Anonymous donor gives $25,000 for Illinois park

Published August 17, 2014 9:03am ET



BERLIN, Ill. (AP) — An anonymous donor has given $25,000 for playground equipment at a central Illinois park.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports (http://bit.ly/1tad2J7 ) the donor originally pledged to match any funds raised during an annual festival in Berlin, a village about 12 miles west of Springfield.

The Burgoo festival — named after a kind of stew — raised about $5,000 for the park equipment.

Royal Reno is a village board member and helps organize the festival. Reno says the anonymous donor “decided to be more generous and donate $25,000.”

Reno says there’s now enough money to buy a play set and have it shipped to the village. But Reno says it may take another $15,000 to $20,000 to install it.