Organized fundraising efforts have paid off in spades for Mill Creek MetroParks, according to a development update provided to the park board Monday.

MetroParks Development Director Chris Litton reported the MetroParks has brought in more than $2.4 million in private donations so far this year. That is substantially more than the previous annual totals of $17,334 in 2016, $106,325 in 2015 and $334,625 in 2014, according to figures Litton presented.

“We’ve really done quite a bit with a short period of time,” Litton said.

This year, the MetroParks launched an endowment drive and a capital campaign. To date, the park has raised more than $825,000 in endowments and $1 million in capital contributions, according to Litton.

Additionally, the MetroParks will get about $310,000 from the sale of a house on Clingan Road in Struthers that had been donated to the park system by local philanthropists Bruce and Nancy Beeghly. Those funds will help pay for a renovation of Ford Nature Center.

The park system this year has received more than $15,000 in memorial/tribute donations, and $285,000 from donors for specific projects, Litton reported.

“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young said. “We’re going to hope to end the year on a high note.”

In other business, the board set equipment and rental fees for the new dek hockey rink at Wick Recreation Area. Dek hockey is a version of ice hockey that is played on foot instead of skates.

The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation covered the majority of the $250,000 cost of installing the rink at the park’s former ice-skating area.

The rink is free to use if it has not been reserved. A 60-minute reservation costs $20 for Mahoning County residents and $30 for non-residents.

Hockey and lacrosse sticks will cost $2 to rent and there will be a $1 charge for a dek puck/ball.

The MetroParks also will offer dek leagues, with rates of $500 for adult teams and $50 for individual children.

In other business, the board passed a resolution related to the final phase of a project that will complete the Mill Creek MetroParks Bikeway. The project will extend the bikeway from Western Reserve Road to Washingtonville, where it will meet Columbiana County’s bike trail.

Young said the MetroParks is in the middle of the final phase and is now moving forward with purchasing vacant property along the trail’s planned route. He said he expects construction to begin in about a year.

The board authorized MetroParks staff to apply for a federal grant that would cover up to 80 percent of the estimated $200,000 cost of rehabilitating the Old Orchard Bridge on Chestnut Hill Drive.

Additionally, the board recognized members of the Mill Creek PGA Junior League, a youth golf program coached by Professional Golfers’ Association and Ladies Professional Golf Association professionals. The Mill Creek team, one of six in the local division, went undefeated this season.

View the full article at vindy.com

Mill Creek Park’s old ice-skating rink is getting a blue makeover courtesy of a team that wears black and gold.

On Tuesday morning, volunteers from Mill Creek MetroParks, Home Savings, the Youngstown Phantoms and The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation were laying down blue tiles for the park’s new dek hockey rink.

Dek hockey is the outdoor version of ice hockey that is typically played on foot instead of skates. Unlike the facility its replacing, the dek can be used all year.

“That’s one of the most exciting parts about adding this recreational opportunity,” said Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director. “Everybody knows the history of the Wick Recreation Area. This new project is a tip of the cap to the old history of what used to be here. It’s just in a new and improved manner.”

The Dek is the foundation’s first dek in Ohio after building 13 in western Pennsylvania. It’s part of the foundation’s Project Power Play meant to make a more affordable version of hockey accessible.

Mill Creek and the foundation – a nonprofit whose primary sponsor is the NHL franchise – linked up through the Phantoms and Home Savings came aboard to contribute.

“We’ve done some promotional stuff with the Phantoms and we were approached by Mill Creek Park with a strong interest, asking ‘How do we put a dek up?’” foundation president Dave Soltesz said. “For us, it’s about growing the game. This is a market where we have youth hockey teams already, but how can you introduce more kids to the game?

“It’s great for parents. You can have a kid say he wants to play hockey and do you want to go out and buy skates and all that stuff? It’s cool to just go out there and play the game,” Soltesz said.

The Dek features covered benches and an electronic scoreboard.

The estimated $250,000 facility was completed Tuesday afternoon.

Young said he didn’t have exact figures to what the MetroParks paid, but said it was “minimal” with the foundation covering the majority of the costs.

The dek is expected to become fully operational in 2019, with leagues and safety rules established around that time. The Phantoms will also run clinics on dek hockey.

“It’s too soon with Mother Nature creeping up on us here. The hope is by 2019, we have everything for leagues to operate,” Young said.

