The Rotary Club of Moses Lake is currently raising funds for its annual community service project, with eyes set on the skate park in Moses Lake this year.

The club has raised about $31,000 for the project and plans to launch a GoFundMe page to go toward the club’s ultimate goal of raising $300,000 for the remodeling. A large chunk of that money was raised from the recent joint golf tournament with the Rotary Club and the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake.

The Kiwanis Club donated half of its money raised from the tournament toward the skate park remodeling project, making $6,700 each from the Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club. Rotary Club President Steve Ausere said he was thankful for the Kiwanis Club contributing so much to this community project.

Another $6,800 was funded through the Rotary Foundation, with the final $11,000 being raised from an auction put on by the club.

The city of Moses Lake has applied for a capital budget request to go toward the project as well, but Ausere said they are still waiting to hear on that.

As president of the Rotary Club this year, Ausere said, he was tasked with coming up with a project.

“I have friends that have kids who come down to the park, and I was down here with him and his son who was out skateboarding,” Ausere said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Somebody should do something about this park, about fixing it up.’ Well, someday I might.”

Now, that day has come, Ausere said. He said he drives by the skate park all the time and sees kids there each time.

Right now, there are funds to add lights for the park, he said, but the grand vision for the project is a complete remodeling.

A lot of the space around the current park layout is open for expansion, he said, including space behind the halfpipe and a large grass corner of the opposite the street corner. A bowl, new ramps, and possibly a track are just some of the additions Ausere is hoping to make.

“There’s a lot of things that can happen, it’s just money,” Ausere said. “It’s just going to come down to how much money we can bring in.”

Grindline Skateparks, a Seattle-based company specializing in concrete-based skate park installations, came up with a preliminary rendering of a possible new layout for the park.

Donations will be taken in until Dec. 31. After that planning will move ahead based on the funds raised. Past projects the Rotary Club has funded include a new van for the senior center’s meal delivery program, a renovation for the New Hope domestic violence shelter and a new playground at McCosh Park. In the last 10 years, he said, more than $500,000 in community projects have been completed through the club.

This year’s project could be the biggest to date if the funds can be raised, Ausere said.

A link to the Rotary Club’s GoFundMe for the skate park can be found on the organization’s Facebook page.