Lake Orion’s Swiss Village residents impressed local merchants and village officials when they began looking for new playground equipment last summer.
The families wanted new, age-appropriate equipment for their children, who are too young to use the existing equipment
The residents approached the Village Council through the Parks and Recreation Committee asking permission to get a new play-scape installed in Swiss Village Park.
But they didn’t come looking for a handout.
‘They showed initiative,? said Tony Lasher, of Oxford Bank. ‘They didn’t just want our money. They made their own effort.?
Over the summer, the families hosted a community-wide garage sale and raised over $1,100 for the play-scape. Then they brought the funds to the council.
‘They didn’t ever ask for money,? Council member Mike Toth said. ‘They just asked, ‘What can we get with this???
Toth is part of the Parks and Recreation Committee and asked Oxford Bank to help Swiss Village gather money.
Lasher said the bank was happy to help out.
He explained the bank receives a lot money donating requests. The bank agreed to help with this request because they were impressed with the amount of research the residents did.
In December they wrote a check for $2,000 for the project.
‘It made a lot of sense,? Lasher said. ‘We’re a community bank and we wanted to help out these motivated individuals.?
Toth says the Parks and Rec. Committee has committed funds to help, too. It’ll chip in around $5,000, making the total $8,000.
Construction on the new play-scape will begin this spring as weather permits.