'Tisn't About Morrisville, but 'tis a good thing

With sincere and heartfelt thanks to Marla Dorrel for her years long and continuing effort. The Kids Together Playground at Marla Dorrel Park. It's perfect.

(Reprinted with the author's permission)

Kids Together park renamed for Dorrel
Adam Arnold, Staff Writer
Marla Dorrel had no idea what was coming Thursday night.
The former Cary Town Council member knew that a resolution in her honor was on the council’s agenda but had no clue what the honor was.

Just moments into the meeting, she learned that Marla Dorrel Park is the new name of the facility christened as Kids Together Park in 2000.

“What a wonderful surprise and it was a huge surprise,” Dorrel said in an interview Friday. “I had no idea that this was coming.”

Dorrel, who served on the Town Council from 1999 to 2007, raised funds for the park’s construction. She also serves as president of Kids Together Inc., a nonprofit organization that backs the park. The park is located at 111 Thurston Drive in south Cary.

The concept for the park emerged in 1994 and was originally spearheaded by then 8-year-olds Helen Rittelmeyer and Kristin Holcombe. The pair, who have siblings with special needs, learned of the town’s interest in creating a playground similar to a handicapped-accessible play area in Raleigh. They began fundraising for the project with bake sales, craft bazaars and Beanie Baby raffles.

The play equipment was specially designed to be accessible to all children. Play structures and other structures are built to allow wheelchair access and to help the visually impaired use the facilities.

Dorrel said that as longtime Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources volunteer Tom Hemrick read the proclamation, she wondered how the “Kids Together” part of the name would be handled. It is now known as “Kids Together Playground at Marla Dorrel Park.”

Regarding the inclusion of the original name, she said she appreciated “how tidily it had been taken care of.”

Bruce Brown, who in the early 1990s was a member of what is now the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board, recruited Dorrel for the fundraising in 1994.

Former Town Council member Richard Burton had recommended her, Brown said.

Brown and Dorrel first discussed the project on a Saturday at an area Chik-fil-a.

At the time Dorrel had no fundraising experience.

“Fortunately for the playground she decided to get involved,” Brown said.

Brown, an original director for Kids Together, still serves on the board. The aim was to build a playground that integrated facilities for both able-bodied and disabled children, Brown said.

“We got out to do something that really hadn’t been done in Cary or the surrounding area,” Brown said.

Hemrick, also a director of the nonprofit organization, said the honor was fitting.

“Marla Dorrel is an unselfish person who gives back to the community many times over,” Hemrick said. “I love the fact that this thing was a total surprise.”

Hemrick said that the project was “a dream” for the two girls and that Dorrel’s involvement really helped move it forward.

Though Dorrel was an executive with Time Warner Cable at the time she got involved with Kids Together, her academic and professional background was in special education. Bringing those elements back into her life was part of the park’s appeal.

“Something that was really missing from my life was working with kids,” Dorrel said.

“I was able to draw on my education and teaching experience. It had to do with kids, it had to do with special needs. It was a great way to meet people.”

Dorrel said she ended up raising about $300,000 for the park, which cost a total of about $1 million.

There was also a significant contribution of sweat equity by volunteers and Kids Together leaders.

“They put out the mulch and raised the money at the same time,” Hemrick said.

Dorrel said the volunteers looked at other successful private-public partnerships, especially the work that had been done to restore the Page-Walker Arts & History Center.

She said she also got a lot of encouragement to stick with it.

“The momentum was strong and the public support was strong,” Dorrel said. “It was easy for the town to say ‘yes.’ … We worked so hard for it to be everyone’s park and everyone’s playground.”

After nearly a decade and a half of involvement with the park, it is still clear how tightly bound she feels to it. “Other than my house,” Dorrel said, “there’s not another piece of land in Cary where I feel more at home.”

Contact Adam Arnold at 460-2609 or aarnold@nando.com.
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