Community support helps Ansley make upgrade to gym
ANSLEY- In small school systems across the state of Nebraska renovations and improvements can sometimes be hard to come by. It can take years for these schools to save up enough money to do a project. That is unless you can get the generous support of local businesses in the area.
This is exactly what happened to Ansley Public Schools when it came to their new athletic mats put up in the varsity gymnasium this last month. Shelter Insurance out of Broken Bow and Flatwater Bank generously split the cost to get this project done.
“We are extremely appreciative of their support,” Ansley superintendent Gordan Goodman said. “In a small school system like this, we fight tooth and nail for everything that we can get. We have to plan for sometimes years to get something done.”
Goodman took over as the superintendent of Ansley three years ago, and one of the things he realized was how the gym was in need of just a few more upgrades. They had just gotten new bleachers, but the gym mats were over 12 years old and in need of some attention.
“I went through the process of going throughout the building and thought to myself what can I do to improve this school,” Goodman said. “One of our first projects was our lights and then one of the next projects I looked at was the gym. I had a couple of businesses approach me and say we’d like to donate some money to your school, what type of projects would you like to work on.”
Those two businesses were Shelter Insurance and Flatwater Bank. Both have ties to the community of Ansley and were looking for a way to give back to the school. In the end, the two businesses decided to split the cost of the mats if they would be able to place their logos on it.
“We bought the Ansley branch a little over two years ago,” Flatwater Bank’s Luke Richertsen said. “Right away we just tried to build a good relationship with the community. We were approached about the basketball
mats by the superintendent and we thought that would be a really neat thing, especially this year in hopes that basketball and sports get to continue with COVID.”
Brent Custer the owner of the Shelter Insurance branch in Broken Bow stated similar sentiments. The insurance company has a lot of good customers in the Ansley area and wanted to give back to them.
“I asked Mr. Goodman in the summer if there was something he was needing at the school,” Custer said. “We have many good customers from the Ansley area and we believe in giving back, so this was a good fit for us.”
What was really great about this project for Ansley Public Schools is that it didn’t cost them anything. That is valuable money that the school can use for other financial means throughout the school year.
“As a board, we greatly appreciate the community support on something like this and anytime we can have an enhancement to our gym and it does not take away from our finances of education we are thankful for the support,” Ansley School Board President Peter Cunningham said.
The mats were done by Sports Graphic out of Clarion, Iowa. It is a great upgrade to the school’s gymnasium with Ansley-Litchfield’s boys and girls basketball season right around the corner.
“The kids have been in that gym and they are very appreciative of what’s been put up,” Goodman said. “Were excited about the winter season!”