News

Mission group helps build playground at park

By Tyler Ohmann

07/24/2012

For the past few years Brian Knudson and the Bottineau Park Board has received a little extra help during a week in the summer.

That is because a group of missionaries from Missouri take time from their work in the Belcourt area to come and make Bottineau a better place.

A few years ago they painted the shed at the Forestry park and this year, they are again back at the Bottineau Forestry Park to erect an entire playground.

“We have had this plan in the works since 2005,” Knudson said. “We don’t have the manpower or time to pull off a project like this, and they came ready and did all the work.  It is excellent that they came and did this.”

The equipment was saved from when the new playground was put up at Tommy Turtle Park. The mission group repainted and reassembled the pieces to make a new place to play for kids on the west side of Bottineau.

Roger Penn and Ben Schnipper are two of the coordinators of the mission trip to Bottineau. They are glad to come and help out.

“We always try to surprise Brian when we come up here,” Penn said. “He says he wants this much work done, and we try to get done twice as much as he wants.”

The work began on Monday with hole digging. Tuesday the group evolved to some cement work and painting and Wednesday and Thursday they assembled the playground equipment and added finishing touches.

“When we started out, there was nothing here,” Schnipper said. “It was nice to do a project and see it to completion, and to do something that people are going to like.”

“We heard several families at church, when we told them we were doing this, that they live close and they are excited to have a park close,” Schnipper continued. “It’s nice to do something for the community, and especially something that will get some use out of.”

The mission is only here thanks to the Mission Director of their portion of Missouri’s contact with the same person in north Dakota. Since then the two states have reciprocated their help to each other.

“We decided that we would come up here and help out, and in June a group from North Dakota went down and helped us,” Schnipper said. “That partnership started about five years ago, but this is our third time here in Bottineau.”

Penn said the group has felt welcomed in Bottineau. Four of the town’s churches have provided meals for the group and numerous businesses have offered discounts. Penn believes that the business they bring to town coupled with their work makes their trip a mutually beneficial venture.

“We feel like the community has embraced us,” Penn said. “We are part of the community when we are up here.”

The playground has been completed at the Forestry Park and adds another dimension to a park that includes picnic areas, shelters, disc golf and beautiful scenery.

“It is just a great experience for us to be here and work for God,” Penn said.