By jose negron
The COVID-19 pandemic is not expected to have an impact on a dek hockey fundraiser planned for this summer.
The Monongahela/Yough Rivers 3V3 Ironman Dek Hockey Tournament will be held July 11-12 at North Belle Vernon Community Bank Park and Bill’s Dek Hockey in Rostraver.
Proceeds will benefit North Belle Vernon Community Bank Park and its efforts to improve handicapped accessibility at the park, which already has equipment such as a wheelchair-accessible glider, a wheelchair swing and a series of special needs swings.
R.J. Sokol, a North Belle Vernon councilman and chairman of the North Belle Vernon Recreation Committee, said the project will include four different phases.
The first part of the nearly $140,000 project will involve paving, sealing and cleaning up the walking track that surrounds the park.
“We need to have a nice, clean walking track to help with mobility and keep people safe,” Sokol said.
In the second part of the project, the recreation committee will purchase specially designed wheelchair-accessible picnic tables in addition to specially designed aluminized bleachers.
If the committee receives grant funding it has applied for, it plans to purchase playground lighting as part of the third phase of the project. The final phase includes the purchase of century playground equipment.
“If your child has visual problems or hearing problems, we’re putting in special sensory equipment so they can come down and enjoy,” Sokol said. “That will be a part of the playground that we have.”
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