Recently Kansas was hit with severe weather that dropped nearly ten inches of rain in the north central area of the state. As a result of the rain, many areas in Manhattan, KS (the location of Flint Hills Job Corps) sustained major flooding and property damage.

One of the areas that was hit the hardest was Optimist Park which sits just a few hundred feet from Wildcat Creek. As the rains came and the river grew higher and higher there was nothing the maintenance crew of the park could do but watch and wait. When the river had finally crested nearly sixty percent of the fields were under water and the maintenance shed sat in five feet of water.

After being contacted by the Center’s Business and Community Liaison, the Optimists Club, students and the instructors from the Cement Masonry and Construction Craft Labor trades went to work. It took the group only four hours of work totaling nearly one-hundred man hours to restore the fields to their original condition.

Although many of the fields will need new sections of fence replaced; the fields were recognized as being safe for play by the grounds staff and throughout the Park the cry of, “Play Ball” could be heard.