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Casey Himmelsbach and her 16-month-old girl, Bradli, spend a lot of time together in Neosho's Big Spring Park.
Bradli especially loves to swing, her mother said.
And thanks to a donation from an area organization, she will soon be safer while doing so.
The Community Health Collaborative of Newton and Jasper Counties has purchased 22 swings (with chains), two outdoor spring toys, and a new diving board for the public swimming pool as a gift to Neosho's park system. The benefactor organization is made up of the Newton County Health Department, the Jasper County Health Department, the Joplin Health Department, Freeman Health Systems and St. John’s Regional Medical Center, among other community partners.
The swings and playground equipment are together valued at about $3,400 and the diving board at $2,200.
“That’s almost $6,000 in equipment that is going to the Neosho parks and does not cost the city anything,” said Himmelsbach, who works at the Newton County Health Department and was partly responsible for securing the funding. “We’re doing this to increase the safety and usage of the parks in order to encourage families to get out more, walk more and spend more time outside.”
The donation was made possible via federal Centers for Disease Control funding for the chronic disease prevention program administered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. One part of the program handled locally is the Live Smart campaign, which promotes outdoor exercise, among other things.
According to Neosho parks and recreation director Todd Banes, the new equipment will be distributed throughout Neosho parks and replace equipment that has either worn out or fallen prey to vandalism. One example of the latter is a spring toy next to the tennis court in Morse Park. Once in the shape of an alligator, someone has knocked its head off, creating sharp edges. With the donation, it will be replaced with a spacecraft. Another outdoor bounce toy, in the shape of a snail, in Morse Park North is also among the equipment that will be replaced due to vandalism.
Banes said that vandalism seems to be on the upswing in Neosho parks at the moment.
“It runs hot and cold,” he said. “We’ll run through spurts where we’re all right and then we’ll run through spurts where we it’s happening quite a bit. Right now, we’re in a spurt where it’s happening quite a bit.”
Meanwhile, this could be the first time the swings have been replaced in upwards of 20 years, Banes guessed. Several are currently broken.
Casey Himmelsbach and her 16-month-old girl, Bradli, spend a lot of time together in Neosho's Big Spring Park.
Bradli especially loves to swing, her mother said.
And thanks to a donation from an area organization, she will soon be safer while doing so.
The Community Health Collaborative of Newton and Jasper Counties has purchased 22 swings (with chains), two outdoor spring toys, and a new diving board for the public swimming pool as a gift to Neosho's park system. The benefactor organization is made up of the Newton County Health Department, the Jasper County Health Department, the Joplin Health Department, Freeman Health Systems and St. John’s Regional Medical Center, among other community partners.
The swings and playground equipment are together valued at about $3,400 and the diving board at $2,200.
“That’s almost $6,000 in equipment that is going to the Neosho parks and does not cost the city anything,” said Himmelsbach, who works at the Newton County Health Department and was partly responsible for securing the funding. “We’re doing this to increase the safety and usage of the parks in order to encourage families to get out more, walk more and spend more time outside.”
The donation was made possible via federal Centers for Disease Control funding for the chronic disease prevention program administered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. One part of the program handled locally is the Live Smart campaign, which promotes outdoor exercise, among other things.
According to Neosho parks and recreation director Todd Banes, the new equipment will be distributed throughout Neosho parks and replace equipment that has either worn out or fallen prey to vandalism. One example of the latter is a spring toy next to the tennis court in Morse Park. Once in the shape of an alligator, someone has knocked its head off, creating sharp edges. With the donation, it will be replaced with a spacecraft. Another outdoor bounce toy, in the shape of a snail, in Morse Park North is also among the equipment that will be replaced due to vandalism.
Banes said that vandalism seems to be on the upswing in Neosho parks at the moment.
“It runs hot and cold,” he said. “We’ll run through spurts where we’re all right and then we’ll run through spurts where we it’s happening quite a bit. Right now, we’re in a spurt where it’s happening quite a bit.”
Meanwhile, this could be the first time the swings have been replaced in upwards of 20 years, Banes guessed. Several are currently broken.
“They’re just old, that’s basically what it boils down to,” Banes said. “It’s time to get new swings. Between Casey (Himmelsbach) and I, that’s where we thought we could make a huge difference.”
The diving board at the city pool was beginning to develop cracks, Banes said.
“We could have patched it, but when you’re dealing with diving boards it’s safer to just replace it,” he said. “Those things are expensive, though, and we definitely wouldn’t have had the money to do anything about it on our own.”
Himmelsbach, who lives on Jefferson Street and often walks to Big Spring Park with her daughter, is personally glad to see the equipment replaced.
“I’m really excited to see some safety improvements in the parks,” she said. “All of these were safety issues and I know I want my baby to be safe when we go and play in the parks. That’s why we called Todd (Banes) and asked what we could do to help out and make the parks safer and get more people to use them.”
Banes expressed gratitude for the new equipment, as he said there was no way the parks department would have been able to pay for it out of its own budget this tight fiscal year. That, Himmelsbach said, was why Neosho was thought of when the subject of how to use some of the money for the Live Smart campaign came up in discussion.
“We knew there was a need for some equipment here in Neosho and, with the economic climate being as it is, we knew that it might not happen,” she said. “I’m a resident of Neosho and a mommy with a baby who plays in the park. If this helps keep her safer, I’m happy.”
Himmelsbach said the equipment should be delivered next month.
