A Need for Big-Hearted Donors

Once more the Orange County Board of Supervisors is asking donors to pay for public facilities the county lacks money to provide.

The most dramatic example of this approach was the building of Orangewood, the county home for dependent children. Private donations from the community paid 80% of the home’s $7.5-million cost.

Now the county board is hoping the community will respond to the need for money for park and recreation funds to develop sites, special projects and programs. To spur contributions, the supervisors last Tuesday created the Orange County Parks and Recreation Foundation.

Tight budgets and a shortage of funds have forced the county to cut back in spending programs and park and recreation needs have carried a low priority. Some parkland has been acquired before it was irretrievably lost, but in recent years there has been little or no money available for developing park sites, or for conducting recreational programs.

The new foundation could prompt donations from individuals, homeowner groups or builders willing to finance the desirable but less essential facilities the county budget cannot afford.