Storm doesn't stop YPL project

Young Professionals League member Ben Lyons struggles to loosen the hardware holding a broken rim onto a basketball goal at a court located west of Fort Scott Christian Heights on 12th Street Tuesday night. As a community service project, YPL is fixing the court so FSCH students and neighborhood youth will have a more adequate place to play basketball. (Rayma Silvers/Tribune photo) [Click to enlarge]

Shoveling mud, pulling roots and painting -- the Young Professionals League is making a difference in the community one project at a time.

Despite heavy storms that passed through Fort Scott on Tuesday, members of the YPL assembled at the basketball court just west of Fort Scott Christian Heights Tuesday evening. The goal was to clean and fix the court so that it is useable for the for students at FSCH and the neighborhood youth, according to YPL Chair Megan Felt.

"We are working to finish a Young Professionals League community service project that we started last month," Felt said.

Wanting be of help, the group met at the basketball court last month to begin the renovation, and the court, once covered in mud and weeds, is already looking much better, Felt said.

"We kind of wanted to do it for the school and the neighborhood as well," she said. "Last month we scraped off the courts. It looks so much better."

After the YPL finishes scraping the mud off of the court and getting rid of the rest of the weeds that have sprouted up through the cracks in the pavement, Felt said they will paint lines on the court. In addition, the group will also paint the backdrops on the court's three basketball goals, replace the nets on two of the goals, and install a new rim and net on the third goal as it was broken beyond repair.

Felt said when the members of YPL chose the court as their next project, they did not fully realize the extensive amount of work that would need to be done.

"The project is a little larger than we first imagined," she said. "It will probably take two or three months to finish it."

Felt explained the group only gets together once a month alternating social get-togethers and community service projects.

Area residents who know of community-oriented projects YPL might be interested in can contact YPL President Jamie Armstrong at (620) 223- 1255.