{"id":42023,"date":"2013-08-19T07:45:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T12:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=42023"},"modified":"2013-08-20T07:44:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T12:44:09","slug":"scott-volunteers-resurrect-overgrown-bresler-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/08\/19\/scott-volunteers-resurrect-overgrown-bresler-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott volunteer group resurrects park"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

SCOTT \u2013 Scott residents are used to having to overcome the odds to get something done in their village, which sits astride the Van Wert-Paulding County Line.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>
Scott village residents gather for a picnic fundraiser at Bresler Park on August 10. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That was the case recently when a group of villagers decided to resurrect the village\u2019s softball association and form at least one team to allow the village\u2019s youngsters to compete in an area softball league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to get the community together, \u00a0get the excitement back in the kids and see something happen in the community,\u201d said Heather Lacey, one of the organizers of the initiative.<\/p>\n

The big challenge was getting Bresler Park, the ballfield and its aging concession stand back in shape so that any teams formed could have a place to practice and play their games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe park had not been used in close to 15 years,\u201d Lacey said. \u201cThe ballfield was grown over and the concession stand taken over by rodents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteers went to work, clearing brush and weeds from the ballfield, moving the rodents from their concession stand home and sprucing up the park in general. The efforts culminated in a recent \u201cpicnic in the park\u201d fundraising event that brought in approximately $1,000 to help with park beautification efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very thankful for the support,\u201d Lacey said, adding that additional fundraisers are planned for a major renovation of the park\u2019s concession stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs a lot of work,\u201d Lacey said, adding that improving the concession stand would also help generate additional revenues that could be used to maintain the park itself.<\/p>\n

Van Wert County Business Outreach Coordinator Sarah Smith and County Commissioners Thad Lichtensteiger and Todd Wolfrum visited the park during the picnic, and Smith said she was impressed with the efforts of the community in beautifying the park.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>
Scott youngsters play softball at Bresler Park for the first time in nearly 15 years. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“What I love about this story is that it’s a community trying to do something,” Smith said of the project. “They decided they wanted their ballpark back and they are making it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see our communities taking an active role in progress,\u201d Smith continued. \u201cOur communities want to grow, they are hungry for it and it only takes one person, or a handful of people, with vision to get something started and really energize everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u00a0Bresler Park volunteers are planning additional fundraising events throughout the fall and winter in preparation for a February 2014 decision by the Paulding County Ball Association on whether Scott can join the league — and ballgames return to the park.<\/p>\n

Anyone wanting to make donations to the project can mail them to The Scott Ball Association, P.O. Box 82, Scott, OH 45886, while questions about the project can be directed to association members Lacey at 419.910.0561 or Chris Martinez at 520.227.6878.<\/p>\n

Smith said she hopes the Scott efforts will energize other local communities into coming up with projects in their towns and villages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope what they are doing in Scott is contagious,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor SCOTT \u2013 Scott residents are used to having to overcome the odds to get something done in their village, which sits astride the Van Wert-Paulding County Line. That was the case recently when a group of villagers decided to resurrect the village\u2019s softball association and form at least one team to allow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 10:46:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}