Members of the Orrville Community have come together to find the resources to give the playground at Salem Elementary School a much-needed facelift.

One of these individuals, Michelle Merchant, noticed the condition of the playground at the end of July during the Salem Elementary Back to School Bash.

Merchant and other members of the community in attendance at the event concluded that the playground would look much better with fresh paint and the weeds and ants removed.

With the money left over from the Back to School Bash, Merchant felt they had a good start in freshening up the playground.
Merchant said that the community has really come out to support the project, with Salem Elementary Principal Chinita Irby and Dallas County Commissioner Curtis Williams showing their full support for the community playground.

“We’ve received many donations from people in the community, things like paint and brushes,” she said. “I think this playground is really important to the community because so many people in the Orrville community attended Salem, or their kids and grandkids attend Salem.”

In addition to the resources needed to paint, weed and eradicate the playground of ants, Merchant is in the process of securing donors to provide a picnic table and a couple of benches to the playground.

Merchant has also discussed the possibility of acquiring new sand from the playground from the Dallas County Commission.

According to Merchant, Commissioner Larry Nickles has told her he’ll discuss the idea with the Dallas County Commission at their work session on Friday.

As someone with nieces and nephews at the school, it’s important to Merchant that the playground look nice.

“I think that a brightly colored playground would let the children know that the community is behind them,” she said. “The children are our future and they need to know we stand behind them.”

To donate or become involved with the Community Playground Project, set for Saturday, Sept. 14, contact Merchant at (334) 581-5779, Lamesha Young at (334) 412-0051or LaToyia Tolbert at (334) 419-6027.