Quoted from the Washington County News Paper” “There comes a time when you must give credit where credit is due and the town of Millry definetely deserves some credit. Mayor Roy Chapman and the town council are undertaking a huge task in revamping their town park, which is in poor condition and has been an eyesore compared to many other parks in the area for years. But with a vision and a goal in the mind of the board, things are about to change. I think that the town deserves a big pat on the back for this project. Some improvements have been made to the existing field, but it is still not up to par in comparision to the fine facilities in Choctaw County and Chatom. The kids really have nothing to take pride in or appreciate and this is a shame. Now to the town of Millry as a whole: it is time for you to step up to the plate. This is a fine project on paper, but it is up to the town to complete what you have started and this takes a lot of money. It would be impossible for one or two people to fund the project, but as a whole, you can unite and get it complete in no time. To date $33,000.00 has been raised through fundraiser and donations. While that is a good hunk of change and very appreciated, they still need around $70,000 more. I encourage you to help with this effort. There are plenty of fund raisers in the making to help relieve some of the financial pressure on the project. You may never use the facility or get any good out of its existence, but there is a whole community of kids that need the facility in the worst kind of way. One day, it will be your kids and grandkids who is on the field and you will be glad that you help make such a great facility possible”...Story by Cory Brown (Washington County News Reporter)
I quoted this article for you so you could get a good understanding of what is going on in our town. The Mayor and Council have agreed to put up $100,000 to go towards the new park and are in the process of applying for a $50,000 grant through ADECA. The citizens hope to raise $100,000 to go towards the $100,000 the Mayor and council agreed upon. We the citizens has formed committees that are meeting once a month to go over progress and upcoming fundraisers. Our next fundraiser will be a Mens Softball Tournament to be held at Millry High School Baseball Field on June 9th beginning at 9:00am.
So far 10 teams have entered and we will have another Mens tournament on June 28th, same place and time. We are hoping to raise lots of money at these tournaments to go towards our park funds. On the 4th of July , we will have a 4th of July Blast from 5:00pm-9:00pm at our existing park and a fireworks show at the Millry State Lake at 9:00pm.
We would like to see if anyone could come to our town and cover this story up to the “Ground Breaking” of our new park!!! We will know by the end of December if we are awarded the walking trail grant which will connect our soccer fields to the park and April 2009 results from the Park and Recreation Grant. At that time, if we do not get the grant for the park we will go forward with the project with the money raised and the town’s $100,000. We would like to get the word out to everyone that we are serious about this project and will not stop until our goal is reached!!!
If you can help, please contact Kim Anderson at the Millry Town Hall. 251-846-2698 or 251-242-0373. Our heart and soul is in this project and we want to see a brighter future for our children! Thanks in advance for your support, Kim Anderson (Project Manager)
