As Ora Barrett watched her grandson Patrick Ford play flag football at Q.V. Sykes Park on a recent Monday night, she reflected on some of what the league means to 8-year-old Patrick.

“He has an interest in sports, and it helps to keep him active,” Barrett said.

She said Patrick’s participation in the Youth Flag Football League, part of the City of Meridian’s Parks and Recreation Department, helps him to make friends as he plays outdoors.

“He loves people, and he loves to make friends,” Barrett said.

Youth Flag football, which includes Youth Cheerleading, is one of many activities under the Meridian Department of Parks and Recreation that are cherished by participants.

And they’re cherished in a time of shrinking funds. At the next Meridian City Council work session, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, in City Hall, discussion of the Meridian Activity Center — which is part of the Department of Parks and Recreation— is on the agenda. The department recently reduced the hours for part-time employees at the Activity Center — hours that have since been restored — and ripples of concern traveled through people who use and work at the center.

Meridian City Council Board President George Thomas expressed some of that feeling in a recent telephone interview.

“I’m concerned that we need to be careful about what we reduce there,” he said, noting that the center provides a rare place in the area where older people can establish community connections. Thomas suggested consideration of shifting funds within the Parks and Recreation Department or from other departments. He also suggested offering classes at increased fees, but he added that “we’ve got to keep the fees reasonable.”

The part-time employee hours in the Activity Center, however, are part of a larger budgetary story.

For the Department of Parks and Recreation, this year’s budget stands at approximately $2.8 million, compared to last year’s budget of about $3.2 million. To adapt to that budget, the department has eliminated part-time positions in athletic programs, but not at the Meridian Activity Center, said Kelvin McGruder, director of Parks and Recreation. He said the department also reduced spending on equipment for the athletic programs.

Also, the department is not offering a fall adult softball league, and it is not offering co-ed kickball, McGruder said. It is offering women’s kickball and spring adult softball.

“The kids’ programs we try to keep intact, and we try to keep the senior citizens’ programs intact,” McGruder said. “I prioritize those.”

Several weeks ago, McGruder said the department had reduced the hours of part-time employees in the athletic programs and at the Meridian Activity Center. Some part-time positions in the athletic programs were also eliminated. McGruder said the reductions constituted “a temporary fix to see where we are in six months.”

On Monday, McGruder said that Mayor Percy Bland had asked him to restore part-time employee hours at the Activity Center — and that the hours have now been reinstituted to match last year’s schedule.

“Mayor Bland has asked us to restore hours back to the Activity Center, to the employees, to keep it as it was last year,” he said.

McGruder said that restoration of part-time employee hours will require cuts elsewhere in the department to balance the budget.

“That’s what we’ll talk about tomorrow (Tuesday), during the work session,” McGruder said. “Unless Council gives us more dollars to operate with, there are things we’re going to have to cut back on. A lot of those things happen in the summer.”

McGruder stressed that the department has made significant investments in the center.

“Last year, we spent a lot of money renovating the Meridian Activity Center, making sure people had a very good atmosphere — a working environment, and also a leisure environment,” he said. “We put new carpet down, we renovated some walls, we put new air conditioners in, we bought new kilns for ceramics.”

McGruder called the Activity Center “an absolute jewel.”

Valued programs

Participants in a variety of programs offered by the Department of Parks and Recreation attest to their importance. Families gathered for youth athletic events say children from different corners of the community make connections during the games. At the Meridian Activity Center, participants talk about the camaraderie that develops over time.

“I’ve been doing it ever since ‘78,” said Kathy Carney, of Toomsuba, referring to her attendance at the Activity Center. “I love the friendship.”

Carney was in ceramics class on a recent Tuesday, having just completed a colorful ceramics bowl. She said, too, that the work served as a kind of therapy.

“I’ve always been interested in crafts, and I do a lot of sewing at home,” she said. “I’ve done quilting. But when you do all of that, you’re by yourself. Here you have your friends.”

Across from her, Phyllis Edwards, from Carthage, was also working on ceramics, and she said the Activity Center was the closest spot where she could do that sort of activity.

“There isn’t any other place,” she said. “I’m 84 years old, and I drive 60-some odd miles every week to come out here.”

Edwards, too, talked of the closeness she enjoys with the other participants.

“We learn a lot from each other and from the teacher,” she said. “It’s just a place to come and know we can some make pretty things, and make good use of our time.”

Creating community

At Q.V. Sykes Park, parents reflected recently on the sort of community that springs up for children during athletic events.

“It just gives the kids something to look forward to outside of school and their normal activities,” said Saron Heath, one of the parents looking on during a recent game. “It allows them to compete against kids they wouldn’t normally compete against.”

Thomas Adams, athletic director for the Meridian Department of Parks and Recreation, said the Meridian Youth Flag Football League is divided into separate divisions according to age, with boys and girls welcome to play. Youth cheerleaders called the “Meridian Dazzlers” perform during the games as well.

“It’s recreational,” Adams said. “There’s not a lot of pressure, compared to a school sport. This age we have is strictly developmental, for the kids to learn the concept of football. And it’s ‘flag,’ so there’s no contact.”

Nathan Griggs, a coach and a grandparent of a player, lauded the league for the way it stresses things other than simply winning.

“Every kid has to play,” he said. “There’s no such thing as winning without all the kids playing. We want to focus on the kids playing. We want to make the kids happy — put a smile on their faces.”

Griggs said the games also let children make friends, a theme voiced by many of the people — regarding children and adults — who participate in Parks and Recreation activities.

Officials in the Department of Parks and Recreation stress the broad array of people and activities the department encompasses. Those activities — springing from the same tightening budget — must reach children and older people, as well as those in between.

“We try to provide leisure, educational and health benefits for everybody in the community,” said Aleasha Jordan, director of operations for the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department. “You can’t just focus on your elderly; you can’t just focus on your children. If you do that, then you leave out somebody in your community … We try to divvy it up so there’s something for everybody here to enjoy.”

She also noted the effect the programs have on families, as she gazed out onto the field of Q.V. Sykes Park a few weeks ago.

“The parents are kind of just enjoying the night, and seeing the kids prosper,” she said.