Hopes for a renovation of the track at Nunley Stadium got a major boost with the approval of a Rotary cooperative grant.
The five-lane track will get a new, easy-on-the-foot rubberized surface, along with other repairs and improvements in the facility funded by The Rotary Club of McMinnville and local donors more than 25 years ago.
“We are delighted to report the approval of our application for the Rotary District 6780 matching grant,” McMinnville Noon Rotary member Zach Sutton said in taping a TV special for release from the Warren County School System’s WCS-TV YouTube service.
Rotary is contributing $40,000 toward the estimated $120,000 total cost with the balance to be raised from business and individual contributions in Warren County in partnership with the local school system, Sutton explained.
The agreement between Rotary and the school system calls for the track to be available to the general public for health and recreational walking and running.
The project’s completion was originally planned for the start of the 2020-21 school year, enabling an expansion of Warren County’s track and field athletics while creating, for the first time in more than 10 years, the possibility of district and regional competition at Nunley Stadium, Sutton noted. Coronavirus business disruptions could, however, impact the availability of commercial contractors to execute the work this summer.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely changed the world in a lot of ways, but the Rotary Clubs are still active and strong, just adapting to the new realities,” Shane Brock, president of McMinnville Noon Rotary, emphasized. “The needs of our community and of people in other places have not gone away and we intend to remain strong in responding to those demands.”
One of those imperatives is protecting the natural water supplies that sustain our lives and all other living beings, said Debbie Sain, president of McMinnville Breakfast Rotary. In that connection, the club is planning for its 14th annual cleanup of Barren Fork River and Collins River.
Sain said Rotarians expect to be joined by some 400 community and Tennessee Tech volunteers July 18 in an armada of personal watercraft in hoisting man-made trash — including discarded automobile tires — out of waterways.
Noon Rotary member Bobby Cox, who is also in the community spotlight as Warren County director of schools, told the WCS-TV YouTube audience to assume a regular start of on-campus classes Aug. 12.
Students, their parents and teachers need to be alert to possible changes in school operations, including bus service and class schedules, as education leaders try to minimize the risk of coronavirus contagion, Cox stressed.
“Our first duty is to the health, safety and wellbeing of all of students, and we may have to take extraordinary measures as we strive to keep the education process moving effectively in this new pandemic environment,” said Cox.
