Ford volunteers build bocce ball court at Danish Village

Danish Village recently received $1,500 from Ford Motor Company – and a team of eight volunteers – to build a bocce ball court. The volunteers, from Ford’s IT department, Ford Credit and other areas, spent the day at the subsidized senior housing center in Rochester Hills on Wednesday constructing the court. It was part of Ford’s Community Building Accelerated Action Day. The Ford employees first laid out the court using landscape timbers. Then they put down layers of peat gravel, crushed limestone and clay. After a rain (which conveniently came on Wednesday evening), the clay hardened as it dried to be usable for play.

Danish Village’s manager, Mary Ware-Kempa, applied for the grant after some residents expressed a desire to play bocce ball. Mary roamed the Internet to learn how to build a court and what materials would be needed. It was a challenge to find a local supplier who could deliver “clean clay,” she said.

Resident Lou Crompton, who helped with the construction, played bocce when he lived in Florida and has missed it since he moved to Danish Village three years ago. It’s an easy game to learn, he said, and he’s looking forward to teaching his neighbors. Eventually he hopes a team from Danish Village will be able to compete with other area teams. (In the photo, Danish Village resident Jerry Comptois helps the Ford employees place the top layer of clay on the bocce ball court.)