DAYTON - Booker Rest home sits just a few doz- en yards away from the Touchet River and the dike path that runs along its east side. It’s an easy walk through the grass next to the city’s soccer and baseball fields. But it’s not an easy roll for a wheelchair.

The Columbia Cares Coalition of Dayton has begun a project to build a path from the Booker parking lot to the paved dike path. It will run alongside the north fence of the athletic fields. The path will allow Booker residents and others with limited mobility who park at the Booker parking lot to have access to the river.

According to CCC chair Jody Martin, the overall cost of the project is ex- pected to be about $35,000. A final design is expected to be completed later this year, and Martin hopes that construction will be completed in the spring of 2014.

Major funding commitments that have already been received include:

• Columbia County Health System Foundation - $11,000

• Grant from Dayton/Co- lumbia County Fund - $10,000

• County of Columbia Capital Fund - $5,500

• Columbia County Health System Capital Fund - $4,000 • Total - $30,500

CCC hopes to raise the remaining needed funds through small donations from community members.

Anyone interested in making a donation can send a check payable to “Dayton General Hospital”, with “Ball Field Fund” noted on the check. Checks should be mailed to DGH at 1012 S. 3rd Street, Dayton, WA 99328.

For more information on the Ball Field Path project, call Jody Martin at 509- 382-2531, ext. 333.