MOUNT Gambier City Council will build a playground at the Railway Lands following a donation from the defunct Mount Gambier Out of School Hours Care (OSHC).
Councillors agreed to accept a $150,000 contribution from the organisation for the development of a playground at the site.
The windfall follows the closure of the service provider, which provided education and care for primary school-age children outside school hours and during school holidays, after losing a tender bid.
National organisation YMCA was selected as the successful tender operator and will continue to offer the service previously undertaken by Mount Gambier OSHC personnel for almost three decades.
Despite being left devastated by the outcome, staff were determined to find a good use for the excess money.
Committee chairperson Fiona Hartung said the money was put aside for a potential move to another site.
“Once that was not an option, we decided we wanted to donate the money to something worthwhile,” Ms Hartung said.
“Since the community supported and used Mount Gambier Out of School Hours Care, we would like to give it back to them.”
Ms Hartung said the committee discussed the option of a play structure because it could be offered free of charge and available to all children in the city.
“It needed to be something that was free and accessible to all and we just thought the Mount Gambier Railway Lands was a perfect place to put it,” Ms Hartung said.
“Part of it was the fact the Mount Gambier Out of School Hours Care children still really like coming to the Railway Lands, so it’s great they will be able to access it.”
Council will undertake the community engagement and install a commemoration plaque from its own funds and would use the OSHC donation to pay for the play structure.
“It’s really nice they are going to do a plaque to commemorate the 29 years because we had employees who were basically there the whole time,” Ms Hartung said.
“We were there at the school for a long time and it has been an integral part of most children’s lives in the Mount, so it was important for it to be recognised.”
Ms Hartung said the donation was bittersweet for the organisation, which closed in May.
“We have done the right thing by the children and the families because that’s what it is all about at the end of the day,” she said.
“It was devastating and we are still not sure why we were moved on, but we sold all the assets we had there to a greatly reduced price to the incoming business, so it would all be there for the children when the new business came in.”
Alongside the gift to council, the service also donated to childcare centres and kindergartens around the region.
