COSHOCTON – Responding to the needs of the community was the goal of a recent Community Impact Day at Coshocton’s NewPointe Community Church.
Projects included improvements to the Playvillion in Lake Park, landscaping of the Aqueduct Bridge, and some work at Camp Echoing Hills. Each year, the church reserves one Sunday where parishioners, instead of attending church services, complete community improvement projects. About 100 volunteers participated in the community projects.
Church members Amy Hasseman and Tiffany Swigert led the work on the playground. The playground was built 27 years ago and was last upgraded by the church in 2014. Work included replacing the walkways and fences, rebuilding the kite and building block play areas, replacing the hose on the chain obstacle, painting, spreading sand and mulch, resurfacing the benches, trimming the grass, and removing an overgrown tree.
Hasseman said this project is difficult for the park district to accomplish because of its scale. The organization employs three maintenance workers for 500 acres.
“(The playground) will need to be replaced in the near future because the treated wood has exceeded its lifespan, but we were able to repair it, replace it and give it a little more life,” Hasseman said.
She also thanked those outside the church for their help, which included money from the Coshocton Foundation, tires for a tire obstacle donated by Coshocton Tire, tubes for the chain obstacle from McWane Ductile, sand from Baird Concrete, lunches for volunteers from Dominoes Pizza, and various materials from Coshocton Lumber and Auer Ace Hardware, who also donated a bike rack.
Worship leader Sam Massey has taken his family to Playvillion regularly for the past seven years and knew the importance of the restoration.
“We intentionally put this aside because we thought it would be something that families in Coshocton County could really enjoy and it would be a great way for us to get involved in our community in a meaningful way,” he said.
