LOREAUVILLE — A group of like-minded Loreauville residents whose mission was to spruce up the village’s park was behind the Loreauville Community Project, has since branched out much further and hopes to provide fun for years to come. 

Organizer Kirsten Bourque said the group was formed to plan the inaugural Christmas in the Village event, which was held last month to celebrate the holidays in Loreauville. 

“We posted on Facebook and asked who wanted to help out. Everybody said, ‘Yes,’ and we met at the town hall,” Bourque said Sunday. “We got started wanting to help other clubs but that formed into the Loreauville Community Project wanting to replace the playground equipment. 

“It just kind of all fell into place. We started planning the Christmas event and the response we got was crazy. We weren’t planning on it being that big and people told us it felt like a Hallmark movie so we thought we had to keep the fire burning.”

Loreauville Mayor Brad Clifton, one of the organizers, agreed and said, “We had more help than we knew what to do with. The first meeting was a good 15 to 20 people that stuck through the whole thing. People in the community saw what we were doing and a lot wanted to help.” 

Since then, the group has scheduled events throughout Loreauville to make the village a better place. The LCP’s goal is to better the quality of life in Loreauville in general, but upgrading Loreauville Park’s playground equipment is the first big task. 

“The equipment isn’t old but it definitely needs updating,” Bourque said. “There’s so many local events where everyone comes and we want a nice area for the kids to play.”

After opening a donation page on Facebook, the LCP raised $1,400 in the span of a few weeks. Upcoming events also are being planned to reach the projected donation goal of $10,000. 

“Everybody loves the park but it’s not too kid-friendly right now,” Bourque said. 

The group also is looking at possible grant money to get the needed equipment for a revamp to the playground equipment. 

Clifton added that the LCP is about more than raising money. The organization wants to hold community-centered events that will make it easy for local residents to pass a good time. 

“Part of the community project’s mission is to hold events like the Christmas event,” Clifton said. “We not only want to raise funds for things like this, but to have events that everyone likes. The Christmas event response was enormous, and everyone said they were glad we were doing it in Loreauville.

“Loreauville’s been itching to have those kinds of events,” Clifton said. “The community project is a twofold thing, it’s raising money for projects like this and it’s also to have fun. I have a lot of fun.”

To donate to the Loreauville Community Project, go to Facebook.com and type in “Loreauville Community Project.”