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Page Updated: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 7:54 AM PDT

Fields of dreams

The Ford Family Foundation Leadership cohort of Reedsport has applied for a grant to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to pay for some enhancements at Jim Barrone Memorial Fields. - Umpqua Post Photos by Jack Carrerow

By Jack Carrerow, Staff Writer

Local members of the Ford Family Foundation Leadership Institute Program are hoping to raise enough money to do some enhancement and cosmetic work at Jim Barrone Memorial Fields in Reedsport, with a grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

The leadership group consists of 27 members who range in age from high school to adult. Their aim is to do projects that help make a community better for its residents.

Leadership member Patrick Paternostro said the foundation sponsors programs, like the one locally, in Oregon and California, where it offers matching fund grants for projects deemed important to the community.

“They are geared toward rural areas, where there’s not a lot of capital improvement money available,” Paternostro said. “We identify several projects that need attention and then vote on what one we want to focus on.”

Paternostro said its a great learning experience for the kids who are involved.

“It really teaches them community responsibility,” he said. “They learn how working together, they can make a positive influence where they live, and it’s fun.”

Susan Martin, who works with Paternostro in the leadership group and helped draft the grant requests to the Ford Family Foundation, said she was working on the much larger grant application, when she happened upon the one from State Parks.

“While fact finding for our enhancement project at Barrone Fields, we came across a grant opportunity from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department,” Martin said. “The caveat was given to our class that if we choose funding from OPRD, that it must be a stand-alone project, apart from our class project — meaning that this grant could not affect our class project negatively if not received.”

The group now is hoping to do a phase one cleanup and enhancement at the park while waiting on the much larger grant of $125,000 for some major renovations at the same site.

“This grant will take care of some minor fixes, like sprucing up the gazebo, refurbishing some picnic tables and replacing some of the barbecue grills,” Paternostro said. “We also want to install three free-standing play stations for kids, 30 rubber car stops, three pet waste stations and the clean-up of about 6,000-square-feet of brush.”

The group has been busy trying to raise the funds necessary to qualify for the grant by holding a car wash, Paternostro said.

“This year we’ll also be selling fireworks to raise some revenue.”

If the group can raise the $7,000, the foundation will match the amount, allowing the $14,000 project to proceed.

“Most of the money will go to paying for the supplies, tools and parts we’ll need on the project,” Paternostro said. “We will be doing most all the labor and even provide some of the things we need to work on the park. That’s why we can do projects like this for pretty cheap.”

The larger grant, which Paternostro said has passed its first hurdle in the approval process, will go to pay for the construction of a walking trail, an interactive game panel, improvements to the snack bar and restrooms and a surveillance camera with a feed to the police station.

Martin said she is confident of getting the larger grant after she and class member Deron Eunice presented the project to Foundation members in Roseburg last week.

“It went very well,” Martin said.

Plans call for the first phase to be completed by the end of fall, but Paternostro said it depends on how quickly the group can raise the needed funds.

“That’s the best-case scenario, that we raise the funds in time to start work this summer,” Paternostro said. “But we’re hopeful the community comes through. After all, this is for them.”