Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation Are Busy with Fundraising
Share
Tweet
A few members of the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation Board gathered recently to accept a $3,000 grant from First Bank of Montana in Chinook. The grant monies will be used towards improvements to the Chinook City Pool and Sweet Park. The group, which is still in the infancy phase of this project, plans to invest those grant dollars in renovations once they raise additional funds to begin reconstruction.
This Friends Foundation, dedicated towards fundraising and improving the Chinook City Pool and the Sweet Park, has a fairly recent beginning. As various Blaine County parents travelled across the state this past summer with their children competing on the Lion's Swim Team, they encountered pools and parks in communities like Sidney and Lewistown where they noticed considerable differences.
"Some of these places have fabulous facilities, which made us realize that Chinook's pool was especially in need of some love," expressed Heather DePriest, a Swim Team parent and President of the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation (FPPF).
As these community members talked to one another, they discovered a common interest and commitment, so they explored the possibility of forming a non-profit that would qualify for various funding sources. "We started meeting early this spring," DePriest reported. "But around the first part of June, we got serious and created a Facebook page to generate interest, spread the word, and communicate announcements."
The informal group's next step was to form a Board of Directors:
• Heather DePriest – President
• Jill Paulsen – Vice President
• Julianne Snedigar – Secretary
• Jessica Aberg - Treasurer
• Kathy Radovich
- Parliamentarian
• Julie Terry - Reporter
• Kelsey Harry
– Member at Large
• Heather Huravitch
– Member at Large
• Erica Smith
– Member at Large
Under the leadership of those individuals, the FPPF moved on to collect commentary from the community-at-large. Using Survey Monkey, they designed a survey to count opinions, posted it on their Facebook page, and invited the public to vote on the items they felt deserved priority status in the improvement process for the pool and the park.
"Although the Foundation would be working in phases on all of the improvement projects, we wanted the public's opinion on which projects should be of first priority," DePriest said.
The results of these surveys indicate that the public wishes to see the Foundation invest in new playground equipment, address drainage issues, and improve the bathrooms at Sweet Park, in addition to making them accessible as defined by guidelines in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not only ensuring access to the built environment for people with disabilities, the ADA Standards establish design requirements for the construction and alteration of facilities subject to the law.
Approximately, 70% of the respondents deemed new equipment a number one priority for Sweet Park, 55% marked drainage as a necessary improvement, and 51% wished to see bathroom upgrades.
Regarding the Chinook City Pool, 55% of the public identified resealing the locker room floors with a non-slip surface as a top priority. Tying as second most important, 46% wanted to see the pool surface resealed as well as the splash pad replaced and the baby pool area revamped.
In other polling questions, 81% declared their interest in fiscally supporting the efforts of the FPPF, and 57% said they would assist with fundraising projects. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents represented the 35-44 year-old age group.
In August, the FPPF received official news that they had legal status as a non-profit organization. This status gave them the green light to apply for grants like that offered by First Bank of Montana. It also fueled plans that had been set in motion during their monthly summer meetings.
Looking for experience with pools and parks, the FPPF did their research, calling city officials in Sidney and Lewistown, since those two communities have park and pool systems worthy of emulation.
"We reached out to find out who helped them with their improvement and renovation processes. We wanted to know how they got it done and what they did," DePriest stated.
City officials in those two towns shared names: Jennifer Pfau and Interstate Engineering. Pfau, a grant writer, was able to secure the necessary funds for Lewistown, while Interstate Engineering, with offices in Billings and Sidney, provided guidance with Sidney's engineering process.
The FPPF plans to hire the Interstate Engineering firm to conduct a project assessment and to perform a cost analysis. Once they have those figures, their goal is to hire Pfau. In the meantime, they are hopeful about fundraising. Donation jars have been placed at such locations as Finley's Food Farm, Town Pump, Chinook Pharmacy, Ace Hardware, and the Eagles Club.
"People have been really generous about putting money in those collection jars," DePriest said. "We appreciate that generosity."
In addition to the First Bank of Montana grant, $5,000 was donated by the Chinook High School All-Class Reunion Alumni group who decided to use some of the overage generated for conducting the All-Class Reunion to fund other community projects with potential to benefit a large number of Chinook residents.
According to DePriest, this was a considerate sharing of resources from a group that "just wants to do good things and support worthwhile projects."
DePriest announced another upcoming revenue generator for Pool and Park improvements: a Krispy Kreme Fundraiser. Delivery will be Friday, October 16 at 4:00 p.m. in Chinook. Anyone wishing to order donuts simply needs to complete the order form on the PFFP's Facebook page or to contact any board member. Payment will be collected at pickup.
Members of the PFFP also did some pre-selling of the Krispy Kreme Donuts on Saturday, October 3 during the Sugarbeet Festival.
About their support for the Chinook City Pool and Sweet Park, DePriest said: "We are especially grateful for the contributions that First Bank makes to the community of Chinook, so be sure to give them a big thank you for their investment into these two great entities."
