Kiwanis pays for two new swings at NP Park

Fergus Falls, MN, Daily Journal
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2008/jul/05/kiwanis-pays-two-new-swings-np-park/

As part of a continuing sponsorship of NP Park, Fergus Falls Noon Kiwanis is funding two new swings scheduled to arrive at the park this summer.

The loveseat-style swings will replace wooden models removed from the park last fall. The original swings, intended for parents or others sitting near the playground, were in such bad shape that Parks, Recreation and Forestry staff couldn’t fix them, said Rick Terway, department manager.

“You’d imagine (they) would last 10 years in your own back yard,” he said. Just imagine how quickly they’d wear after use by dozens of people a day.”

Word of the swings’ condition reached the members of Noon Kiwanis, who have sponsored annual upkeep of the park since partnering with the Home Depot and Kaboom, a non-profit corporation, to install playground equipment at the park in 2004. That upkeep means volunteering the manpower to do things like painting equipment, pulling weeds, and replacing playground mulch.

“It’s the city’s park, so anything we do is really in conjunction with the city,” said Lee Danielson, Fergus Falls Noon Kiwanis president-elect.

The cost of the new swings is roughly $2,400, Danielson said, and is funded by Kiwanis activities like pancake feeds and the fall 2007 Harlem Ambassadors basketball game. Terway said installing the swings is on his department’s list of to-be-completed projects and he hopes to have them in the park by fall.

Donating to the park is part of the Kiwanis International mission, “Serving the Children of the World.”

“Our purpose is children, so anything we can do that can help enrich the lives of children and families in the area—and the world—is (a good thing),” said Margie Gettel, Noon Kiwanis vice president.