper
about a public meeting being held by a group organizing
a community-built playground. Being a "do-it-yourself" person,
he attended the meeting, got hooked on the idea,
and ended being a construction captain
for
the Kids Connection playground.
As Bob put it, "It
was one of the most amazing events I've ever been
involved in. Hundreds of people who had never met
before were given minimal training to work on
small segments of a final product that would be
something wonderful when they were done."
At
the end of each day, volunteers would look back
and see play equipment
rising out of the ground, equipment that wasn't
there when they came in the morning. Many people
had planned
to spend only a half day or so, but ended up doing
two, three, or four days. According to Bob, "It
grows on you."
Stephen Smiley
Stephen Smiley became part of the Zoo Path group last
summer after being asked to shovel wood chips at
the path. At the meetings of the Zoo Path group,
Bob Oertel started asking for someone to co-chair
a a
committee
to build
a
playground
like
Kids Connection.
Stephen said yes because he and his wife Debra are
committed to teaching their children to be leaders
and volunteers within their communities. Not only
is Stephen contributing to this project, but Debra
is the co-chair of
the fundraising committee. He added, "This is
a great project to show our children that Debra and
I are
involved
in the communities and to see us working with neighbors
and friends to build this playground."
Stephen is also passionate about kids because kids
have so much love, energy, and potential. He believes
that we as a society need to help develop this potential
in creative and fun ways. "Kids are our future and
we need to do everything we can to develop our leaders
of tomorrow," he said. "This playground is one way
in which society can foster growth in our children."
A Splash
Being a general coordinator is a big responsibility.
But Bob and Stephen are quick to point
out
that it will take
a
community-wide effort to build the playground. Bob
offered this metaphor about leading the group. "Being
a head lemming is fine, but there is no significant
splash unless there are hundreds more behind you."
Bob, we had a really big splash.
