Tenney Park Shelter Group Announces Major Donation for Shelter

For the last few years, our community has pulled together through challenging times to make progress towards building a new shelter. Many people have given time, money and effort to a shared, and as yet unrealized dream. Whether it's been a few coins dropped in the box at the old shelter, or the donation of a commemorative tile, every contribution has helped even when success still seemed far away. Until now. While every donation makes a difference, sometimes it takes one like John Wall to turn the corner from dream, to reality. "Following our move to Madison, Wisconsin, from Northern Illinois with our eleven young children forty one years ago, we often enjoyed the pleasant experience of ice skating with them on the beautiful Tenney Park Lagoon over the years and the warm comfort of the shelter there," Wall said. "A shelter that with time has become old and rather worn down." "When asked by Mary Lang Sollinger, the chair of The Tenney Park Shelter Group, if we might help facilitate development of a modern replacement for the shelter that can be used by the citizens of the community year-round under the management of Madison Parks, we were happy to respond positively, if modestly. In the hope that sixteen of our twenty-two grandchildren who live here in the community, as well as families of my co-worker's at Demco, Incorporated these past forty-two years, might have the opportunity to experience the beauty of the park both during the winter and throughout the year". "This very generous gift from John Wall and his family made the new Tenney Park Shelter possible," Sollinger said. "When the recession hit our community last year, fundraising efforts came to a stop. The non-profit organizations and foundations had to focus on feeding, clothing and sheltering our city's less fortunate citizens. So we are most appreciative to John Wall and his family. " "Thanks to the great generosity of the Wall family, construction will start on the Tenney Park Shelter next spring," Mayor Cieslewicz said. "The current shelter is 60 years old and in dire need of replacement so it can serve our community for another 60 years - this is a terrific holiday gift to Madison!"