Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
ETNA GREEN -ÊIn Aesop's fable "The Crow and The Pitcher," a crow finally gets a drink of water out of a long slender pitcher by putting in one pebble at a time.
The more pebbles the crow added, the higher the water rose.
To help the town of Etna Green make Remembrance Park a reality, Rebecca Baker and Marlene Hoffer applied for grants for the project one application at a time as part of their Kosciusko Leadership Academy project.
Remembrance Park will be at an area downtown currently called the town round or town square. Run-down and unsightly, the town square became a place to store the town's recycling bins and to park cars.
The park, once completed, will feature a bandstand, picnic tables, benches and a fountain.
The town is within a birdbeak's reach of raising enough money to make the project a complete reality. They need only $30,000 to complete the project.
"Remembrance Park has been a project in Etna Green since '96," said Baker, as to why she and Hoffer chose Remembrance Park as their KLA project. "It just seemed like the right project to do."
Hoffer's and Baker's efforts in applying for grants paid off. They applied for 20, heard back from seven and received a $40,000 grant from Build Indiana Funds. The idea to apply for Build Indiana Funds was suggested by a state senator who was a guest speaker at a KLA meeting, Hoffer said.
She said when she found out they received the Build Indiana Funds, "We were elated."
"It was 9 p.m. Sunday night. I didn't know who was calling," said Baker.
"(Baker's) been involved in it since day one. I was really happy for her," said Hoffer.
They hope to still hear about the other funds they applied for.
Also as part of KLA, the two women had to give a presentation to KLA members and sponsors on their project.
"(Baker) did well," said Hoffer. "She did a very good job. She is definitely a speaker."
Total cost for the Remembrance Park project is $178,000. What's been raised so far has been through grants and donations in the form of labor and equipment.
This fall, the fountain and final layer of asphalt, as well as the bandstand, will be completed. The project will then await only completion of the landscaping.
The Remembrance Park committee is still raising funds for the project by selling bricks to go around the fountain. Plaques are being sold, too, and someone came up with an idea to make a book, but book idea is right now only an idea.
Hoffer said all the ideas people come up with to raise money just shows how much people are thinking about the project.
