Freedom Twp. – The Freedom and Community Park Boosters would like to thank the community for their support as we developed our vision and move forward with improving our parks in Freedom Township.
One of our first projects was to apply for our 501c3 non-profit status. This was effective December 9, 2016. So any donations made to the Freedom Community and Park Boosters are tax deductible. Thank you to all on the committee for their hard work on getting this completed.
One of our other projects was to plant some trees that are native to our area. We worked with Portage County Soil and Water to get a layout of areas to work with and the trees to plant there. This will be a work in progress for our group until it is completed. On our first planting day we worked with the Portage Prime Producers 4-H club from Mantua. We had about 20 people there to put Geo-textile fabric down, mulch and plant the trees. This served as one of their community service projects.
As a group we decided to build handicapped picnic tables. Ryan Lance volunteered to build the two tables as part of his Eagle Scout Project. Ryan raised his own funds to purchase the materials. Carter Lumber in Ravenna donated the wood for the first table and gave the materials for the second table at cost. Ryan has finished both tables and received his Eagle Scout!! Great job, Ryan, and the tables look wonderful.
Our year long fundraising project is the Pepsi machine that was installed outside of the town hall. As another fundraiser we raffled off a wrought iron bench and silent auction baskets from various vendors/donators in the community at the Freedom Community Picnic in August. Congratulations to Joe Leonard for winning the bench along with the other winners of the baskets. This was a success for us and we will be looking forward to doing this again at the 2018 picnic.
If anyone is interested in becoming a member or just helping with projects, please contact a committee member or attend our monthly meetings on the first Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at the Freedom Town Hall unless otherwise noted. Committee Members are: Tom Mesaros, President, 330-245-6061; Jennifer Derthick, Secretary/Treasurer, 330-931-8227; Matt West, member, 330-554-1471; Terry Lance, member; Jeff Derthick, Township Trustee, 330-221-1046 or by email at freedomparkboosters@gmail.com.
