Investment in Playground a Slam Dunk
A little girl’s wish for swings kicked off a playground upgrade project that has taken on a life of its own and rallied the whole town of Boissevain behind it.
“About three days into grade five, my daughter came home a little sad and when I asked her what was wrong, she said her playground needed swings,” says Heather Janssens, co-chair of the Boissevain school playground committee.
“So, I went to the first parent council meeting with a mission to get some swings,” she says. “It just so happened that the new principal, Mr. White, also had improving the playgrounds on his list of things to talk about too.”
That was in the fall of 2023, and since then Janssens and her fellow committee members have not only whipped the middle years playground into shape but are wrapping up a second phase of the project this summer with the completion of a new basketball court.
“The project really has taken on a life of its own,” Janssens says. “When the first playground was nearing completion, we started looking at what the high school kids had for recreation and there wasn’t much if they weren’t involved in an organized sport.”
The solution was to convert unused tennis courts, which involves repairing the existing asphalt and coating it with a sport surface, then adding the lines and equipment that will transform it into a basketball court.
Stomping Grounds
As the project grew so did the need to raise funds. Janssens says the whole town has not only been very active in supporting local fundraising activities, but also bringing opportunities to apply for grants, like ADAMA Canada’s Stomping Grounds community investment initiative, to the committee’s attention.
“I had a couple of guys from Double Diamond, a local ag company, tell me about Stomping Grounds and then a couple of other people from the community also sent it to me,” she says. “I can’t tell you how awesome our town has been rallying behind this project from the beginning.”
Seeing their project fit the funding criteria of strengthening the fabric of rural communities, the committee submitted their application and was informed in April their application was selected for a $5,000 investment from ADAMA.
Gerald Hildebrand, Western Manitoba Area Business Manager with ADAMA Canada, had the honour of personally delivering the cheque to Janssens, along with Lance Austin, the manager at the local Double Diamond Farm Supply outlet.
“Heather gave us a tour of what will be the basketball courts and it was obvious from both her and Austin the passion that has gone into all phases of this project,” says Hildebrand. “I caught a little of the excitement myself and I can’t wait to see kids shooting hoops, and maybe a couple of slam dunks, on a future stop in town.”
That’s some of the excitement Janssens gets to experience every day since the project kicked off.
“Now when I drop my girls off for school there are kids all over the place, playing on everything and it is just so great to see,” she says.
The Boissevain School playground is one of 23 community projects from across Canada that received funding from ADAMA this year. The company invested a total of $127,000 into the 23 projects and has contributed over half a million dollars since 2018 to strengthen the fabric of rural communities.