By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The Hays Kiwanis Club recently joined with other clubs around the world for “Kiwanis ONE Day,” with an estimated one million volunteer hours donated to community service projects internationally.

The Hays club members did some spring cleaning and sprucing up in the Kiwanis Park located at 17th and Harvest Road.

The park is a partnership with the city of Hays. Director of Parks Jeff Boyle provided project coordinator Don Scheibler with a list of things that needed to be done.

“We were happy to do it,” Scheibler said. “Everything Kiwanis does is improving the community and working to make life better for the children.”

“Quality of life is a huge issue for folks these days,” Boyle said, “and this Kiwanis Park is a perfect example of it. You’ve gotta have a place for kids to hang out and enjoy their day, parents included.”

The group of about 20 Kiwanis members and friends “repainted picnic tables and the swing set, raked the sand in the volleyball pits and picked up trash,” Scheibler added, which tends to collect in the drainage canal along the east side of the park.

The city provided all the supplies and equipment needed for the project.

In celebration of Kiwanis International’s 100th year, the Hays Kiwanis club presented a $40,000 check to the city in January for new playground equipment, restrooms and a fitness trail in the park.

“This park wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Kiwanis,” declared Boyle. “It was just an open field back in 1991 when they went before the city commission and said ‘we want to put in a park.'”