[Beaver Dam] – Playground Movement Beaver Dam (PMBD) kicked off the new year with its annual meeting last month where four new members of the Board of Directors were approved, one of which was high school freshman Mathew Sether. He’s been a volunteer with the organization since 2021 and is excited to contribute to Playground Movement’s mission with a more formal leadership role. “I’ve always wanted to give back to the community, and help make it a be er place,” said Mathew at the PGM annual meeting. “I’m excited to see what we can do this year.” Sether began volunteering with PMBD’s community gardens, helping to water and tend to garden beds in the summer, and helping out at neighborhood events. That grew into him leading PMBD’s 6th annual Global Youth Service Day in 2024 where 125 households each received nearly 90 pounds of food through the food drive. Around 60 youth volunteers and two dozen adult volunteers collaborated with 28 locations around the community to collect items for the drive. Engaging youth is not new to PMBD, but there has been an increase in developing youth leaders since PMBD’s inception in 2018. “Youth who have been impacted by our organization or
programming continue to return and ask how they can get involved and volunteer,” says Executive Director Laura Goral. “I get asked all the time by the youth, ‘Where else can I do stuff?’” PMBD help foster that desire to get involved. From the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, organized totally by two Latinas in our community, to the Christmas Gift Event/Fiesta de Navidad led by five youth this past year, PMBD only sees more room for youth leadership in 2025. Events and activities are being planned in more locations with
more input from more than 140 participating families. Upcoming events, like the Costume Party on Sunday, February 16, are listed on PMBD’s new website (playmovebd.org), Facebook and Instagram.
About PMBD: Playground Movement is Beaver Dam’s urban-inspired pop-up playground: a safe place of community and supervised activities whose mission is to connect with local families through recreation and link them to necessary resources.
