Saving the Irving Park Community Center
Posted at: 08/17/2012 11:24 AM
| Updated at: 08/17/2012 11:02 PM
By: Renee Passal
On a beautiful summer night, some of the kids who play hockey at the Irving Park Community Center are already using pucks and sticks on the cement ground at the hockey rink.
They can't wait to play the game again.
"It's just super fun. And it's fun to play a lot," said Jonah Kaspari.
His friend, Ty Hanson, said, "You get to score and pass and do every position."
And Carter Miller told us, "You know the area, and you know your friends here."
But their future hockey careers here may be in jeopardy. That's because the community center was underwater during the Flood of 2012.
The city of Duluth is getting the quotes on the repairs. If they are more than 50% of the assessed value of the building, the building will be condemned.
This worries the parents and the people who use the center.
"There are 125-225 kids who sign up for football here. This is their summer home too," explained Jesse Beasley, the league commissioner for Denfeld junior football.
When we were there on Thursday evening, there were also soccer games going on.
Irving Community Club president Kathy Gannucci-Resberg said, "We are going to fight to keep this. We are going to pitch in to help the city. We have to! If we lose this, we'll lose the community. Look at the kids here, for goodness' sake!"
And parent Ryan Kaspari explained, "We're doing this for the future children who could enjoy Irving Park. Our kids will age out soon. But it's more for the families coming up. There's a big legacy of hockey here."
The children have learned about working together through hockey.
"It's all about friends, because friends help you out with scoring," said Wyatt Mineheine.
The city also told us they are looking at possibly replacing a building or two, and that the community would be involved in the process.
 |
Print Story | | |  |
