Above Tom Desimone of MAMCO puts Forever Kevin sticker on the last pole. Jim Vulter watches one of the poles raised.
Sunday July 12th, the Kevin Vulter Field Renovation Committee raised the lights off the football field at GHS into the air. With the help of Oleary Welding’s, Ed Oleary, Mark Steinmetz of National Grid and dozens of Volunteers that morning the lights were put in place 60 ft above the field. It was an awesome sight to see and actually very emotional.
So many people helped with this project and donated time , money and labor. I truly believe that Kevin’s name and reputation are what made it so easy to get this done so fast. When you mentioned these lights are in honor of Kevin, we generally heard “no charge” or “you can pay cost” or “we’ll be right down to help”. Thank you to everyone and thank you Kevin.
To see 10 months worth of work come to fruition was really great. Check out the pics and get ready for some Friday night football under the lights.
Marc Sukis and his Dad, Steve taking down the old Goalposts. New ones are on there way!
Mark Steinmetz with thumbs up after 4th light pole is secure.
More pictures and info to come. The First game will be played on Thursday Sept 10, 2009 – so that Worcester TV can cover the entire game.
Sorry for the long delay in updating the progress at the GHS field. With the weather and some other factors, things have slowed down a bit. The good news is the same as it always has been – WE WILL HAVE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS this fall season! The bad news is, we were shipped some incorrect parts to the lights and we are now forced to wait until the correct parts are delivered which could be 2 weeks. Other bad news is that we lost a good chunk of funds due to a local organization backing out of a commitment they made to us months ago for $25,000. I won’t bore you with the details and I have nothing good to say about that situation, so I’ll drop it now.
We may have to go back into fundraising mode in order to finish some of the work that needs to be done in conjunction with the lights, but we’ll get it done.
We are still seeing great support from many contributors, most recently, Camosse Masonary Supply who have donated many supplies at a deep discount, Pinnacle Roofing(The McKernan’s from town), who donated all of the supplies to roof the utility house we built, Don Chouinard, who constructed the roof and has been helpful throughout construction. Dan Page and the MAMCO construction crew who have donated all time and labor for weeks now, preparing the site for construction. Mark Steinmetz of National Grid is working tirelessly to finish this project as soon as possible. Tom Lipinski and his team have also been working assembling all of the fixtures and attaching to the light poles.
The lights will shine at Grafton High School field for Kevin Vulter and for all of us very soon. In a matter of weeks we will have something we can all enjoy for years to come. I look forward to enjoying time with family, friends and loved one’s under the lights.
As you can see in the pictures, the lights are mostly constructed and ready to be raised. We had initially planned to raise them this upcoming weekend, but that is now not possible due to missing parts.
Here’s the fourth part of our continuing video diary of the construction:
Tom Desimone, Friend of Kevin
The building of the GHS Field House which will house the necessary electrical equipment for the lights is almost complete. Dan Page and his crew from Mamco Construction, led by Tom Desimone, built this structure in two full days. All of the workers from MAMCO donated their time for this project as Kevin was one of their co-workers for many years. Mark Steinmetz and his crew from National Grid have already put the light poles together and laid them in their proper areas.
As the committee chairman for this project, I really can’t describe how amazing it is to see crew after crew and man after man come to the High School, work their hardest for many hours and come back again and do it all again the next day. The dedication and determination to get this project done for Kevin is very inspiring. Tony Gendron and his sons, along Kevin’s father, Jim Vulter have also been putting in long hours down at the GHS field.
Special thanks to Camosse Masonary Supply for their generous donation of materials to build this building. Also, thanks are in order for Mr. Mike Roy who helped install 2 pallets of sod over the old long jump courts. Everytime we turn around there is someone else from the community donating their time, or some materials to help us reach our goal. THANK YOU to the entire community of GRAFTON, MA – residents and business owners!
It’s tough to keep up with all of the activity down at the GHS Football field as construction is in high gear. Most noteably lately, trenching has been done for almost all of the undergroung wiring. The light poles have been placed near their bases. The building which will house the major electrical equipment is being constructed today. I’d ask you to stop by and check out the progress, but we really can’t have anyone in the contruction zone. Mark Steinmetz of National Grid, a co-worker of Kevin Vulter, is prepping for wiring and light fixture assembly. Dan Page, of Mamco has been doing all of the ground work and Tom Lipinksi Electric is running electrical wires. More generous donations are still coming in as well. Pipes Plus discounted hundreds of yards of pvc pipe needed for the project. Danny Carlo of Kamco has donated the heavy duty steel door necessary for the secure electrical building and Cammosse Masonary Supply has discounted the materials for the building. In many of the pictures you will see Marc Sukis, one of Kevin’s best friends and Ryan Vulter, Kevin’s Brother. There is a fierce determination to get this project completed and nothing will slow us down, even when an organization in town who promised $25,000, backs out of their pledge – we’ll keep going forward!
You’ve heard the expression “set in stone?” There’s no going back now — the posts for the lights at Grafton High School’s football field are now encased in concrete.
New loam is ready for seed on the old long jump courts which were removed.
Dan Page, Mark Steinmetz and Dave Steinmetz
This week has been very busy over at the GHS field. The Kevin Vulter Field Renovation Fund Committe has made significant progress and are ready to pour some concrete! The picture below show the sonotubes with all the necessary hardware ready to be set in concrete. Concrete is to be poured later today with nearly 40 yards of concrete donatedby Aggregate Industries here in Grafton. So many Grafton companies and residents are still coming through with generous donation to this project. Dan Page, of Mamco, and project manager says “things are ahead of schedule right now, and we hope to keep it that way”.
The National Weather Service in Taunton has confirmed that Sunday’s freak hail storm was the result of a super cell storm system that moved into the area. Super cells are generally best known for another type of weather they can generate: tornadoes.
As you can see in the pictures, the lights are mostly constructed and ready to be raised. We had initially planned to raise them this upcoming weekend, but that is now not possible due to missing parts.
More generous donations are still coming in as well. Pipes Plus discounted hundreds of yards of pvc pipe needed for the project. Danny Carlo of Kamco has donated the heavy duty steel door necessary for the secure electrical building and Cammosse Masonary Supply has discounted the materials for the building. In many of the pictures you will see Marc Sukis, one of Kevin’s best friends and Ryan Vulter, Kevin’s Brother. There is a fierce determination to get this project completed and nothing will slow us down, even when an organization in town who promised $25,000, backs out of their pledge – we’ll keep going forward!
