Barbara Patton: City of Opelika is blessed this Christmas

The season of giving is here — the Christmas season! If you are a Christian, as I am, you are celebrating the most precious gift of all — the birth of Jesus Christ — and the words of Jesus ring true more than ever, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

But Christmas is not the only season of giving. It is going on all year-long right here in our communities. We are very blessed to live in an area that has people who are overly generous with their time, talents, and their money. Have you ever listed all the organizations that work towards making our communities better places and helping those who have special needs throughout the year?

I can think of so many. In fact, I have seen pages and pages of non-profit organizations and those pages do not even list the churches and the individuals that help others, apart from contributing through non-profit organizations.

Envision Opelika is grateful to those who have given to three projects that will benefit this community and this area. I wish that we had the space to thank everyone but there are just too many. Because of you, three facilities will be available for use in 2009 – the Billy Hitchcock Miracle Field Complex, the Opelika Sportsplex and the Community Cultural Center (formerly, the Miriam S. Brown School). The Miriam S. Brown School will not be complete, but the center section of it will be usable.

The Billy Hitchcock Miracle Field Complex will have its ribbon cutting in January, so look for that announcement and come out and join us. The playground is already being used. The field will be utilized by people from a wide area covering several counties.

The Opelika Sportsplex, I understand, is on track and is scheduled to be finished in late summer, early fall. I was told just the other day that it is magnificent, and I know it is going to be an unbelievable addition to the City of Opelika. Many of us have wished for an indoor pool for years. The number of children that play soccer continues to grow and the fields are desperately needed. The ball fields are an added plus, and it will be wonderful to have an indoor walking track and fitness center not to mention the new gym, the amphitheatre and the senior center. Wow!

The Community Cultural Center should be ready for use in the first quarter of the year. Look for it to have many uses with varied activities going on over there as fundraising continues for the remainder of the facility.

These projects would not have happened without the public partnership of the City of Opelika and its various entities. Everyone working together makes for a great community and compromise for the differences keeps good ideas flowing.

Thank you everyone for gifts that will keep on giving year after year and provide for recreation and cultural activities, creating a fantastic quality of life that brings us all together.

Barbara Patton is director of Envision Opelika and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.