By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Decatur’s capital drive to fund the Kekionga Project is more than halfway to its goal. Time, however, is running short.
At the end of last week, the drive was $20,000 shy of its $50,000 goal, Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart told city council at its July 5 meeting.
The $50,000 must be raised by August 5 in order to receive a $50,000 match from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA)’s CreatINg Places program (also known as Patronicity).
So $30,000 has been raised thus far, with a good-sized chunk of that coming from Mark and Connie Bulmahn, who recently donated $10,000.
The Kekionga Project has three facets: a) Completing a dog park already started at the former site of the Evergreen Assisted Living facility; b) to finally renovate the old ball diamond (see photo) in Kekionga Park, north of the dog park site; and c) stocking the pond beside the dog park – where people can been seen fishing nearly every day at this time of the year.
The condition of the ball field in Kekionga Park has been in need of work for several years, since the adult men’s slo-pitch league lost their spot when the REV complex was initiated three or four years ago and moved to Kekionga.
Co-ed softball also is held there. Mayor Dan Rickord has said the ball players who use it are doing fundraising on their own.
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