A “New-Old” Treasure in the Oak Crest Aquatics Center
March 22, 2019
Parkville, Maryland--When the renovated fitness and aquatics center opened last spring in the Town Center clubhouse, residents immediately began enjoying state-of-the-art cardio equipment, a larger pool and more space for wellness activities.
But beginning this week, there is a permanent remembrance of what used to be.
Residents, employees and members of the Oak Crest Executive Team came together on Tuesday, March 19 to dedicate a bench, located on the far wall in front of the mosaic tile in the aquatics center. You might wonder why the need to hold an event for a place to sit, but there is unique history involved!
Most of us remember the demolition of the old fitness and aquatics center in 2017. There were large pieces of wood, iron and concrete to be hauled away. However, Nick Thrappas, President of ARC Construction Services, a veteran-owned small business, had an idea to preserve some of this raw material.
Nick specializes in using recycled items to create wood-carved furniture such as tables, shelves, book cases and yes…benches. He proposed to hand-craft a bench for the new aquatics center using wood taken from the old aquatics center, and of course, Oak Crest took him up on his generous offer.
"Oak Crest maintains a long, proud history of being good stewards of the environment, from our resident recycling programs to the green roof on Nottingham Gardens," said Robin Keeler, Director of Resident Life. "Instead of all the scrap material being dumped in a landfill, it is gratifying to know that some of it has been re-purposed to create beautiful new items. We offer a heartfelt thanks to Nick for sharing his talent with us."
We welcome you to visit the aquatics center to see the new bench, a true piece of our 24-year history!
About Oak Crest: Oak Crest, situated on a scenic 87-acre campus in Parkville, Maryland, is one of 20 continuing care retirement communities developed and managed by Erickson Living®. The community is home to 2,100 residents who are supported by a team of more than 1,250 employees. Additional information about Oak Crest can be found at OakCrestCommunity.com.