Mahaska Young Professionals Working To Make A Difference

Mahaska Young Professional members volunteered their time on Saturday to help revitalize the Hewitt Jaycee Park south of the Fairgrounds. (photo courtesy Facebook)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Were you aware there are two Jaycee Parks in Oskaloosa?

One of those little known parks got some much needed attention from the Mahaska Young Professional Group on Saturday. The group is new to the area and have many of the characteristics of the former Jaycees group, which was once so very active in the community.

Dylan Mulfinger, President of MYP, said that improvements were made to the Hewitt Jaycee Park this past Saturday. The park is located just south of the fairgrounds. “The idea is that the young professionals will start adopting both of the Jaycee parks.” Jaycees was the shortened name of Junior Chamber members.”

The Jaycees are no longer in Oskaloosa, and MYP serves nearly an identical role as the former group once did. Mulfinger says they want to keep the Jaycees tradition of caring for those parks alive, by keeping the parks cleaned up, updated and eventually bringing new things to those parks to better serve the community.

“It’s not anything we’re going to do overnight,” said Mulfinger. “We’re going to slowly do it year by year.”

The budget of the young group allowed for them to place new mulch at the playground. “It gives that park a new look and freshens it up,” says Mulfinger. “It brought it up to a safer standard.”

Also installed was new nets on the basketball hoops. “Our overall goal is to bring in new basketball hoops and paint that court,” said Mulfinger.

“We want to show we’re a community member and want to be a part of something bigger than just our group,” added Mulfinger.

Mahaska Young Professionals fielded questions from others while working about the park. Many were unaware “it was even there”.

Mulfinger said that by updating and refreshing these other parks, it helps people see that there are more areas for recreation available in the community then they may have been aware of.

Fifteen MYP members were on hand Saturday to volunteer their time. If you would like to know more about the Mahaska Young Professionals, you can visit them on their website HERE or on Facebook HERE.