July 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 43

A Career Move
Edric Diaz started with the City
of Sanford Parks and Recreation
Department in Florida as a parttime employee, cleaning restrooms
and opening and closing park sites.

After completing scheduled tasks,
he would check the area to see if
there was any other work or repairs needed to be made - cutting
low tree limbs or fixing a sprinkler
head. Diaz was promoted to a fulltime maintenance position with
the department in 2017, and in
2018, he was promoted again to a
lead maintenance worker position.
According to Robert Beall, the
operations manager for City of
Sanford, " Mr. Diaz comes to work
anytime he's needed and completes
his work with a smile. He continues to want to learn more about
the job and instills this in the staff
working with him. He is a positive
inspiration for all to model after. "
For the past 48 years, Doug Kane,
the adult sports coordinator for
Whitefish Bay Recreation, has led
the only badminton program in the
Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. Kane
has been leading this Wednesday
program in Whitefish Bay since
1975 and has known many of the
participants since they were teenagers - who are now bringing
their own teenagers to play with

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK PATTERSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGELA SUMMERS

PHOTO COURTESY OF MINDY WEAVER

Paulette Murphy has always had a
way of bringing a community together and has made a huge impact on
many people during her more than
28-year career. She has climbed the
ladder and served many roles, from
being a recreation specialist early in
her career to her current position as
the director for City of Miami Gardens Parks and Recreation.
While every promotion left the
kids in Murphy's programs sad to
see her go, some of those kids were
so inspired by her, they went into the
profession themselves. " I was one of
those teary-eyed kids and as soon as
I was old enough to get a job, parks
and recreation [was] where I wanted
to work, " says Antoinette King, the
assistant community center manager
at City of Miami Gardens Parks and
Recreation, who now works for Murphy, her beloved mentor.

38
PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL BLAKE

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEANNA JOHANN

22
PHOTO COURTESY OF JASON LANG

PHOTO COURTESY OF LORI WILLIAMS

them. Kane also launched a youth
badminton camp in 2014, with a
goal of growing a love for the sport
from an early age.
" If ever there was a case for recreation programs bringing [a] community together, it could be found
by entering our field house on any
given Wednesday night, " says Anthony Iracki, Kane's colleague and
recreation supervisor at Whitefish
Bay Recreation. " I admire [Doug's]
perseverance and commitment and
feel fortunate to know him. "
This Park and Recreation Month,
be sure to thank your staff, colleagues, peers and yourself for the
good work you continue to do. Share
your story on social media using
#WeAreParksAndRec and show the
world what we already know about
the people of parks and recreation:
You are strong. You are confident.
You are selfless. You are passionate.
You are driven. You are essential.
YOU are parks and recreation!
For detailed photo information, visit
nrpa.org/CelebratingYou.
Cort Jones is NRPA's Communications
Manager (cjones@nrpa.org).

P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G | J U LY 2 0 2 0 |

Parks & Recreation

July 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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