News

 

Susan Urano, Executive Director of the Athens Foundation, says the grant is for renovating the handicap-accessible playground at the Athens Southside Park. "We'll be making a grant, or we are making a grant today, to the Athens Noon Rotary Club for their accessible playground project at the Richland Avenue park, the Southside Park, where they're installing accessible playground equipment and kind of giving it a makeover, to spruce it up a little bit," Urano said.

 

The grant comes from the Bill Malcom fund which was established in memory of the Athens resident when he died last February.

 

Urano says it was created by the Athens Foundation, his parents Paul "Scott" and Marjorie Malcom, along with friends and relatives to help people with disabilities. "The fund was established for this project, so Bill's father is a member of Rotary and was familiar with the project.  And when we set the fund up at the very beginning, we knew that the money was going to go to help this really good project that rotary's doing," Urano explained.

 

The total project cost is $125,000 so Urano says it will be built in two or three phases as the money comes in. "Donations have come from the community, from members of rotary, from our district rotary club will match what the local raises, and I know they're doing a lot of grant writing.  They have gotten some grants to help with the project," she says.

 

The rotary's goal is to create a play environment for every child, regardless of physical or social boundaries.