2018 update on the park's progress

2018 update

In early 2018, we seemed to be moving quickly and released the following info:

Phase One, in addition to infrastructure improvements, will include a “miracle” baseball field which will be custom-designed to help prevent injuries. The rubberized turf fields accommodate wheelchairs and other assertive devices. A playground is also part of the first phase which has an overall budget of approximately $1.775 million, including the $550,000 from the City’s share of accommodations taxes used to encourage tourism. The Foundation is raising the remaining $1.225 million. It is projected that funds will be in place for the park to be under construction by Summer 2018.

Future phases of the park are expected to include another baseball field, multipurpose fields, walking trails, shelters, additional parking and retail space, such as a coffee shop, to employ people with disabilities.

Rock Hill Miracle Park Leadership Team: Warren Norman, chair; Kennedi Christopher, Jamey Dagenhart, Alice Davis, Freddy Faircloth, Sig Huitt, J. Robert Hyman, Mary Poole, Mark Sexton, Michelle Shaffer, John Taylor and David Williams.

In April we saw an updated site plan and realized that a summer date for phase 1 was not going to happen. We were still waiting the approval of the State of SC since Winthrop's land is state property.

Also in the beginning of 2018, we started to reach out to major donors and got some big commitments early on, showing the community's support and passion for our developing park:

After these big players committed a total of nearly $2,000,000, we had more come on board, including our first two third-party fundraisers that committed to raising money during the fall of 2018!

The Junior Welfare League raised $80,000 in the fall of 2008!!!!!

May 2008 Renderings!  

After this plan was first talked about during a Kiwanis meeting in the Palmetto Room, it started to hit the news. This story aired on Charlotte station WBTV.
WBTV story

Scott Cunningham and others pitched a playground idea to us and we chose Gametime and Scott Cunningham to complete our project!  The first images show the rectangle shape, 100 feet long!

Since we were getting close to starting our project, we had some "Coming Soon" signs created. We were getting ready to go!


In June we talked with Bruce Brumfield of Founders Federal Credit Union.  He had quite the story of the experience of what it was like to be in a wheelchair just last year.  He knows the need for this and they committed $500,000!  We added them to the list of donors!

David and Alice visited the Myrtle Beach Miracle Field and Savannah's Playground in the summer of 2008. While there, we met with Gary Schaal who is a past president of the PGA!  They are creating a golf project in Myrtle Beach to serve veterans and those who are disabled. We hope to have some sort of partnership one day.

June 2019

Upon viewing the site, it was determined that a low-lying area had to be avoided, so the playground lost a corner and we had a new site plan!

In July we had the first draft of the agreements ready for the City and Winthrop to sign.  Warren was creating our first budget and we started talking about hiring an Executive Director to coordinate all the moving pieces and do more fundraising for us. There was talk of the fields being larger to hold games for older kids like at Cherry Park with PRT; what the donor wall area should look like; how a golf piece could be a part of the project, etc. Smaller donors started coming in...things were rolling!

In August of 2008 we received the first renderings of what the buildings might look like!

We began conversations about getting a mascot for the park and considered using Booker the Baseball from Warren Norman's Baxter's Bunch series,but after discussion with the Foundation Board, we decided it would be best to probably wait on that.

Fall 2018

- Website was created by JEWEL; brochures were printed; downpayment was made on a mascot. Teachers in Rock Hill Schools were made aware of the project;  Leslie Pursley and Tara Parks stepped up to help us by serving as a link for the teachers. We spoke with the Special Services Associate Superintendents as well.

The first box of T-shirts were ordered and folks loved getting them to wear around town!

In October we got word that the Springs-Close Foundation and family members were committing $500,000!  We are rolling with donations coming in from individuals, too!

We also heard from Warren Norman Company that they are not only donating the development piece of the project but are also committed to donating $250,000!  We are beyond blessed!

As 2018 ended, we were waiting on approval from Winthrop  on the contract for the use of their land and interviewed applicants for the Executive Director position, which will be around 25 hours a week, part-time.

2017 History of the Miracle Park

March 2017 – We made a presentation to Parks, Recreation, and Tourism and it was received well.  They want to be a part of it, run the leagues, maintain the park, etc., once it is completed.  

August 2017 – We finally got the official word that Winthrop and the City were on board!  

September 2017 - A presentation by Warren Norman and David Williams to the City Council led to a $550,000 commitment to help build the infrastructure of the park and the facilities. 

The First Site Plan was released in 2017. 

November 2017 - a logo was created!  And the media started to hear about it. A few small articles were released.  We started to look for grant opportunities and worked with the City on what that would look like and how that would make a difference in paying for the park. The cost was now set at $4,000,000, but the land was valued at $2,000,000, for a total of a $6,000,000 budget. 

We soon realized that this logo couldn't work since this is not officially a city park like the others, so we eventually changed it. 

