After the June 23 floods led to the consolidation of Elkview Middle School and Herbert Hoover High School, YMCA of Kanawha Valley aquatics and member services director Erin Dydland has had her hands full coordinating a program to help the displaced students.
After the flood damage closed Herbert Hoover High School, all high school students attend class at Elkview Middle School. To accommodate all grade levels, the middle schoolers attend class in the morning and leave before high schoolers arrive at noon.
As a solution, the YMCA, Kanawha County Schools and Coonskin Park joined together to provide an afternoon program for the middle schoolers who can't go home after their morning classes end.
Dydland said the program is going well so far: students from West Virginia State University had done a healthy habits of eating lesson with the kids, and other community organizations had helped participate in programs. The YMCA feeds the children lunch, then the children are able to participate in swim lessons, tutoring, archery, swimming and other free play activities at the park. "We appreciate you opening your doors for the kids," Dydland told the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission at its meeting Wednesday
Dydland said about 50 middle school students are using the program, with buses shuttling the students from the middle school to the park and then home at 3 p.m.
About 12 of those families use the YMCA's afterschool program until 6 p.m.
In other board discussion, the Big Bend Golf Course in Tornado has been doing exceptionally well this year, golf committee chairman Dave Pope told the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission. He credited the park's success to the new superintendent.
"The new superintendent has done an outstanding job," Pope said.
Jeff Hutchinson, executive director of the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, said he's noticed the parking lot is full on most evenings, with about 50 cars on average.
"We didn't have that before," Hutchinson said. "We had gaps from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. then a little bit of play in the evening. If we didn't have a league or something, you could kick a tumbleweed through there."
Hutchinson said the course has seen an increase of 500 rounds of golf played from June of 2015.
The Schoenbaum Soccer Stadium in Coonskin Park will be ready for the fall season on Friday after a summer of replacing the turf and making upgrades.
Betty Schoenbaum, the stadium's namesake, made a $200,000 donation after hearing the University of Charleston refused money to fix the turf earlier in the summer. At that point, the Kanawha County Board of Education and Charleston Catholic had already pledged donations. The Kanawha County Commission also gave $100,000 to Coonskin Park to fix the turf, which was only nine years old but had already deteriorated.
The Coonskin Foundation Fundraiser that was planned before the June 23 flood will be pushed back until the spring to keep competition away from flood relief fundraisers, Pope said.
"The flooding fundraising is definitely more important than ours," Pope said.
Kanawha County Parks Police Chief G. E. Amburgey told the parks commission about the new camera system in Pioneer Park, which helped catch late night trespassers in the pool. After identifying the teenagers from the security footage, Amburgey went door to door talking to the teenagers and their parents.
"In the beginning [one of the parents] wasn't happy. A week later when I re-contacted him he thanked me because he found out his son had a drinking problem he wasn't aware of," Amburgey said. There have been no break-ins to the pool's park since.
Reach Laura Haight at laura.haight@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @laurahaight_ on Twitter.