Twins secure grant for playground

HOT SPRINGS – Young students and several teachers kept themselves busy with rakes and shovels, spreading wood chips at the new elementary school playground in Hot Springs.

Sisters Sage and Sydney Jackson of the Hot Springs Wranglers applied for and received the People Partner Grant from the MSU Extension’s Montana 4-H Foundation to assist with the completion of the new playground structure at the town elementary school.

Working with the Elementary PTO, a driving force behind the construction of the new playground equipment, the young girls pursued the grant to purchase the wood chips used to surround the playground, in order to create a safe area for the students to play in.

“The girls wrote out the grant to pay for the playground’s wood chips,” Carmen Jackson, business manager and clerk of the Hot Springs School District, said.

The Wranglers club began spreading the wood chips at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 25.

The children worked well together to make the new playground equipment a safe place for their peers at the elementary school to have a good time.

“The work teaches the kids about giving back to the community,” Carmen said.

Members of the Hot Springs faculty were also on hand to assist the youth with their labor and oversee the project.

Superintendent Kevin Meredith, Jen Christensen, Carmen and a few others were at the new playground facilities bright and early to lend a helping hand to the eager students.

The adults directed the students and showed them effective techniques on how to dump and spread mulch in an efficient and orderly manner.

The community minded children were awarded for their volunteer efforts with a pizza lunch mid-way through the day.

According to Carmen, the organization raised about $1,000 through a raffle held during the spring of this year.

“All the money we raised will go to community service projects,” Parker said.

The club also used some of the money from the raffle to acquire garbage cans, which will be placed throughout Hot Springs.

The painted garbage cans will be set up along Main Street in the center of town.

The wranglers are also planning to launch a project at the cemetery of H Hill, where the club members will work to spruce up the grounds at the base of hill outside of Hot Springs.

Additionally, Carmen noted money raised by the Hot Springs Wranglers earlier in the year was used to purchase heifers for the South Dakota Ranchers Relief Fund.

4-H groups across the state are granted the People Partner Grants in order to provide incentives and financial support to groups and individuals for programs enhancing the quality of living in their communities.

The brand new playground structure will benefit the students of Hot Springs once school is back in session at the end of summer vacation.

Carmen Jackson pointed out the old playground equipment was getting up there in age and really wasn’t a safe place for the students anymore.

The efforts of the Hot Springs PTO and the Wranglers will ensure current and future students have a safe place to enjoy for years to come.