The Park Is Only $17 Million Away

Katie Minchew went to today’s meeting at the Hunt building to hear about the latest fundraising news regarding The Park.

Today the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation announced “significant progress in the capital campaign.” Since I have been following the construction of The Park on FrontBurner, I was invited to the press conference to meet some of the new donors.

After a little meet and greet, Mayor Tom Leppert spoke, thanking everyone who is involved with the project. Today we met donors Linda and Mitch Hart and two members of the Richard Fisher family. Along with the other new donors, nearly $9 million was donated. They are only $17 million away from completing this campaign, which strangely, doesn’t sound like much to me.

While the new donors were announced, a small group of kids from Laureate Preparatory School, which is five blocks away from The Park, waited impatiently for their turn to be in the spotlight. The kids stole the show as they presented the Mayor and new donors with framed Crayola-inspired artwork of The Park.

But I think Mayor Leppert’s statement defined the purpose of The Park best: “What once was the divider is now the magnet.”—Katie Minchew