Published: October 10, 2009 09:57 pm      

Wakarusa women memorialized with playground

WAKARUSA - Glazed by the steady mist of the soupy day, Helen Hoffman patrolled this bustling construction zone just east of downtown with mud on her shoes and purpose in her eyes.

To her right Amish men and other construction volunteers armed with tape measures and Skil saws cut 2-by-4 beams with rapid efficiency.

In front of her, members of nearby churches painted playhouses that took the form of a one-room schoolhouse and an idling school bus.

To her left, students from NorthWood High School, each with a rake in hand, laughed and joked with each other as they spread eight semi-truck loads of mulch around structures that had already been completed.

“It’s been amazing to see this come together,” said Hoffman. “By the end of the week we expect to have had more than 1,000 volunteers work on this.”

By today, those volunteers will have completed a new playground just south of Waterford Street between downtown and the Bible Baptist Church. The entire project is being constructed with private money and volunteer labor.

The playground, which includes swings, a climbing area, a schoolhouse, a school bus and giant panther face with a slide for a tongue and several Indian tents, was designed this past spring by students of the Wa-Nee Community School Corp.

The new facility will stand as a memorial to the late Diane Brown and Lisa Lengacher. Brown was a nurse at Wakarusa Elementary School and Lengacher a community leader who founded the Compass after-school program.

“It’s a very good cause for a couple very special ladies,” said Caryn Hershberger, of Nappanee who teaches at NorthWood Middle School in Wakarusa. “I wish the weather was nicer, but that’s OK. I should have come out Monday. It was sunny then.”

Hershberger helped spread out wood chips around the new playground equipment that was hand assembled on site. She was one of a number of teachers who volunteered their time.

Rex Weaver, also of Nappanee, was one of 10 construction captains for the project that had its official ground breaking on Tuesday and will be dedicated at noon today.

“Not bad for a five-day build,” said Weaver as he drilled a few holes. “I’d say it’s looking pretty good.”

Volunteers worked on the playground from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day of the build. Hoffman said co-coordinating the build has been a huge undertaking. Raising the money, tracking down all the essential tools and feeding the volunteers were all tremendous accomplishments, she said.

Coordinating the construction was also no small task.

“It really does take a village to make something like this happen,” Hoffman said. “So many people came together to do their little part to make this big playground.”