Fargo Lions Club Celebrates Season of Giving with Donation to the Red River Zoo

The club is donating $5,000 to be used for new playground equipment for children who visit the zoo

FARGO, N.D. – The Red River Zoo is receiving an extra special gift from the Fargo Lions Club this holiday season.

The Fargo Lions Club is donating $5,000 to be used for new playground equipment for children who visit the zoo.

This donation goes along with the club’s goal of giving back to the children of the Fargo-Moorhead area.

The equipment will add on to the zoo’s current nature playground and is located near the back of the zoo.

“I looked at the pictures of the play equipment, I remember how I liked to play on stuff like that when I was a kid so I guess it brought out the kid in me a little bit,” Fargo Lions Club past president Jane Pettinger said. “To think about the impact on future kids, that’s pretty darn cool. That’s pretty powerful.”

“It’s overwhelming,” Red River Zoo executive director Sally Jacobson said. “The generosity of our community and how much we worked together to create something really spectacular. Our zoo is 100% non-profit and just 20 years ago it was farmland and everything you see here is due to our community.”

The zoo plans to have the new playground equipment ready for use by spring of 2019.