Family needs community support to build skate park
Updated: February 12, 2013
LOVINGTON -- The parents of a boy killed in a car crash want to build a skate park in his memory, but they need your help. On January 29, 2011, 27-year old Michael Martin died in a car crash.
His two sons and their friend, Dakota, were in the car as well. Now Dakota's mom and dad are taking action to remember them with a skate park.
It's a project Candi Bennett and her husband have been working on for two years. So far they've raised $42,000, but still need $5,000 more and only have a month to get it.
"Having the skate park will never bring back our son, but it's something that I wanted to do for their friends that they left behind," said Bennett.
But time is running out to bring her son's passion to Lovington.
"We thought that we had all the money raised for the park until about two weeks ago," said Bennett. That's when she found out some grant money fell through.
"We were devastated. We thought we had done it. We thought that we were ready," said Bennett.
So her community is stepping in to help.
"It makes us feel pretty amazing to know that there are still people behind us," said Bennett.
"It's important for them, our friends. It's important for the community. They lost their children. We and everybody lost their friends. My kids lost their friends. So it affected the whole community," said Brian Cumbridge. He and his wife own Lovington Car Wash.
For the next month they're donating 100% of their proceeds to the skate park fund. They're also matching all the money they raise.
"It's going to take every bit of it and then some. Hopefully we can pull it off," said Cumbridge.
If they do, the next step is getting the green light from the village board.
"All those boys loved to do it. I think it'd be a good thing for the town, for the boys, a good memorial," said Cumbridge.
"I definitely feel like it's within reach. It's a tight deadline and I hope we can get there," said Bennett.
Her deadline is March 4. That's when the village board will vote on it.
If you want to donate, head to the car wash on State St. in Lovington, across from Shooters.
Or send a check:
Lovington Skate Park
415 S. Panther St.
Lovington, IL 61937
His two sons and their friend, Dakota, were in the car as well. Now Dakota's mom and dad are taking action to remember them with a skate park.
It's a project Candi Bennett and her husband have been working on for two years. So far they've raised $42,000, but still need $5,000 more and only have a month to get it.
"Having the skate park will never bring back our son, but it's something that I wanted to do for their friends that they left behind," said Bennett.
But time is running out to bring her son's passion to Lovington.
"We thought that we had all the money raised for the park until about two weeks ago," said Bennett. That's when she found out some grant money fell through.
"We were devastated. We thought we had done it. We thought that we were ready," said Bennett.
So her community is stepping in to help.
"It makes us feel pretty amazing to know that there are still people behind us," said Bennett.
"It's important for them, our friends. It's important for the community. They lost their children. We and everybody lost their friends. My kids lost their friends. So it affected the whole community," said Brian Cumbridge. He and his wife own Lovington Car Wash.
For the next month they're donating 100% of their proceeds to the skate park fund. They're also matching all the money they raise.
"It's going to take every bit of it and then some. Hopefully we can pull it off," said Cumbridge.
If they do, the next step is getting the green light from the village board.
"All those boys loved to do it. I think it'd be a good thing for the town, for the boys, a good memorial," said Cumbridge.
"I definitely feel like it's within reach. It's a tight deadline and I hope we can get there," said Bennett.
Her deadline is March 4. That's when the village board will vote on it.
If you want to donate, head to the car wash on State St. in Lovington, across from Shooters.
Or send a check:
Lovington Skate Park
415 S. Panther St.
Lovington, IL 61937
