On Saturday, July 21st the Ballinger Junior Chamber of Commerce along with other volunteer citizens traveled down to the city park to paint the benches and playground equipment in order to keep the park looking good an to prevent it from falling into disrepair.
Cody Harral, Damian Willborn and Marina Dehoyas were the three Junior Chamber members that came up with the idea. Early in the summer the group were trying to find a project for the organization and decided that they would talk with Ballinger Chamber of Commerce President Tammie Virden to brainstorm ideas.
“When we talked to Mrs Virden we had to look at what we had the ability to accomplish with limited resources and time”, Cody said.
Once the Junior Chamber members decided what to do they had to seek approval from the City Council. With Cody and Damian both out of town for summer 7-on-7 football it was Marina who had to pitch the idea solo to the City Council. At the meeting the project got unanimous approval from the City Council. Next Damian and Marina had to pitch the idea to the Park Board, which also approved the project. Ballinger Lions Club donated a lift to help with painting as well as water for all of the students and volunteers that showed up to paint.
Cody, Damian and Marina all expressed how happy they were with the turnout, which at 9:00AM was approximately 30 individuals with more people coming and going throughout the morning. Although happy with the turnout the project is still not complete. “August 4th we will be painting the campground behind Toliver Brothers on the river”, said Marina.
If you go down to the Ballinger City Park and notice the fresh paint on the playground equipment, benches and the Indians Hill you have these young people that donated their time and energy into getting this project moving forward with only the reward of continuing to make Ballinger the ‘Best Little Town in Texas’.
