Multiple student groups from Stetson University spent several weeks last semester volunteering to help rebuild Freedom Playground, a favorite play area for local children of all ages. After 20 years of wear and tear and the extremes of Florida weather, the playground had fallen into decline and had to be demolished. But, just as it had been built originally, the DeLand community came together and volunteered their time to build it again–bigger and better than before. Located at Bill Dreggors Park, 230 N. Stone Street, DeLand, the Freedom Playground project attracted help from Stetson’s lacrosse team, football team, the beach volleyball team and several Greek Life organizations.

The overall project was led by retired volunteer Ed Honeycut, who worked with all the community volunteers, including the students. “All of the organizations were a lot of fun and easy to work with because they followed instructions,” Honeycut said.

Larry Flynn, another volunteer leader who worked with Honeycut to coordinate the project, added: “Stetson’s contributions were great on this project. There were always many helpers from Stetson to cover all three shifts.”

There was no shortage of work that needed to be done in the whole rebuilding process. “There were many chores that Stetson students helped us out on,” said Rick Hall, director of Parks and Recreation with the City of DeLand. “The football players came out and helped us with digging some holes and setting some posts. Members of the lacrosse team helped with securing boards together and also helped set some posts. It was really great, since we were kind of short on volunteers that weekend. So when they showed up, it really helped our numbers and the morale of the group.”

Contributions from both Stetson University and the local community helped the project move along smoothly. “We did what we could to help them finish on time,” said James Jenkins, public relations chair for his fraternity, Sigma Nu. “They were so happy to see a bunch of college guys ready to help out. It felt really good to give back to the community, especially after seeing other community volunteers helping out who had helped build the original park years ago. We became a part of this long standing legacy.”

Freedom Playground was completed on schedule in the fall, thanks to everyone’s hard work, and kids of all ages enjoyed the new renovated park over the holidays.

by David Baker