Organizers of a months long campaign to build an athletic pavilion and jogging track for the 100-year-old Forest Park Elementary School in Little Rock are appealing to alumni and friends, both near and far, for the final $20,000 to finish the project.
Once completed, the Forest Park Centennial Athletic Pavilion project will be the largest gift ever donated to the Little Rock School District by a school PTA, according to district records.
About $300,000 has been raised since September. Planners are now seeking the additional $20,000 for a synthetic turf surface that will go into the oval space inside the track and some athletic equipment.
The deadline for raising that money is Friday, said Jennifer Ronnel, Forest Park’s PTA president.
That’s the day when planners will turn in the order for the engraved bricks that will make up the short walls and the columns of the Forest Park Centennial Athletic Pavilion. The bricks, engraved with donor names and messages, range in cost from $500 to $5,000.
“There is no great directory or database of Forest Park alumni,” Ronnel said last week. “We have tried in lots of different ways to reach out to the community to locate our alums. But even at this final point, we feel there are some people out there who don’t even know about this project or know about the school’s centennial year who would want for their grandchild or for themselves to buy an engraved brick and be a part of this snapshot of Forest Park’s history.”
More information about the bricks is available by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or calling the fundraising chairman, Peyton Woodyard, at (501) 960-0539. Tax-deductible contributions to the project also can be sent to Forest Park PTA at P.O. Box 7602, Little Rock, Ark., 72217.
The fundraising campaign began in September for the pavilion and jogging track, which will support physical education, outdoor play, after-school care and special events at the 450-pupil school.
Right now, school hallways and the small entrance foyer are used by pupils for physical activity during inclement weather, Ronnel said.
The school’s original cafeteria was long ago turned into classrooms and the original auditorium converted to a cafeteria that is used most of the school day for serving school meals, she said.
One former Forest Park first-grader who grew up under the watchful eyes of the state and nation is a contributor to the effort, Ronnel said. Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, has a brick on order.
Construction on the pavilion is scheduled to begin June 7 and be completed by the start of the 2013-14 school year. Cromwell Architects, Nabholz Construction, Staley Electric, Ketcher Roofing and Arkansas Fence and Guardrail are the companies participating in the development of the pavilion, which will include electricity and some security features.
“Forest Park Elementary is 100 years old,” said Woodyard, the fundraising campaign chairman. “This is our birthday present to the school district and to the Forest Park children for generations to come.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/29/2013