PRICHARD, Ala. — A group of Prichard community members has spent recent weeks hauling debris off a patch of overgrown land near Rebel Road, hoping to transform the site into a park or playground in memory of Hiawayi Robinson, the 8-year-old whose death devastated the community last month.
The land belongs to Pilgrim Rest A.M.E. Zion Church, and organizers say church representatives are expected to meet soon to decide whether the project can move forward on their property. “We are clearing the land and hoping and praying that we are able to bring a park to that location, particularly for that area where this tragic situation took place,” said Jimmie Gardner, a former Prichard police chief who is leading the effort.
Gardner is working alongside former Prichard Mayor Ron Davis and My Father’s House of Prayer pastor Lilly Mancarella, with additional help from community members Lee Witherspoon, Marshell Phillips, George Cooke and Vincent Smith. The group has been meeting at the site most days between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., piling up brush and debris by hand before bringing in heavier equipment.
Remedial Services Inc., a Saraland-based hauling company, volunteered to help move the cleared debris, sending four trucks and a track hoe to the site on a recent Monday. Company representative Darin Smith said crews expected to haul away roughly eight full loads that day alone, a sign of how much work has gone into preparing the land for a different purpose.
Gardner said he’s optimistic the church will give its blessing to let the project continue, and he’s asking Prichard residents to pitch in with volunteer hours, equipment or other donations as the effort moves into its next phase. “As the project moves forward, I would ask the community to continue to come out and support the effort of creating a park at that location,” Gardner said.
Hiawayi Robinson, a Prichard third-grader, was reported missing on the night of Sept. 16. Her body was found two days later behind an abandoned building on Rebel Road, a discovery that shook the small Mobile County community. Funeral services for the child were held Sept. 27, and in the weeks since, neighbors and former city leaders have looked for a way to reclaim the site and honor her memory with something lasting.
Organizers say a completed park would give area children a safe, supervised place to play — transforming a site associated with grief into one focused on the community’s youngest residents moving forward.