Tuesday, June 01, 1999
Playland fund drive heats up
Campaign goes door-to-door
BY ANNA GUIDO
Enquirer Contributor
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP — Friends of Liberty Parks and Recreation will be knocking on doors this month asking for money to help build the Fort Liberty Playland.
Fund-raising for the project has been slow, one reason the playland's construction was moved from May to September.
Two recent events — a festival in April and a 5K run in May — netted $2,000 for the nonprofit volunteer group.
“We were hoping to make about $10,000,” said group president Chris Matacic. “This time of year, a lot of things are going on, and that kind of hurt things.” The playland will cost about $120,000.
Playland volunteers hope that taking a more personal approach by going door to door will generate more interest and funds for the playland.
Volunteers will take time to answer questions about the playland, as well as survey residents about future parks and recreation projects.
“We don't have anything on record as to what people in this area want,” Mrs. Matacic said. “It would be nice to know what people want.”
TO LEARN MORE
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For more information about Fort Liberty Playland or to volunteer, call Rick or Jane Titus at 844-1399; Ken Krallman at 844-2616; Chris Matacic at 779-2659; or Toni Bergen at 755-6063.
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With Liberty Township's population exploding, residents are demanding more recreational facilities. According to the 1990 Census, Liberty's population was 9,200. Today, it's estimated at 24,000.
Fort Liberty Playland is be ing built at The Reserves Park off Van Gordon Road. Moving the construction date to Sept. 21-26 also will alleviate the potential for traffic problems because of Butler County Regional Highway work under way at Van Gordon.
The 20,000-square-foot playground structure will have connecting wooden mazes, tunnels, walkways, slides and other play features designed by the community last year.
To date, about $25,000 has been raised in cash and grants, and about $75,000 worth of goods and services have been donated.
When it comes time to build the playland, about 2,000 volunteers will be needed to do the work. Leathers & Associates Inc., an Ithaca, N.Y., playground design firm, is leading the effort.
The large playground concept using community volunteers was the brainstorm of company president Robert Leathers.
He came up with the idea as a cost-cutting solution for needed playground equipment at his children's school.
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