(Oct. 10, 2024) A six-figure gift to Worcester County’s recreation department will pay tribute to a local family while breathing new life into a public park near Pocomoke.

County officials signed off Oct. 1 on receipt of a $438,342 donation from the Heather Leigh and Christopher Robbin Hill Foundation. Funds will go toward the purchase and installation of a new facility at Newtown Park. Worcester County officials said it will be the largest-ever county-owned playground.

“It’s a really sad story with a happy ending because we were able to make somebody’s dreams come true,” said Kathleen Palmer with the Hill Foundation.

This project comes with a one-of-a-kind theme – a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, or STEM for short. Having a playground with STEM themes and brain-teasing activities encourages children to start learning and reaching for the future at a young age, according to the foundation.

Turning this dream into a reality was the culmination of a lifelong goal of the late Leona and Bob Hill of Pocomoke City. The couple navigated their way through two deep family tragedies, the first when they lost their son Christopher at age 4 to meningitis.

His sister, their daughter Heather, graduated from Pocomoke High School and went on to work in the field of medical research, specifically to look for cancer cures. Heather lost her battle with ovarian cancer at age 34. Having a scientific theme for the playground was Heather’s idea.

Worcester County’s Recreation & Parks department worked with playground architect Cunningham Recreation to design a playground that would fit their needs, according to Deputy Director Jacob Stephens. The space will be named in honor of both Christopher and Heather Hill.

Palmer said that the playground will also feature a separate “memory garden” as a place of quiet reflection to honor the Hills. Leona died in 2016 from lymphoma, and Bob died from diabetes complications in 2023.

“These people lost both their children and they managed to keep a smile on their face. They just had a lot of death in their family. They were just two remarkable people, and so the memory garden, I guess, is to honor them, for everything they went through. They keep their faith and they just always had a smile on their face,” she said.

It took almost 25 years of donations, bingo nights, and fundraising for friends and family to reach the funding amount of $450,000. The Hills left everything they had, including the sale of their house, to the foundation.

“We suddenly had a lot of money, not just a little, but a lot,” Palmer said.

Once they met their fundraising threshold, the foundation needed a site for the playground. Palmer eventually connected with Caryn Abbott, Pocomoke’s representative on Worcester County Board of Commissioners, who put the foundation in touch with the parks department.

“She said, ‘We have been trying to get this done for this family for years,’” Abbott said. “Once they told me the story, I said, ‘this is something that needs to get done.’ It worked out perfectly.

Abbott added,“It’s sad that the father died in 2023, and it’s just so sad they could not have seen it come to fruition. It’s phenomenal to see the sketches that they did. It’s going to be amazing.”

Money raised toward the playground also will fund scholarships to graduating seniors from Pocomoke High School who wish to pursue a career in an education in STEM-related field.

Construction is set to begin this winter with the playground completed by spring, according to Stephens.