In the beginning of 2019, we hired our part-time Executive Director, Kylie Carroll! This was a turning point in our progress, to have a staff person to keep all sections of the Miracle Park team together. She started the year by learning about what we were doing, researching, and getting to know folks. She is a wonderful woman for the job. She has a background in special and early childhood education and is a proud mother of 5! What mom can't coordinate something like this when she coordinates 5 children!?! Kidus, her youngest, is such a sweetie! He's been a face in many of our promotions. He happens to have Down Syndrome, so she can really relate to parents and what they want for their children, too! We are blessed to have her represent us in the community!In January we ordered merchandise, which made it even more exciting to share our message with donors and at special events. We made bags of goodies for our donors; and we see shirts and mugs throughout the community all the time!
We benefitted from two events during Come-See-Me 2019. In the Road Race, folks were pushed by the F3 group partnered with Need for Speed.
And a baseball game highlighted Miracle Park and allowed us to have a table set up with volunteers.
We continued to work with Winthrop to create our art pieces for the donor area, including auditory and tactile walls, the donor wall, a sculpture, sensory path, and more!
We have so many partners we can't even list them all!
We reached out to the county through H-Tax and A-tax, but had no luck after presenting our info.
Ms. Davis,
Thank you for taking the time to submit your Hospitality Tax application to the York County Hospitality Tax Committee. Everyone on the Committee felt the Park will be a great addition to the Rock Hill park system. The Committee did not see the return to the unincorporated area that generates the Counties Hospitality tax revenue. Because of that the Committee voted unanimously against funding the project.
If anything changes that you feel like increases the impact to the unincorporated please feel free to resubmit another application.
Thank you again!
Kevin
Kevin Madden , CPAAssistant County ManagerTreasurer/CFO York County Government |
Roseanne and Chrissi, our "art leaders," work on the tiles that will go into the bathrooms painted by kids across Rock Hill, through Special Ed Rock Hill Special Ed teachers, Tara Park and Leslie Pursley. These are going to make the park so colorful and fun, even on the inside!
We had a fundraiser in the spring called Savor the Flavors. It raised over $40,000! Thanks, community! You are a great support!
In the spring, we chose the contractor, Leitner Construction, that would be working with us. We are excited to know they will take good care of us throughout the project and build it with passion and pride! Below are Jack Leitner, Heath Sessions (Moorhead Brothers), Kenny Smith (Leitner), and develop Warren Norman at the Fezziwig Ball.
Also, while waiting on lease agreements to be finalized, we met Ryan Doherty with Progressive AE. What a great relationship we found in him! There is a new concept in the world called Universal Design and he was instrumental in getting that started. He has already played a big part in helping design a YMCA up north and now he's not only helping us but covering the cost for it and donating his own time and resources. There are only about 13 certified places around the world and only 4 buildings in the United States. We will be the first certified park in the WORLD! Thanks, Ryan and Sandra Doherty!
In June we thought we were close and planned to break ground in July or August; but, looking back, we know we were postponed due to the State trying to make sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed.
Alice went to Denver in June and presented with the mayor and other representatives about the Miracle Park and other great things happening in Rock Hill. We were named one of the country's 20 All American Cities!
In July we held a meeting with those wanting to play a part in helping to build and raise funding and awareness for the park! We are excited about all the folks wanting to help; over 50 signed up. The meeting was great! Everyone shared why they were there and their passion for the park being built.
PICTURE OF THE FIRST MEETING
This is the first two organizational charts of this group that was formed.
We spoke at other events around town, getting the word out about what will be happening REAL SOON! David and Alice spoke at Rock Hill Brewery.
FINALLY in November we were able to sign the leases with Winthrop and the City of Rock Hill! Representatives from the city, Winthrop, press, Miracle Park, and others came together at Winthrop to sign on this VERY exciting, LONG awaited day!
Nov 2 - FanFest at Winthrop was where we had our first celebration of breaking ground! We had Leitner and Moorhead Brothers bring out equipment to have on site and we celebrated and did a press release.
Then, on December 11, when the Governor could join us, we held an official groundbreaking with MANY legislators and community members. It was a HUGE success!
Moorhead Brothers was the company that came in to knock down 7 acres of overgrown brush and many dead trees to clear the way for the park. We cannot thank them enough for DONATING their services to us; this was over $130,000 worth of work! Thank you, Moorhead Brothers and Heath Sessions, for leading the way! We appreciate you and ALL our sponsors and partners! 
In December we were the recipients of the Good Folks grant and got to present who we are in front of hundreds of people!
The Fezziwig Ball was held during ChristmasVille in early December and we had a blast! The awareness and funding were wonderful! The community is really getting behind us on support. We have over 400 donors at this point!
We have been out and about at many events, sharing our message, and made and released our first videos. Comporium is working on some additional ones for early 2020. We have a lot of "future" athletes wanting to help us get our message out! We are getting so excited! Ready for the completion of phase 1 in 2020~soon!
