Members of the North Judson-San Pierre High School football team got a workout outside of football practice over the weekend, and their efforts will be part of a community legacy. Varsity Head Coach Ted White and his team helped Dr. Dennis Dalphond and other volunteers mix and pour cement for the terraces at the north edge of Pioneer Cemetery, across from North Judson United Methodist Church. White quipped it might be better exercise than the weight lifting the players are doing in the off season.“We do kind of do drills like this. We fill buckets up with sand and we start doing that about midway through. So this is giving us a little advantage. It’s good for the kids, it’s great for the community,” White said.
Dalphond approached him and asked if the football team would be willing to help out with some concrete work. White laughed and said he didn’t realize that also meant mixing the concrete by hand. He says taking part in community projects like the cemetery rehabilitation helps his team build camaraderie.
“If you can work together other than football, you can do a lot of things together. Same when we eat together, we go out together, things like that. And I want them to be friends and workmates and stuff like that, so it does count a lot. It’s awesome for the community.”
The terrace restoration is part of the ongoing Pioneer Cemetery rehabilitation project. The next scheduled work day is Sunday, June 12. Dalphond encourages volunteers to bring five-gallon buckets to mix and haul more concrete. Contact him at home, 574-896-3339, for more information.
Right now volunteers are doing the work, but Dalphond has also set up a fund through the Northern Indiana Community Foundation to offset costs of things like an eventual irrigation system. Click https://www.nicf.org/donate/ and designate your contribution to the Pioneer Cemetery Transformation Fund. All donations are tax deductible.
