Eddie Mowen Jr. | The Register-Herald
CAMDEN – On Thursday, Oct. 10, Preble Shawnee’s Youth Sports organizations held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new concession stand and restroom facility.
Construction is slated to begin next week on the facility being built thanks to the help of community donations. The facility will serve the Preble Shawnee Youth Baseball and Softball, Youth Soccer, and Wee Arrows Football organizations.
Prior to the ceremony, Zach Asher, president of the PSYB board, announced a fundraiser will be held on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Camden VFW, to raise additional funds for their sports programs and completion of the facility. The event will feature live bands, a cornhole tournament, raffles, and food.
Asher thanked sponsors and donors for their significant contributions, which have allowed for the construction of the new facilities, including men’s and women’s restrooms and a larger concession stand.
Josh Morgerson and Ashley Wilson from Wee Arrows Football and Youth Soccer, respectively, also expressed their gratitude.
Dan Stapleton, owner of Stapleton Services, expressing his support and involvement in the project.
“Zach contacted me last year, wanting to know if I was interested in helping the league football and soccer get something going with a concession stand,” Stapleton said. “And to say the least, I was stoked, because I’ve got kids — you know where these leads do. I was super happy that something was in the works for this, because it’s been a long time coming. So, I just want to thank everybody up here for taking the bull by the horns and actually making this happen.I think every one of them deserves a really big round of applause.”
“Without you guys, this would not be possible at all,” Asher said. “We have a huge turnout. I couldn’t thank everybody enough. These kids deserve this. We’ve had this little concession stand right here for the people that don’t know. We’ve had this thing for over 50 years that I know of. We’ve had Port-a-Johns. Our new facility is going to have men’s and women’s restrooms, four in each one.” “We can fit four of those concession stands in our new building,” Asher said of the new facility, for which blue prints and designs were on display.
Morgerson noted, “I just wanted to thank everybody up here that had a part in this and the fundraising, to thank the donors, and I want to thank the school for allowing them to do this out here. It’s a big thing to have some bathrooms and running water, and they definitely could have used a new concession stand for a while now. So, I just want to thank everybody involved, the donors, the school and Dan for building it for us. I’m sure it’s going to be a nice building.”
“I just want to say it’s been a long time coming for soccer,” Wilson noted. “Soccer hasn’t had anything but a pop-up concession stand here lately. It’ll make a lot of kids happy on the hot days.”
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
