With hopes of providing a new and safe environment for their kids, Moms in the community of Windham have started the Windham Park Restoration Committee. The committee’s president, Deann Donham, said the idea came to the group when they realized their community lacked a place for their kids to play.

“We have children and go to Ravenna or Hiram to take our kids to play and we wanted to stay local,” Donham said, “I’ve heard people complain, moms complain, you know there’s no swing sets at our park…our children don’t have anything to do.”

New jungle gyms and the addition of swing sets are only part of the Windham Park Restoration project. Plans include a skate park, and repaved parking lots as well. All with a price tag which Donham and the committee plan to approach in steps.

“We would like to do the equipment first like the jungle gyms and the swing sets,” Donham said, “Swing sets can run from anywhere from $500 to a $1,000 and…depending on the size of the jungle gym…I’ve seen them from anywhere from $25,000 up to $80,000. So it’s a lot.”

To help raise money, the Windham Park Restoration Committee has had and is planning fundraisers around the community. The committee has raised over $3,000 through fundraising over the summer hosting a beer garden and dunking tank. Currently, Donham and others are taking donations and selling tickets to a murder mystery dinner at various locations, such as Circle K and Monica’s Café, in Windham.

“We’re trying to look for things that generate more money than your bake sales…because we are moms we are busy, we have jobs and we go to school and we do all kinds of things,” Donham said, “I’ve been to a couple murder mystery dinners and said ‘Hey! They’re really fun, lets try to have one here.’”

But for the Windham Park Restoration Committee, the project is more than adding new equipment to the park. The restoration project and making Windham Park better means better things for their community and their families.

Donham said the project is important to her because “there’s not a lot to do here. So we, we think it’s really important to give the children a place to play and something to do.”