City to receive $95,000 donation

Published 10:14 pm Wednesday, March 6, 2019

The Obici Healthcare Foundation has donated $95,000 to Suffolk’s Department of Parks and Recreation to go toward projects at two city locations.

Lake Meade Park’s inclusive playground will get $50,000 to go toward buying a swing bay, spinner and benches, and to upgrade its walkways and landscaping.

The other $45,000 will go to the Booker T. Washington Joint Use Recreation Center to resurface the tennis courts to be laid out for different court games. The money will also go to putting in benches, litter receptacles, shade structures and making Americans with Disabilities Act improvements at the playground.

Email newsletter signup

The City Council was required to approve an ordinance to accept the money, and did so at its meeting Wednesday. The donation did not require a local match.

Annette Beuchler, the president and chief executive officer of the Obici Healthcare Foundation, said in a letter that the grant was approved at the organization’s Jan. 22 board meeting.

Terry Baronner, parks manager for Suffolk Parks and Recreation, said last month that Lake Meade Park’s inclusive playground needs to have rubber surfacing put in and had noted the grant money to help with putting in three to four ADA-compliant swings.