Walsh Construction Company (Walsh) donated more than 300 truckloads of dirt to set the foundation for an 11-acre park in Irwindale. The park will include athletic fields, club rooms and meeting space for thousands of children enrolled in the Kare Youth League (KYL) organization.
A premier program for youths in the greater San Gabriel Valley since 1931, KYL uses sports as a venue to instill valuable life lessons, build confidence and develop character in the approximately 1,500 children it serves each year. According to its Director of Development, David Carson, the new Kare Park has been in the works for more than eight years. Construction began in September 2015 and was scheduled for completion in January 2017. Despite on-going fund-raising efforts, KYL lacked the budget for the dirt import. Without Walsh’s contribution, that completion date was in jeopardy.
“Without the dirt we couldn’t have done the project,” Carson said. “It was vital, as the site of the park was originally sand and rock, and you can’t plant grass on that.”
The more than 5,000 cubic yards of dirt came from the Alameda Corridor-East (ACE) Construction Authority’s San Gabriel Trench Project, where Walsh is serving as the general contractor. The project involves lowering a railroad track into a 2.2-mile-long trench, over which several bridges will be constructed to help ease traffic congestion and provide reliable emergency access near one of the nation’s busiest port facilities.
Walsh and KYL connected through ACE’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan consultant, who is also the mother of a KYL participant. Walsh coordinated with KYL’s on-site contractor, and within days, the dirt was loaded, hauled and delivered.
“You can’t imagine how great it was to get a phone call and the next day start seeing trucks appear,” Carson said.
All 304 truckloads were delivered over two days, and in addition to providing the park’s foundation, Walsh also supplied environmental benefits by keeping the excavated dirt out of area landfills.
Walsh Construction Company is a member of The Walsh Group, Ltd., a 118-year old family-owned company providing design, build, finance and operation services. The Walsh Group operates across 19 regional offices, and is listed as the 13th largest contractor in the United States by Engineering-News Record.
