The asphalt basketball court at Streams in the Desert Lutheran Church is cracked and crumbling, surrounded by a field prone to goathead weeds.
It’s hardly ideal for a neighborhood kid with big ball-playing dreams.
But that’s about to change.
The Streams Basketball Committee — a group of about seven church members and neighbors — has launched a campaign to transform the deteriorating court and surrounding plot of dirt into a community sanctuary.
This portion of land on the church’s property was always meant to meet community needs, said the Rev. Tom Dunham, the church’s pastor. At about 12,000 square feet, the land was originally intended for senior housing. That dream never came to fruition.
Good thing for the neighborhood kids.
“What started as replacing the basketball court has blossomed into: How about we put in a path and more trees and bushes to make it nice,” Dunham said. “Another group in the church has been looking at putting a community garden on the property.”
So instead of setting up a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $6,000 needed to put in the concrete slab, the church is going big, asking for $18,000 to complete the entire project.
Some of the surrounding community seems interested in teaming up with the 60-year-old church at 5360 E. Pima St.
At a cleanup day in July, almost 30 volunteers showed up, many of them representatives of neighborhood organizations — the Kadampa Meditation Center Arizona next door, a nearby preschool, Ace Hardware and a local McDonald’s and Walgreens, among others.
“It’s nice to see the community wanted to work with the church to form a place that is identified as safe for our youth,” said Mary Slachter, a church member leading the project and the vice president of the Avondale Neighborhood Association.
On this cleanup day, the team focused on removing goatheads from the area. The meditation center proposed organizing a community block party as a future fundraiser for the project.
In a campaign that has been active since the beginning of the year, the church has raised more than $5,000 — primarily from the congregation’s 150 active members. The addition of the GoFundMe page has allowed a broader intake of funds, though the total sum raised is not always updated online, as money also comes directly to the church.
“If we can collect $6,000, we can at least get the court going,” Dunham said.
The church will renovate as the funds come in, starting with pouring the concrete slab this fall when temperatures drop. From there, members hope to replace the hoops, do some landscaping, add some benches and a walking path, put in a new net at the existing sand volleyball court and eventually add that community garden, a church dream.
“A fundamental instruction of Jesus is to love our neighbor,” said Janis Richert, a 26-year church member part of the basketball committee.
About 10 years ago, the Streams in the Desert youth group fixed up the court. Years later, the church added timed lights so neighbors could play after dark.
The lights still work but the repairs haven’t lasted.
“It’s pretty terrible,” said 15-year-old Patrick Heal about the court. “There’s a crack right down the middle, the ball bounces off of it. Goatheads are everywhere. The rims are uneven. The backboards are loose.”
Patrick, going into his sophomore year at Immaculate Heart High School, will play varsity basketball there. Living across the street from the church court makes it easier to practice — especially in these pre-driver’s-license years.
“Every day we see people out there,” said Patrick’s mom, Beverly Heal. The family has been using the court for years.
In fact, it was her husband Jim Heal, a training captain for the Tucson Fire Department, who first approached the church about a joint restoration effort years ago.
“It’s a lot of apartments and Section 8 housing,” Jim Heal said of the neighborhood. “There’s no real park anywhere and a lot of low income youth kids that don’t have a lot to do besides get in trouble. I grew up playing sports, and I think it’s a good way to keep kids on the right path. My son and daughter both play for school teams and go across the street to play.”
The neighborhood kids use the court more than the church’s small youth group, Slachter said.
Since she started reaching out to surrounding businesses, Slachter has learned that employees sometimes shoot hoops on their lunch breaks. Both adults and kids play ball throughout the week.
“Our niche is that we want to reach out to the community by inviting them to come be part of us and providing them things that are going to be useful that they need ...” Dunham said. “We’re here if you need us.”
