Love County Legacy Park Will Get Us Moving!
Posted on Friday, February 1st, 2013
Reprinted from Senior News
of Retired Senior Volunteer Service (RSVP)
Design of Love County Legacy Park
The Love County Community Coalition is in the second year of a fitness and nutrition grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement and Endowment Trust (TSET).
The purpose of the grant is to increase opportunities for people to find and consume healthy foods and to engage in regular physical activity where they live, work, and go to school.
From this endeavor, the Coalition’s Health and Fitness Committee – the TSET grant implementer – has drawn vigorous support from community partners like Mercy Health/Love County Hospital.
The Hospital, in the interest of preventing chronic illness by helping patients be fit and healthy, recently proposed that 10 acres of land on the north side of the facility be put to use for trails and recreation.
Plans for Love County Legacy Park are to have a one-mile trail around the circumference of the acreage, suitable for walking, jogging, biking, skateboarding, and roller skating.
The trail will be paved for wheelchair accessibility.
Future trails are anticipated that will connect to Shellenberger Park, one-half mile east, and to the nursing home one-quarter mile west.
The Love County Commissioners, acting on behalf of the county-owned hospital, has applied for a $162,000 recreational trails grant from the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation.
In addition, Commissioners voted at their January 14 meeting to provide matching support for the grant. The match would be $5,000 from each of the three Commission Districts in in-kind labor and equipment for the trails project.
Plans for the interior of the park call for exercise stations with workout equipment, a disc golf course, a water splash pad, sheltered spaces for a farmer’s market, restrooms, and a parking area.
The Hospital administrator, Richard Barker, and the Hospital Mission Team have been working closely with the Commissioners and the Health and Fitness Committee.
Eyvonna Lemons is chair of the Health and Fitness Committee. Laura Keith, fulltime project coordinator for the committee, helped write the application for the recreational trails grant.
Love County Legacy Park will give citizens of all ages the opportunity to engage in regular physical exercise and have a source for seasonal fruits and vegetables.
The Love County Community Coalition salutes Mercy Health/Love County Hospital, the Love County Commissioners, and the Health and Fitness Committee!