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New walking trail at Leavittsburg park makes it a hidden jewel
By Ed Runyan
LEAVITTSBURG
It took determination for Lisa Collins to become an amateur grant writer. It took enthusiasm to inspire others to help her turn Johnson Community Center Park onto one of the hidden jewels of Trumbull County.
On Friday, Collins and other Warren Township residents cut the ribbon on the latest improvement to the Gillmer Road park – a .75-mile asphalt recreational trail that circles the 14-acre park.
Collins, who has lived on Gillmer Road with her husband, Bill, for close to 20 years, made up her mind to improve the park one day while taking her son Jarrett for a walk in his stroller along Gillmer Road in the late 1990s.
She realized that the road was dangerous for pedestrians and wished for another place to walk and play.
The project began with the trimming of trees along one side of the park near an existing playground. Bill took the lead on that project, which made the area look more attractive and safe.
That was followed by drainage improvements and repairs to the dugouts for the park’s three baseball fields.
Lisa wanted to see more modern playground equipment for the children and realized that wouldn’t be possible without financial help.
“I started doing some homework on grant writing,” she said. She learned about an Ohio Department of Natural Resources program called NatureWorks, which provides funding for “enhanced outdoor opportunities,” according to the ODNR website.
She succeeded in getting a $17,000 grant in 2006, and it propelled the $25,000 project. But she already was thinking about the need for a walking trail while completing the playground, she said.
But it was harder to find the right grant for a walking trail, and it took until 2013 for the timing to be right to secure a second NatureWorks grant – this one for $38,619.
For that grant to work, however, she needed to find other resources. One turned out to be Bill, who had worked in excavating for four years and provided much of the expertise and more than 100 hours of labor.
Other resources were Jarrett Collins, then 15, coaches from the LaBrae Hot Stove baseball and softball organization that uses the park and several other volunteers.
Lisa Collins also met Mel Milliron, who was then an educator for the Trumbull County Board of Health and a member of the Trumbull County Creating Healthy Communities committee under the Ohio Department of Health.
Milliron said the walking trail fit perfectly with the goals of the committee – increasing resources for physical activity – and it provided $8,500.
Milliron also helped to secure assistance from Lafarge North America Lordstown Construction Recovery, which pitched in with low-cost construction materials, including slag.
“In 23 years as a health educator, this is one of the best community projects in the county,” Milliron said during Friday’s ceremony.
“I can’t say enough about the Collins family,” Warren Township Trustee Terry Ambrose said during opening remarks. “They really worked physically hard.”