Your Impact
By making improvements in our Parks, you help our citizens and visitors build memories.
A Word from Steve.
Steve McDaniel | Director
Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation
You have all heard the saying “Pay it Forward”. To some it means buying coffee for the person standing behind you at Starbucks. For others it is Random Acts of Kindness like complimenting someone you see today, donating clothes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or surprising your neighbor with freshly baked treats. And by the way, we are always accepting of freshly baked treats here at Parks and Recreation.
I see one of the key roles of the Park Foundation as Paying it Forward. Its mission statement states: “The Park Foundation’s sole purpose is to help provide financial support to the Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department. Raising and stewarding private funds for the maintenance, equipment needs, upgrades and programming for our parks and for the creation of new parks”.
Let us use Promenade Park as an example. Without the generous support the Fort Wayne Park Foundation board has shown, we would not be standing in this wonderful pavilion, looking out on this grand park, and watching all of these people enjoying themselves while building memories.
Your support of the Lifetime Sports Academy in McMillen Park has provided thousands of kids with the opportunity to learn lifelong skills in tennis, golf and swimming. Not to mention giving these kids lasting memories that have helped build and shape who they are today and will be in the future.
Paying it Forward can also be seen in all of the trees, that you helped fund, that have been planted in our parks over the years. Yes, we as park visitors get to enjoy the beauty of these newly planted trees. But really the benefits are years down the line with the oxygen they produce and the shade they provide, not to mention the beautiful scenery they create with the changing colors in their leaves each fall.
Christian, Maxine, and Lynn Salomon are another example of Paying it Forward. Their vision of leaving their land to the department in 1996 to remain operating as a depression era working farm is continually showing its benefits. They saw that development was coming to a lot of property on the north side of the city and they did not want that to happen to their farm. They had the forethought to make a decision that visitors of Salomon Farm Park will benefit from forever.
Dr. Suzanne Knoebel in 2015 designated a half million dollars as part of her estate to go towards improvements or programming in Buckner Park. Like many others, she saw the vision of building a better tomorrow with her donation.
The Foundation’s commitment to raise funds towards the first phase of renovations to Franke Park’s master plan is also a way of Paying it Forward. Think of the millions of visitors that will enjoy all that we can soon accomplish with this project.
By making improvements in our Parks, you help our citizens and visitors build memories, strengthen our community, and improve the quality of life for everyone.
The Park Foundation is leaving a true legacy of Paying if Forward for the citizens of Fort Wayne and the visitors to our parks and the participants of our programs. Please help us to continue to Pay it Forward for many years to come.
Steve McDaniel | Director
Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation
August 2021