‘A dream come true’: Neighbors, ‘do-gooders’ dedicate park in north Columbia

The smell of barbecue filled the air, the sounds of soul music bumped from a speaker and a tapestry of people from all walks of life filled a small park tucked into the corner of a sprawling apartment complex on Wednesday morning.

It was a beautiful day in at least one Columbia neighborhood.

Dozens of people gathered Wednesday in the Ames Villas apartment complex in north Columbia to celebrate the dedication of the John E. Moore Children’s Park. The complex is off Ames Road, not far from North Main Street, near the Prescott Terrace Community.

The dedication of the pocket park, which includes new playground equipment and a pavilion, was the culmination of a pilot community engagement program kicked off a few years ago by The Door Home, an initiative with Christ Mission Church. A host of neighbors, other churches, nonprofits, private entities and community leaders have contributed to the program’s efforts and were critical in helping bring together the children’s park.

The park is named after a former juvenile justice champion and Columbia community leader. Moore died on July 21, 2020. He was 76.

Stacey Atkinson works with The Door Home and has been a key leader in the Ames Villas community program. While she is proud of the new park and pavilion in the mostly African American neighborhood in north Columbia, she said the bonds formed with neighbors mean the most.

“One of the things we discovered is it’s truly not about ‘stuff,’ it’s about relationships,” Atkinson said. “What we have found is, when we can create bridges beyond our neighborhoods and open up relationships in a variety of different ways and focus on our passion, we create opportunities to build new friendships and change.”

Kenyatta Davis has lived in Ames Villas for 12 years. She said she was thrilled about the new park in her complex, and was appreciative of the multiple groups and agencies that have worked together to launch the park and the community relations program.

“I think it it’s awesome,” she told The State. “It’s a great opportunity for the people in this community. I believe that these groups make this community stronger by coming here. This playground is already getting used.”

Davis admitted residents in Ames Villas were initially hesitant about The Door Home and its associated band of self-proclaimed “do-gooders.” But that hesitancy ultimately faded.

“For the people, they didn’t really want to participate,” Davis said. “They were kind of skeptical. But now everybody has loosened up.”

Chris Gutierrez is part of the ownership group of Ames Villas. He told The State that the kinds of community partnerships on display Wednesday are uncommon.

“It’s kind of a dream come true,” Gutierrez said. “When you purchase properties in kind of middle-of-the-road America, you want the help of folks like this, entities like this, nonprofits like this. But, it doesn’t always come together. It takes someone like Stacey (Atkinson) and her conglomerate to really work hard and put it together. This doesn’t happen all the time.”

Dylan Gunnels, with the community care organization Mutual Aid Midlands, has been a part of the community outreach efforts in Ames Villas.

He said there has been a targeted effort to expand the term “neighbors” in a way that focuses on the relationships between people and strengthening the bonds that hold folks together.

“I personally live five minutes up the road, but this is my neighborhood, because being neighbors is about the people,” Gunnels said. “It’s not about physical structures or zip codes. It is about the people we are impacting. The idea is that we are always next door to our neighbors, because we are always in the community with people.”