Photo Credit: Alex Goetz
It all started with a Facebook comment complaining that the Covington, Ind., playground needed to be upgraded—the equipment was probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Covington resident Amanda Strawser received a call from Linda McGurk, another local resident, asking her to help raise funds for the park. Just under three years later, the community of 2,700 people in west-central Indiana—surrounded by corn and soybean fields—has its new park.
The Process
When Strawser received that call, she never knew how long it would take. “It’s a long process,” she comments.
She began by attending a city council meeting asking for permission to raise money. “We didn’t have a park board, and we thought $350,000 would be enough for the project,” Strawser recalls.