It was an exciting couple of days as numerous volunteers showed up this summer to help make renovations to the Seaman Lions Club Park, right in the center of the village of Seaman, and directly under the mural depicting early Seaman history, including a painting of Franklin Seaman, the village’s namesake who donated land to build a depot on the railroad, and Adams County historian and Seaman resident, Stephen Kelley.
The Adams County Creating Healthy Communities Program (ACCHCP), partnering with the Seaman Lions Club, worked together to improve this local park so that families and children in the area had more opportunities to be more physically active.
Funding for the improvements came from a grant through the Adams County Creating Healthy Communities Program, a grant funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and through the Ohio Department of Health.
Debbie Ryan, Coordinator for the ACCHCP, said, “This grant is intended to assist with promoting active living and to increase access to healthy eating for the residents of Adams County. The Seaman Lions Club, who already had a very well-maintained park, was very eager to partner with us to make improvements that would enhance everyone’s opportunity to use the park for activities that would increase physical activity, for adults, kids, and anyone with a disability.”
Long-standing partners of ACCHCP and the Adams County Health and Wellness Coalition, GE-Peebles Test Operation sent a group of volunteers through the GE Volunteers global network to do the work. GE Aviation is proud to encourage and support employee and retiree volunteerism and believes that a significant measure of GE’s business success is found in the impact on the lives and communities where GE employees live and work. GE volunteers carry out a wide range of projects in the areas of community service, education, the environment and health/human services. In addition to painting and cleaning at the Seaman Lions Club Park, the GE-Peebles volunteers assembled and installed a new swing set, complete with an adapted swing seat so that children with disabilities may be able to enjoy the park and swing, installed a new bike rack and bike fix-it station, installed a new concrete sidewalk, and assisted with the installation of a new water fountain and bottle filling station.
According to GE-Peebles Test Operation Volunteer Coordinator and GE Community Service Fund Board Member, Leeann Puckett, “In Adams County, it is a wonderful, rewarding partnership to get out in our community and help with projects. We work hard to be good mentors and coaches in our schools and community, and certainly with the youth.”
“We have a terrific network of people wanting to help make Adams County a safe, healthy place to live, work, learn, play and worship,” added Ryan.
