Playground in tornado-hit Ind. town needs funding

HENRYVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Plans for a playground in a southern Indiana community hit by devastating tornadoes could be shelved if organizers can't raise $20,000 in the next two weeks.

Henryville Youth Sports official Jennifer Badger tells the News and Tribune that $25,000 which had been pledged for the project has fallen through. She says the group has until Feb. 18 to raise the remaining $20,000 needed to tap a $50,000 grant from the AmeriHealth Mercy Foundation.

She says the playground project will likely be canceled if the money isn't found.

Organizers say the playground would be a symbol of Henryville's resilience following March 2012 tornadoes that destroyed homes, schools and businesses in Henryville and across southern Indiana.

Fourteen Indiana residents died in those storms or later succumbed to their injuries.