We started to tell organizations about our park and explained the fundraising element of it and why the breakdown works. 

This was an important step which allowed the community to see that this is a program of The Disabilities Foundation which serves MaxAbilities.  It's a public/private partnership. 

2016 Miracle Park history

To be able to keep records of the process of creating the park, we will try to document as much as possible in our blog.  This is year #1. 

April 12, 2016 – first conversation... David Williams asked Warren Norman if anyone had thought about building a park in Rock Hill and about the feasibility of doing so.  

April 13, 2016 – Warren emailed Alice Davis about the conversation with David:  "At this point, I’m going to email you, David, Jamey (in my office) and possibly John Gettys, the chairman of the sports commission.  Jamey is very involved with the special needs community and helped start All American Athletes with Lesslie Pursley, and also started Just Joy at our church.  Both have grown and done well.

Our point is this: If we get the Foundation Board, the Sports Commission, the City, and private individuals interested in pursuing the building of a Miracle Field, I think this could happen."

More conversations happened after that.  David Williams knew that a coach at Rock Hill High School had worked on trying to get a field to Rock Hill in the past, so he wrote to David and Alice the email below  

Alice, 

I am blessed to work with a group of people who work hard in their lives to impact others.  Mr. Williams is a key piece in that.  I do not have a huge amount of information or planning done at this point.  I simply had a vision, asked a couple people where to start, and suddenly here we are.  I did contact Miracle League and got a "How To" packet of information sent over.  I have also researched field building and maintenance costs.  I have attached a cost breakdown from 2011, but it appears $250,000 is on the low end.  I have seen many more in the $1 - 1.5 Million range.  Labor fees greatly affect these numbers, so we may want to begin going to work on local companies and laying ground work in the near future.  Other things to consider are parking lots, restrooms, concessions, shade stations, and playgrounds.  The issue with existing structures that we would add on to is the lack of adequate facilities for a large population of people who have a need for assistance.  The job is large, and to do it right will take major funding.  All the more reason to get it done, in my opinion. 

David/Alice, 

I hope this conversation is the beginning something special.  I am certainly uneducated when it comes to the process for these things, but I also know that nothing worth doing
 comes easy.

Let me know where to move next.

Patrick Elias, M.Ed.
School Counselor (P-Sp)
Rock Hill High School
(803) 981-1307
PElias@rhmail.org

A few conversations and a summer later...

End of June 2016 – Foundation Board approved to move forward

August 25 2016 -- meeting at Millstone
Those involved:

Mary Poole:  YCBDSN Director

Alice Davis:  YCBDSN Board & Foundation Member-Special Education background

David Williams:  Sports Commission Member-initiated conversation on this topic

John Gettys:  Sports Commission Director-good to get Sports Commission involved with this project if possible

Mark Sexton:  City of Rock Hill PRT-has looked at this project in the past with individuals in town.

Jamey Dagenhart:  Helped start and runs All American Athletes & Just Joy Christian Ministry at First ARP

Patrick Elias:  Rock Hill High Baseball Coach-recently interested in pursuing this project

Warren Norman:  YCBDSN former board member/current Foundation member-Special Ed background.

David Linder: PRT department, runs leagues

This was a very excited and eager group at the meeting.  We felt it was best to move 
forward on this "field" we wanted to build, but we knew it could be much more than that.  Warren and David spoke about putting the field on property that already held a city park. The City liked that idea; the field needed to be renovated anyway.  So we moved forward with reaching out to Winthrop about possibly using their adjacent property to make this much larger and more impactful, with many more elements like multi-purpose fields and even a cafe! 

Email from Mark Sexton, PRT Department left us feeling excited:

From: "Sexton, Mark" <Mark.Sexton@cityofrockhill.com>
To: "Warren Norman" <wnorman@warrennormaninc.com>, "David Williams" <dwilliams@wfcorp.com>, "Alice Davis" <adavis@wfcorp.com>
Cc: "John Gettys" <John.Gettys@mortongettys.com>, "Jamey Dagenhart" <jdagenhart@warrennormaninc.com>, "Mary Poole Cell" <mpoole@yorkdsnb.org>, "Patrick Elias" <PElias@rhmail.org>, "Linder, David" <David.Linder@cityofrockhill.com>, "John Black" <jblack@picadvisors.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 7:26:22 PM
Subject: RE: Miracle Field Meeting

Good evening everyone.  As an fyi and follow-up, the Parks Commission discussed the Miracle Field tonight and it was received very well.  We have done some additional research on the fields and surface types etc. We also discussed with them about potentially utilizing Winthrop Park, which was also well received.  Looking forward to further updates.

Dec 2 2016 – Heard about FM’s efforts to build a $750,000 playground but we didn't let this hold us back.  We spoke to them and knew our community could use both of these.  We pushed forward with conversations with Winthrop University's Board of Directors on the use of the property.