The Gretna School recently celebrated the completion of a new playground.

On Tuesday, donors and supporters of the project gathered at the Gretna School to see the new playground. A speech was given by Principal Jason Pilkington and two students, who outlined what they like about some of the new structures.

The $200,000 dollar project involved 11 major sponsors and a lot of volunteer work. A sign with a list of sponsors was unveiled, located beside the rope web structure.

Sandra-mae Reimer, Gretna playground committee member

The playground has different components, such as a pathway, benches, hills, exercise equipment, new trees, a rope web, and more.

"It's basically a park," said Sandra-mae Reimer, who is a Gretna playground committee member.

Reimer said a small committee met up a couple times a month for 5 years to make the project a reality.

"There was a lot of hard work and a lot of applying for grants, a lot of problem solving," she said.

Guy Mullen, President of the Manitoba Elks Association, presented $2,000 to the project on behalf of the Elks.

He explained the community support he saw for their indoor playground at the Millennium Exhibition Centre inspired the organization to give back.

"When we built our playland, the community, the surrounding area and business were so generous," said Mullen. "We came up with a thousand dollars from the Altona Elks, that's money we raised from various raffles and chase the ace and meat draws and dances, you name it. The other thousand dollars was a grant that was given to the Altona Elks from the Manitoba Elks Foundation."

The Altona Elks have recently been involved with schools in a different way, by holding a teen support mental-health day. Mullen said the organization is planning more of these types of events for the community.