Loon Lake Playground Committee halfway to goal

The Loon Lake Playground Committee (LLPC) is halfway to its goal of fundraising for a new structure after receiving a donation of $10,000 towards the cost of the project.

Formed last April, LLPC committee chair Ed Schafer said the group came together to raise funds for a new playground structure at Ernier Studer School, as the current one is rundown.

“The existing structure is quite frankly worn out and basically we want to replace it with a newer, safer and better facility for our kids,” Schafer said.

The new structure comes with a price tag of approximately $80,000 and will be able to handle 50 to 70 kids at a time, which Schafer said fits the need for the elementary school.

Upon starting the committee, Schafer said donations came in early from the Makwa Lions Club and R.M. of Loon Lake. Since then, fundraisers were held and other donations came in. Schafer added most recently, Meadow Lake Co-op and Meadow Power and Equipment partnered together and donated just over $10,000.

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“To add that dollar amount to our project is one eighth of the project, so that’s a huge donation and we’re over the moon with it,” he said. “That helps us in our fundraising and shows great community involvement and commitment, so we’re very happy and pleased with the donation.”

With roughly $40,000 raised so far, Schafer said the committee hopes to reach its $80,000 goal by May 1 and hopes the Feb. 11 Valentine’s Steak Supper will help get them there.

The new playground should be installed and ready to go to start the 2017-18 school year.

Once the structure is built, ownership is then transferred to the Northwest School Division.

Curtis Ebach, agro division manager with the Meadow Lake Co-op, Curtis Ebach said the donation came as a result of 20 acres of farm land the company owns.

“In the last couple years we have seeded it and donate the profit to a local charity,” he said. “This year (the Meadow Lake Ag board) got together as a group and decided to donate to the Loon Lake Playground Committee who are fundraising for a new playground structure.”

Meadow Power and Equipment partnered with the Co-op and volunteered to do the seeding, spraying, combining, and grain marketing.

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW, paNOW and battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.