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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10 2016
Lena Winslow community steps up to give elementary school a new playground By Tony Carton EDITOR
TRACY SIEGNER PHOTO Shopper’s Guide
A team of more than 40 volunteers worked over the summer to construct and landscape a new playground area at the Lena Winslow Elementary School.
folks that genuinely care. “If something is needed this is the kind of community that always comes together to make it happen,” Gerbode said. “It is just a blessing.” Doc’s Excavating donated their time to remove the existing equipment, and then Jed Schultz from Skid Steer took on a special role, volunteering not only equipment, but hours of expertise to ensure the foundation was prepared and the equipment would be safe for the children. Many parents including Jessica Blakely and Kelli Pieper who are both LenaWinslow teachers came to assist with the project and Ryan Engel was the contact who helped encourage the Masons to join in the project. Tabitha Engel and PTO President Stephanie Amborn manned the grill, making
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When Lena-Winslow elementary school reopens next week the little people are in for a real surprise. An incredible group of about 40 volunteer “playground elves” have created a colorful new play area and the concept of fun at recess has taken on a whole new meaning. “Most of the equipment from the playground was either from the Lena building and we moved it over when we put this school up in ’96 or it was from the Winslow building and we moved it down when we brought them down in 2005, said Lena Winslow Elementary School Principal Mary Gerbode. “It was such that we were doing repairs to it regularly. It was in pretty good shape, but we starting to do repairs to it every year. It was time for some updates.” Several organizations had been socking money away for a few years with new play equipment as a goal, and when the time came, everything fell into place. “The district put some money toward it and the PTO put some money toward it and the elementary account put some money aside also, so all three accounts worked together to financially make this possible,” said Gerbode. As the time for “Operation Playground Refurb” drew closer, the school sent a newsletter home with every student comparing the cost savings of paying outright for the work and equipment versus the idea of the community coming together and assembling the equipment themselves. The response was nothing short of amazing. “With the community working together it all came to about a third of the cost of having a contractor come in and do the work,” she said. “I think everybody realized the community working together is what is best for the kids.” She said the area is blessed with
sure everyone was well fed. The existing equipment received a new coat of paint and colorful artwork on the blacktop was touched up. Everyone worked hard and together and it all looks fabulous. “It was an awesome example of the community pride so prevalent in Lena,” said Gerbode. “It reminded me of how blessed we are to live in a community that pulls together to get things done right. The mulch has been ordered and will be put in place shortly. The students are going to be
so excited this fall.” She said they wanted 20 volunteers and 40 showed up. “You have the people who say they are going to come, but we signed people up at the end of school in May and I was worried would they all remember and would they all come,” she said. “But Ryan got the Masons to come and they worked with so many wonderful parents to do the smaller playground and I cannot say enough about Jed Schultz. He was phenomenal.”
She said they did have professional supervisory help, but volunteers were the lifeblood of the project. “I can tell you now, the kids are going to love this,” Gerbode said. “We had summer school through June 24, and then the next week the old equipment came out and the next week we started laying things out for the new one. We had put up a poster showing what the new playground would look like before school let out and they were so excited. It’s wonderful, just wonderful.”
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