Bridging Neighborhoods

While we all know the business side of Milhaus in our individual day to days, our philanthropic efforts can sometimes get overlooked by team members not directly involved. We've heard that we support urban parks and education, but we don't always get to see the real difference or people impacted by our donations. That's why when I heard about one of Milhaus' most recent donations to an organization near and dear to me, the Friends of Brookside and Spades Park, I wanted to share my personal experience and appreciation. 

Located on the Near-East side of town, Spades Park and Brookside are part of the largest collection of continuous municipal park space in Indianapolis and are home to soccer fields, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, playgrounds, a water park, community center, bird sanctuary, disc golf course, the annual Feast of Lanterns festival and great spaces for sledding and dog walking. As a resident of the neighborhood, I have enjoyed these parks for the past fifteen years, but we have had our fair share of troubles, including a contaminated creek and crumbling infrastructure. Our bridges are in desperate need of repair or rebuild and progress has been slow going. To generate real change, groups of Near Eastside neighbors have formed to advocate for financial support of needed repairs. Most notably, Pathways over Pogue's (POP's) who since 2017 has been hard at work for the repair of one of the park's most historic structures, the Nowland Avenue Bridge. Since 2018, Milhaus has been a financial supporter of POP's and because of generous partners like us, this bridge and so many others will soon be safe for our families and pets to venture over. Located at the end of my street, the Nowland Avenue Bridge is the main entry into Spades Park for Springdale Neighborhood residents who enjoy this green space on a daily basis. It is also impeding completion of the long-awaited 5.3-mile Pogue's Run Trail, which lies directly along its route and is connected to both the Monon and Cultural Trails. Once completed, this route could do for this area what both the Monon and Cultural Trail have done for their communities. I want to thank everyone involved in making this happen and am proud to be part of an organization that helps its communities. Especially given our current situation, our parks can play an important role in helping us stay connected to the outside world and give us the opportunity to get a little exercise and fresh air.  This is truly a gift that will impact my neighborhood's quality of life and will make our pups very happy!