Its not all childs play; group seeks funds to build new playground

By Brent Schacherer
Editor
Thursday, July 31, 2003

Shortly after moving into a new home last year, Kathy Cruze called Litchfield City Hall to ask that the old playground equipment at the neighborhood park just a short walk from her back door be replaced.

The response her request received from City Administrator Bruce Miller and from Ward 5 Council member Gary Walz gave Cruze high hopes that her children and dozens of others in the Pleasantview Park neighborhood might be enjoying new swings, slides and other activities at the park sometime this summer.

And then the state budget crisis and corresponding cut in Local Government Aid threw any plans for park improvements on the back burner.

Cruze, who soon was joined in the park effort by neighbors Wendy Foley and Diane Kalkbrenner, couldn't accept the idea of waiting for new park equipment until an economic recovery. So, the trio began making calls to potential funding sources, including a developer who has built homes in the area and a real estate agent who has sold homes there. And they kept an open line of communication with City Hall.

"This neighborhood has so many kids," Cruze said. "You should see it in the evenings. There are kids out all over."

With so many children in the neighborhood, Cruze said, a good playground would get plenty of use. In fact, even as it stands now, the playground receives regular child traffic.

Some of that use may be the city's doing. While it didn't have the funding to provide a complete makeover, the city did install three rocking animals and new child swings in the park.

Cruze, Foley and Kalkbrenner envision much more, however. And, though that vision carries a $19,000 price tag, they're determined to have the new playground equipment installed.

"It's just like the movie, what was it?, ‘Field of Dreams,'" Cruze said. "If you build it, they will come. If we get new playground equipment, the kids will come."

The trio has teamed up with the fledgling Litchfield Area Community Foundation and city officials to work on fund-raising ideas.

"It's shaping up to be a partnership," the city's Miller said. "It's kind of a grassroots effort, and it would be great if we could coordinate something."

Such partnerships are the kind of community investment the city likes, Miller said. He listed several projects on which the city has teamed up with an organization -- providing the initial payment, which in turn is paid back over time by the partnering organization -- to make improvements, such as the Litchfield Baseball Association's work at Optimist Park and the Litchfield Hockey Association's Civic Arena improvement/expansion efforts. The most recent of these projects is the Litchfield Jaycees effort to have a picnic shelter built at Lake Ripley.

"We try to work with everybody," Miller said. "As an overall philosophy, the city tries to partner with all sorts of people to get projects done."

The city's method in funding such improvements was established by a City Council resolution last year. The action set up a Community Reinvestment Fund, which earmarked money recaptured by the city from tax increment financing districts for small-scale improvement projects throughout the city.

The Pleasantview Park playground effort would seem to fit that model, Miller said, and with a fund-raising commitment by Cruze's group, new equipment is a real possibility. Park Department Supervisor Mike Johanneck already has met with the group to help them pick out playground equipment which would meet city standards for safety. With the choice finalized, Cruze, Foley and Kalkbrenner know they need nearly $19,000 to make the dream a reality.

One step along the fund-raising route was a discussion with Wes Edwards and Mike Zylstra of the Litchfield Area Community Foundation, which formed about a year ago and was looking for a project upon which it could build. The foundation will work as the facilitator for donations to the Pleasantview Park playground project, allowing individuals, organizations and businesses to make tax deductible contributions to the foundation, which in turn will send the money specifically earmarked for the project to the playground equipment company once the project is complete.

"The good thing about having the facilitator is it's a neutral source (to which donations can be made)," Foley said. "And people who donate can get a tax deduction."

Said Edwards: "For us just getting started, we think it may be easier for people to give to a community foundation if they know what their donation is going for. They've got a nice area here for a park, and we want to help make it happen."

Aside from seeking donations, the three neighborhood moms plan to put in sweat equity, as well. They scheduled a fund-raising breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Litchfield Eagles Club. Thrivent Financial will match $1 for every $2 (up to $1,000) raised through the breakfast.

"We know with the economy the way it is it's going to take time," Foley said of the fund-raising effort. "But we've got to get this thing built before my twins (born earlier this year) are too big to enjoy it."

If you go
What: A fund-raising breakfast.
When: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 1.
Where: Litchfield Eagles Club. Thrivent Financial will match $1 for every $2 (up to $1,000) raised through the breakfast.