The Donaldson Foundation has contributed $5,000 to the Greeneville Soccer Association to help develop new athletic fields here.

The new athletic complex, located off Baileyton Road, is planned to have three full-size soccer fields.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Phase 1 of the soccer park will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday when the first fields are opened. The public is invited.

Scott Sallah, construction manager for the soccer field project, said, "This generous donation from the Donaldson Foundation helps us to plan our third field for possible play this spring. We want to thank the Foundation for supporting youth soccer and athletics in our community."

The Donaldson Foundation is the principal instrument for the charitable giving efforts of the Donaldson Company, Inc.

Donaldson's plant has been in Greeneville for nine years, and employees 170 people.

The Greeneville facility builds metal air cleaners for the transportation, farming, and construction markets, and air/oil separators for compressed-air equipment manufacturers.

The company began in 1915, at the dawn of the motorized era, as a three-man shop that made air cleaners for farm tractors.

A Minneapolis-based company, Donaldson still makes air filters, mainly for the transportation, construction and mining markets. It has operations in 19 countries and more than $2 billion in annual sales.