As part of our efforts to integrate our Railroad bell into a tower we have engaged a company in Missouri to install an electronic ringer system in the bell housing so that we can have options for memorial ringing of the bell. We applied for and were awarded a $5000 grant from our friends at Sourcewell which will cover the cost of the electronic ringer. The Staples Veterans Park board members thank you for your support of our efforts.
Fall 2023 Newsletter
If you are not receiving a mailed copy of the newsletter and would prefer one, please provide us your current address via email on the contact us page or by contacting a board member and we will mail you one.
Ongoing Upgrade Activities At the Park
Our granite podium has been installed by Northland as of 6/30/23
Engraved !! The granite walls have been engraved as of 6/17/2022.
Staples All Veterans Park board members have approved two major projects. We are working with our local partners to begin building a new POW/MIA memorial along the North side of the park and we will be pouring the foundation for the WWII memorial on the SouthWest end of the park. The WWII memorial wall has concrete poured and we will be setting up some temporary plywood displays for showing what images we would like on the granite that will ultimately be added with the names of all local WWII veterans. We will also be working on the POW/MIA memorial next. Funding for these activities is coming from grants from Sourcewell and individual donations. If you would like to donate money to help us complete these memorials please visit our donations tab shown at the top of this page. All donations are tax deductible. And please click on the “photo gallery” tab to see the construction activities. The board wishes to thank Paul Drake tree service for moving the trees, Phil Bjerga construction and Ben Busker construction for the digging work and concrete footings for the WWII memorial.
WWII Honor Wall Fundraising Update
We are moving closer to our fundraising goal for the granite. We still need your help to complete the WW2 Wall of Honor. We ask that you consider donating to the memorial via our online donations page or contact one of our board members.
Ziegler family again donates $8500 to Staples Veterans Park
At the annual 5K walk/run the Ziegler family handed a check over to the Staples All Veteran Park for $8,500 from funds that were raised at the 5K event, the bean bag tournament and raffles. The event was held August 13th at Pine Grove Park. A $1000 of the funds came from the 17 team Golf Scramble held June 25th at the Vintage. Another scramble will held next summer. Mark your Calendars !!
Race winners: 1st place Logan Roberts, 2nd place Josh Freese and 3rd place Sam Hamerich
Also pictured is Jenna Jobe presenting a check for $8,500 to Kevin Jenkins and Bob Hamann of the Veterans Park Board. This is the second year in a row for this amount and it was all directed to the WorldWar 2 memorial wall.
The family has been actively donating to the park since 2016 after veteran Jeff Ziegler passed away unexpectedly and held their first 5K race that year. Daughter Jenna Jobe wanted to honor him the best way she could while hosting a community event to get people together to give back to something important.
Jeff was in the Airborne until the 90s and was very patriotic. He loved that our veterans park was growing and he would talk about how great it would be to have certain monuments etc. This made the decision to focus our fundraising on the veterans park a no brainer.
Not long after he passed, his father Richard Ziegler passed away. He too was a proud veteran. We added his memory to our event as well to honor them both.