Alice Spangler, chairwoman of the Daughters of the American Revolution Kikthawenund Chapter Conservation Committee, sits on the bench recently installed nest to Barnhart Field with fellow committee members chapter Regent Deb Hale and chapter First Vice Regent Mary Scott.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Daughters of the American Revolution Kikthawenund Chapter Conservation Committee led the effort to collect, clean and deliver more than 500 pounds of plastic caps to Green Tree Plastics in Evansville, where they turn caps into a variety of products, including park benches. Pictured (from left) are Nathan Hale, Deb Hale, Gloria Lemaster, Mary Scott and Ron Spangler.
Submitted
Some of the caps that were collected and shipped to Evansville to be traded in for park benches for Pendleton and Alexandria.
Submitted
Alice Spangler (standing, blue sweater), leader of a DAR project to collect plastic caps to trade for park benches, speaks to the crowd during the presentation of a bench to Pendleton on Monday, Nov. 13.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
PENDLETON — When Kikthawenund Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution set out to donate park benches to two Madison County municipalities, including Pendleton, leaders of the effort knew how they’d be paying for most of the cost — with plastic.
About 250 pounds of it per bench.
The Anderson-based non-profit collected, cleaned and sorted plastic caps from a variety of products, hauling a more-than-required 545 pounds of them to Green Tree Plastics in Evansville on Nov. 8.
It exchanged the plastic, along with a fee, for benches made from previous plastic drop-offs.
“It’s dedicated to the town,” for its historic preservation efforts, said Alice Spangler, chairwoman of the Kikthawenund Chapter’s Conservation Committee. She spoke Monday, Nov. 13, during a ceremony at Falls Park’s Barnhart Field, where Pendleton’s bench was installed near the northwest corner.
DAR — motto “God, Home, Country” — has as its stated missions: historic preservation, education and patriotism.
The bench donation is also an official project of the Madison County Bicentennial, which has been celebrated throughout the county this year.
Kikthawenund Chapter presented the other bench to Alexandria on Nov. 9.
Spangler said the chapter has been collecting the plastic caps for more than a year.
About 30 people participated in that effort.
Each bench is eight feet long, weights 255 pounds, and in addition to the plastic costs $325, a fraction of what they would otherwise cost to buy, Spangler said.
Kikthawenund Chapter donated a bench in this way once before, to Mounds State Park in May 2022.
Pendleton town manager Scott Reske and Falls Park Director Aaron Burris were present at the dedication to show the town’s appreciation.
Reske called the donation “wonderful,” and “powerful” in terms of showing how waste can be recycled into useful products such as benches, which he said the town can always use.