HENRYVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A new playground will be built in a southern Indiana community that was slammed by tornadoes last year, after supporters raised the remaining $20,000 needed for the project.
Henryville Youth Sports official Jennifer Badger said Kosair Charities gave $15,000 and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Henryville gave $5,000 last week for Henryville’s new playground.
Kosair President Randy Coe said the chairman of Kosair Charities, whose mission is helping children in need, saw a segment on WAVE-TV about the group’s search for playground donations and he offered $15,000 “without hesitation.”
“I was quite shocked,” Badger told the News and Tribune. “I thought maybe several groups or several individuals might come together with donations.”
The playground’s supporters needed to raise $20,000 by Feb. 18 to meet a matching requirement for a $50,000 grant from AmeriHealth Mercy Foundation and MDwise Hoosier Alliance. The playground will be built May 18.
Its supporters envision the project as a symbol of Henryville’s resilience following the March 2012 tornadoes that destroyed homes, schools and businesses in the community about 20 miles north of Louisville, Ky., and across southern Indiana. Fourteen Indiana residents died in those storms or later succumbed to injuries.
Although Henryville Youth Sports now has the funds it needs to match the grant and purchase the playground equipment, Badger said the playground project could still use more donations.
She said the home run fences at baseball fields nearby need to be extended, and plans for a walking path and shelters are in the works.
Badger said construction volunteers are also still needed.
“The more we can get, the better,” she said. “If we have too many, we’ll put them on other projects and things.”
