photo by: Contributed Photos

Volunteers from Rock Hill Church and Ballard Center board member Michelle Chronister spread rubber mulch at one of the Ballard Center's playgrounds in the summer of 2020.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Ballard Center Executive Director Becky Price was bracing for a 150% increase in people needing help and a 50% decrease in donors. But nine months into the pandemic, the nonprofit leader said no donor decrease has occurred. She’s had a “front row seat” to the community’s generosity, she said — and especially so in her own North Lawrence community.

“People are stepping up to the plate. It is shocking and amazing to me,” she said.

Price said there’s been a “drastic” increase in families and community members who need help this year, and as with most nonprofits, it’s been a lot of work. The Ballard Center provides affordable early-education programming and essential basic life assistance for families and individuals in need. But despite the stressful year and some anxiety about the year to come, Price said she’s feeling positive and grateful about the way the community has stepped up.

“It’s hard for me not to mention all the wonderful things,” she said. “The way this community has pulled together has been nothing short of amazing.”

When COVID-19 first hit, Price was busy delivering meals to those in need and collecting boxes of toiletries, diapers and other essentials. She figured the center’s project to re-mulch its playgrounds would have to be put on hold, but instead, the Ballard Center treasurer enlisted the help of neighborhood, county and metro partners to see the mulch project to completion.

From March until June, treasurer Greg Gardner led the effort to re-mulch the nonprofit’s two playgrounds, one of which had become overgrown and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Douglas County Community Foundation had given the Ballard Center a grant for $9,000, which Gardner said would have been enough money to re-mulch the small playground, but he decided to stretch the money and see if they could fix up both.

Gardner got a good deal on the rubber mulch from Kansas City-based company Rooster Rubber Inc., free labor from Douglas County company Bohman Excavating Inc. and about $30,000 worth of free labor from North Lawrence-based company Lawrence Landscape and a group of volunteers from Rock Hill Church, who helped spread the mulch. Gardner, who is a retired major general of the U.S. Air Force, also put some of his own money into the project.

The new blue rubber mulch was completed by the time the kids returned to school, and Gardner said it’s “the most wonderful thing” to see the kids enjoy it.

“They just love playing in it and they don’t get eaten up by mosquitoes,” he said.

photo by: Contributed Photo

Sterling is pictured in the summer of 2020 playing on the new mulch in one of the center’s playgrounds.

Bohman Excavating, who dug out the two playgrounds so they could be re-mulched, also dug out some land in the front of the center and donated rocks for it. Lawrence Landscape then donated shrubs. So on top of the playground revamp, the front of the building also got a facelift.

“I would get to work in the morning and there’d be all kinds of activity,” Price said. “In the midst of COVID I did not lift a finger to have any of that done.”

Now, this month, Price said she’s once again experiencing the generosity of the community through the annual Holiday Bureau Adopt-A-Family fundraising event.

Each year, the Ballard Center is one of multiple nonprofits that give donations from community members to families seeking to purchase holiday gifts. This year, Price said the number of families who have signed up for the service has tripled. Despite that, Price said they have more community members adopting a family than the Ballard Center has families to adopt.

Price also knows she can count on a generous contribution from the North Lawrence Neighborhood Association.

Ted Boyle, president of the association, has been collecting contributions to the Adopt-A-Family fund from North Lawrence businesses for about 15 years, he said. They typically raise about $5,000 from North Lawrence business owners, and those funds always go specifically to North Lawrence families in need.

Boyle visits around 30 North Lawrence businesses in person to ask for donations.

“They see me walk through the door, they get the checkbook out and the money starts flowing,” he said, adding that he’ll start getting phone calls from businesses if he shows up later in the year than normal, wondering where he is.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Boyle said they were up to $4,889 in donations, and he still had more businesses to visit. He anticipates they’ll receive close to $6,000 in donations this year.

One North Lawrence business that is especially generous is the Flamingo Club. For the past two years, the owners have purchased $1,000 worth of bikes from Lawrence Re-Cyclery, another North Lawrence business, to donate to the Ballard Center, as well as contributed an additional amount for the Adopt-A-Family drive.

Typically, the donation from the North Lawrence Neighborhood Association covers six North Lawrence families in need and provides the Ballard Center an additional couple of thousand dollars to use however it might need.

Boyle said The Ballard Center was a big part of the North Lawrence community, as well as a major asset.

“This is how North Lawrence takes care of our community over here, by doing this,” Boyle said. “North Lawrence, we are a special community.”