Club gives $5,600 for dugout project at Waterford park

The Waterford Lions Club is pinch hitting for Waterford Township Parks and Recreation as it ponies up money for amenities at Lions Park.

The park, located at Fenmore and Avery streets near the Pontiac Country Club on Elizabeth Lake Road, is maintained by the township; but with money in short supply due to budget constraints, the Waterford Lions Club has donated $5,600 for baseball diamond improvements.

“We are short on money so the club offered to do enhancements at the park,” said Waterford Parks and Recreation Director Tom Newcombe. “We came up with the project together.”

The dollars will be leveraged to add new dugout benches, a metal roof for the dugouts, fencing and supplies. The township will facilitate the labor and continue to maintain the field.

“We want to keep the park up and help the kids,” said Waterford Lions Club President Kevin Petrusha. “We raised the money in a number of different ways and pulled the money from our park fund.”

The club’s two largest annual fundraisers include charity poker and a nut sale. They also sell concessions at Hess-Hathaway Park.

“From the proceeds we put a little in the park fund every year to use for projects at either Hess-Hathaway or Lions Park,” Petrusha said.

Several years ago, the club helped to complete the gazebo at Hess-Hathaway.

Lions Park is used predominantly by the Waterford Coaches Association for youth baseball. The Lady of the Lakes Catholic Youth Organization also utilizes the baseball field in the spring, along with travel baseball teams.

“The dugouts are fenced in. We cemented them a couple years ago, but now they’ll be covered with roofing and new benches will be added,” Newcombe said. “With skin cancer being a concern and the weather unpredictable, it will protect kids from the elements.”