Community effort at Heaven for Kids
New nonprofit organization refurbishes wooden structure at Sonora playground
Nearly two dozen volunteers spent most of Saturday working in the sun to refurbish deteriorating pieces of the massive wooden play structure at Heaven for Kids playground in Sonora’s 49er Rotary Park.
The project was organized by the new nonprofit organization called Love Tuolumne County, though there was a personal reason why sisters Nancy and Stefani Reichle wanted to be a part of the effort.
“Our parents helped build this about 20 years ago,” said Nancy Reichle, of Twain Harte, as she stood on a ladder 5 feet off the ground while re-staining a section of the structure. “Our dad has passed away now, so it feels like he’s watching over us.”
Love Tuolumne County is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed earlier this year to organize such beautification projects and meet other needs within the community.
The project on Saturday served as a sort of soft relaunch for the group whose initial plans of organizing a county-wide volunteer day in April had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re just trying to make up for that effort through doing some smaller projects,” said Jon Foley, of Mi-wuk Village, who is part of the leadership team for Love Tuolumne County.
Projects such as the one on Saturday are made possible by the group’s sponsors that include the Sonora Area Foundation, Frontporch, Adventist Health Sonora, and a number of other local businesses.
Foley said that Twain Harte Lumber and Ace Hardware greatly reduced the price of the lumber for the project and donated about $500 to the costs, while Sonora Lumber donated the large beams for the playground’s swingset to replace the old ones that had become unsafe.
“We think it’s really important for families to feel supported in this community and provide safe places for our kids to go and have fun,” he said.
Howard White, of Columbia, is also part of the leadership team for Love Tuolumne County and helped with the effort on Saturday.
White said the core team behind the organization consists of Mario Delise, the head chaplain at Adventist Health Sonora,
and several others representing churches throughout the county, including himself and his wife, Nancy, of Sierra Bible Church; Foley, of Word of Life Fellowship; Bob Wilson, of Calvary Chapel Sonora; Nate Levering, of Sierra Bible Church; Nathan Morales, of Hilltop Church; and Nathan Renner, of Discover Life Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“Just because there are churches involved doesn’t mean it’s all faith based,” he said. “We are looking for everybody in the community who wants to volunteer and help make the community look better and meet needs in the community.”
The group hopes to be able to organize a county-wide volunteer day next year and is targeting a date in April if the pandemic allows by that time.
In the meantime, the group hopes to accomplish other small projects like the one Saturday leading up to next spring. Foley cited an expansion of the shed used by Tuolumne County Youth Soccer and fence repairs at Eproson Field as examples.
Foley said the group also plans to touch up some of the newly repainted roof sections on the Heaven for Kids playground structure and hopes to get enough volunteers together in the spring to re-stain all of the wood.