Ribbon cutting held at Fort Riley for playground equipment

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Kindergarten through sixth grade students from Wakefield Elementary School rushed toward the new -- to them -- playground equipment Sept. 14, following a brief dedication ceremony.

Only a ribbon separated them from the fun.

"I would like to thank Col. (Stephen) Shrader, the volunteers, Corvias and the citizens and young kids that are in front of us today," Wakefield Mayor James Tilley said at the beginning of the ceremony. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for allowing this to happen. That allows us to better our community with this playground equipment. We actually received four different sets of playground equipment."

Tilley said there were four different sets of equipment donated to the city. Two were installed at parks, one at the Baptist Fellowship Church and the final will be installed at the Clay County Recreational Vehicle Park soon.

"It is just an awesome thing that Fort Riley and the housing division can give us this opportunity to, essentially, recycle this equipment and utilize it out in the community," he said. "Wakefield is a predominately military community whether with the large amount of retirees, large amount of family members working on Fort Riley, somewhere or another everyone has ties with Fort Riley in some way or another. We are truly grateful for that."

U.S. Army Fort Riley garrison commander Col. Stephen Shrader said that the eight counties surrounding the installation and the 97 community partners are essential.

"One of those key partnerships that we've got, and it's essential to the Soldiers and families, is Corvias, our residential communities initiative partners and they are the managers of all the housing across the installation," Shrader said. "They do a tremendous amount of work for the installation … they see opportunities in the communities and give back to the communities who open their arms to the Soldiers and families.

"That is some of what got this ball rolling for this playground out here," he added, "They saw an opportunity, we were demo-ing some of our home on Fort Riley, they could give back to the communities that give so generously to Fort Riley and the surrounding area."

Shrader closed by thanking volunteers for their work.

"It does my heart good to see that we've got stuff on Fort Riley and we are recycling it and moving it to different locations," he said. "That (partnership) actually benefits the City of Wakefield."

Shrader admitted that this was his first time visiting Wakefield and that it would not be his last after driving across the causeway into town.

He also said getting an opportunity to see the results of Fort Riley's partnerships is important.

"Standing here today in Wakefield you see the effects that the partnerships have on the surrounding communities and what it does for Fort Riley and the Soldiers and families we've got there," he said. "It's a pleasure to be out here today and actually be a part of that and watch it happen. It's not because of anything I did, it's because of the volunteerism, spirit, will and resolve of the local communities to stand up and do what's right for their community and help their fellow Americans."

After the ceremony, first grader Katie Crerend presented Shrader with a thank you card that she and her friend colored in class.

"It's super meaningful," Shrader said. "You have children that are super excited about a playground that they get to see on a day-to-day basis. When you get a whole bunch of kids that decided to put their creative and imaginative skills and put color and words to it to say thank you to Fort Riley, Corvias, the entire U.S. Army apparatus for something they contributed back to the community; it's huge."

Shrader said the card will be displayed in the garrison headquarters "as a symbol of thanks from the community of Wakefield, that little girl and her friend. It means a lot."