Sherry L. Hodges laid four pieces of brightly-colored fabric on the podium at Saturday morning’s dedication ceremony for Woodville Park.

They were given to her by her mother, Arline Lanciano, the last of many such pieces of raw material Lanciano had brought back for her daughter over the years from trips abroad. Each time, the gifts were accompanied with a simple instruction: Make something out of it.

Hodges looks at her late mother’s gift of 100 acres to Gloucester County, and the seed money that accompanied it, in much the same fashion.

"Mom gave you this park as raw material to do with as you need and as you want," Hodges told the family members and local dignitaries who gathered at the park on this beautiful morning, with the sounds of young children playing soccer in the distance.

While much has been made of this gift (such as the Baystars soccer fields right near the temporary stage for Saturday’s ceremony), much still remains to be done. "This 100 acr...