The Gainesville City Council honored on Tuesday the Georgia Recreation and Park Association District 7 Volunteer of the Year.
Lynn Kearns who is on the board of Gainesville Parks and Recreation was recognized by the council and has worked to spearhead the Park 2 Park connectivity initiative.
“It was based on the Park 2 Park connectivity concept, which is more connectivity and walkability between the city parks,” Kearns said. “We want to open that up to be able to walk from one part to the other and to include other parts of the city to have access to some of these parks. That's our plan.”
Kearns said she is a walker and wants more Gainesville residents to have easy access to the parks.
“It's always broken my heart to see people who were a quarter of a mile away from a park have to get into a car to drive their children there because it's unsafe to try and walk,” Kearns said. “That was all I could think of something needs to be done about that. Gainesville is better than this, you know, we have an opportunity to leave a legacy.”
Parks and Recreation Director Kate Mattison thanked Kearns for all the work she does.
“We are so happy and excited and thankful that she won this award and that we have somebody as passionate as a volunteer as we are in parks and rec,” Mattison said. “I just want to say thank you Lynn and give her a shout-out in front of all of you.”
Kearns said she did not know she was nominated for the award.
“It's a shock. I've got to tell you, it was a shock. I didn't even know that Kate had nominated me,” Kearns said “All I could think of is this is the impetus to really move forward. I think the time is now, Gainesville is ready, and it can only bring good things.”
Kearns said her dream is to connect all Gainesville parks.