“We’re evaluating our own operations in terms of running leagues. We’re not through with our evaluation just yet, which is why 2019 is more realistic to us.”

Phantoms head coach Brad Patterson had his own version of dek hockey growing up Cranbrook, British Columbia, which was hockey on the concrete floor of a local fire hall. It’s one of his fonder memories of his sport and one area kids can have – minus the concrete.

“It’s not always about being coached or being out there in a formal setting. It’s about being able to go out there and try new things, have fun with it and get out with friends and family,” Patterson said.

“I think this being out here in the area gives us a huge outlet to do that.”

View the full article at vindy.com

There are officially two new wooden bridges on the hiking trail at Sebring Woods in Mill Creek MetroParks.

According to a press release, the hiking trail is named after the creek that the bridges cross over, Fish Creek Trail.

It is a 0.7-mile loop, and it has two natural creek crossing and provides a variety of habitats throughout.

To access the trail people can park in the aggregate parking lot located on Johnson Road in the Village of Sebring.

View full article at wfmj.com

Those in the Mahoning Valley in the market for an idyllic home amid an expansive verdant setting won’t want to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to benefit themselves and the Valley’s most valuable natural asset in the process.

That opportunity takes the form of a 4,417-square-foot mansion that straddles Struthers and Poland Township currently valued at $450,000 that’s up for auction through 4 p.m. next Wednesday and will likely sell far, far below that price. The top bid Tuesday stood at $175,000.

But the lucky individual home buyer is not the only one who will benefit from the sale. So, too, will the stately Ford Nature Center, an educational institution and learning lab that’s an integral part of the Mill Creek MetroParks system.

Thanks once again to the generosity and community-mindedness of Valley philanthropists extraordinaire Bruce and Nancy Beeghly, all proceeds from the sale of the property will be funneled into a $3 million renovation and modernization of the 46-year-old nature center on Old Furnace Road in Mill Creek Park’s northern tier in Youngstown.

Several years ago, Bruce and Nancy Beeghly donated the home to the MetroParks. After park officials determined it would best be preserved as residential property, the benefit sale was on.

To be sure, the Clingan Road contemporary home built by the Beeghlys in 1993 is no run-of-the-mill property. Consider some of its tantalizing features: vaulted ceilings, multiple decks, large windows that bathe the rooms in light and look out onto surrounding woods, four bedrooms (two of which are master suites), three full bathrooms plus two half-baths, great room with a fireplace, den, Florida room and attached garage.

We encourage all of those with sufficient resources to register their bid online at Byce Realty’s online auction site at www.byceonline.com or contact the Realtor for more information at 330-747-7000.

On its website, Byce calls the property, “the most substantial single family residence we have ever brought to auction. Don’t miss this opportunity.”

LEGACY OF BEEGHLY GIVING

That opportunity also continues a proud and productive legacy of community giving that stretches back a century for the Beeghly family, a name synonymous with the titans of business and industry in the Mahoning Valley.

The property gift mirrors the Beeghly family’s donation of the family homestead in Boardman to Western Reserve Care System in 1965, which today has expanded into the home of Akron Children’s Hospital-Mahoning Valley, Beeghly Campus. Bruce and Nancy donated an additional $1.5 million to that campus for a major expansion project last year.

Over the years, the family has contributed to well over 100 groups, organizations and causes, including a $1.5 million donation to Youngstown State University’s ongoing We See Tomorrow fundraising campaign.

Whoever is lucky enough to secure the Clingan Road property also claims bragging rights to enhancing a key institution in the Metroparks.

The nature center, itself once a residential property, was donated by the family of Mahoning Common Pleas Judge John W. Ford in 1968 and began operations as a hands-on educational facility four years later. Since then, its use and popularity have grown multifold, but its physical stature has begun to show its age. Without a corrective face-life, the center will find it difficult to maintain and build upon its stellar reputation, park officials warn.

The nature center, in particular, and Mill Creek MetroParks, in general, rise as community gems and merit support. Such financial gifts also result in less reliance on local tax dollars for critical park maintenance.

For those without the means to bid on the Clingan Road home, the park is accepting donations of all sizes for the nature-center campaign. We hope many chip in as an investment in the future of the park and of the entire Mahoning Valley.

View the full article at vindy.com