Morale, Welfare and Recreation in Europe is spending $42 million on 257 construction projects — from golf course renovations to automatic car washes — according to an Installation Management Agency, Europe news release. The projects are being funded by the Department of the Army, Army Lodging, Army and Air Force Exchange Service dividends and MWR.

The scope of projects varies from community to community, but the results will be the same, said Paul Matthews, director of Community Activities for the 104th Area Support Group, in Hanau, Germany.

“Members of the community can expect to have better facilities than they currently have,” Matthews said.

Some of the projects are:

• Winter Garden patio improvements at Rheinblick Golf Course in Wiesbaden, Germany. Cost: $375,000.
• Bowling and entertainment center in Baumholder, Germany. Cost: $9 million.
• Physical fitness center in Bamberg, Germany. Cost: $16 million.
• A Kids’ Zone restaurant and entertainment center that opened Nov. 6 at Pulaski Barracks, Germany. Cost: $290,000.

The two Kids’ Zones that have been opened in Germany — at Pulaski Barracks and in Heidelberg — are immensely popular. A third kid-themed restaurant is set to open next year in Darmstadt, said Carol Ferguson, 26th ASG director of Community Activities, in Heidelberg, Germany.

“We try to reinforce the fact that our customers haven’t left everything behind by coming over here and serving their country,” Ferguson said.

“Of course, we want them to go downtown and experience living in Europe, but we don’t want them to miss the things they left behind [in the States].”

The projects fall into several categories:

• Nonappropriated fund major construction projects, including new work projects, costing more than $500,000.
• Army Lodging Fund projects.
• Community-funded capital purchase and minor construction projects under $500,000.
• Military construction account projects, which provide funds for new fitness centers, libraries and chapels.

Unfortunately, there isn’t funding for every project on each community’s wish list, Matthews said.

“You always have more wants than you have the money for,” Matthews said. “Each community has its own priority list.”

Matthews explained how the approval process works.

First, base support battalion commanders and community activity directors prioritize building projects.

At the ASG level, the projects are prioritized before being funded at that level or advancing to the U.S. Army Europe or Department of Army levels — depending on where funding of the project would come from.

“Say we have a pot of money,” Ferguson said. “We look at what we already have and is popular and keep those facilities up to standard.

“If people are coming in droves, our obligation is to keep that facility up. They vote with their feet; they come [to the facilities], or they don’t.”

At Bamberg’s Warner Barracks, the projects basically prioritized themselves, said Joe Borsello, 279th Base Support Battalion director of Community Activities.

“We knew that we needed a new child care center,” Borsello said.

“Our current facility is too small for the demand. We need a new fitness center; we have to keep the troops fit. Fitness and child care — soldiers and families — are the two biggest areas we concentrated on for improvements.”

The community will have its new child care and fitness centers by fall 2004, Borsello said. The cost of the two projects is $42 million.

But the significance goes beyond a dollar amount, Matthews said.

“The real message here is that MWR is an integral part of military life,” Matthews said. “All of our profits are reinvested into the community. It’s a direct payback.”

“We want our customers to know how important they are to us,” said Ferguson.

“We see our obligation as providing the same quality of life they left behind in the States.”