Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - Two-year-old architectural drawings lined the walls of the former North Webster Elementary School building Thursday. Through the renderings, showing a tree-lined, thriving downtown, citizens saw how far they'd come since the April 2000 charrette and how far they must go to realize that vision.
Jon Sroufe introduced himself as the new North Webster Community Center Inc. president, likening the board to the dog that chased the car, caught it and doesn't know what to do with it.
"We have the building," he said. "It will take the whole community to turn it into a community center."
Purchased for $1 from the Wawasee School Corp. in February, the initial board members were town council representatives Kay Andrews, Ken Wagoner and Jeff Morgan and town clerk Peg Lawrance.
The new board was named earlier this month.
In addition to Sroufe, board members were introduced as Sherman Goldenberg, Jeff Morgan, Peg Lawrance, Mary Gerard, Helen Hoy, Gloria Shipley, Larry Kinsey, Jeff Thornburg, Dick Hinton and Dennis Wagoner. The Kosciusko County YMCA will assign a 12th member.
Excepting the $50,000 a year for 10 years promised by the International Palace of Sports Foundation, Sroufe said there are no funds. The foundation has made its first payment, with the money going toward operations and maintenance.
Last night's meeting with board members and individuals interested in turning the building into a community center heard about initiating a capital fund-raising campaign.
Bob Murphy, of R.P. Murphy and Associates, outlined several grant and low- or no-interest loan opportunities through state offices.
The matching fund account would still have to be about $1.5 million "to do everything."
"Everything" would include general rehabilitation of the building, a new heating system, replacing all the windows and demolishing the "old" southern end of the building.
Murphy said 3,000 income surveys will be mailed to residents of the town and the township.
If the survey shows 51 percent of the population has a low-to-moderate income, more grants will be available.
Funding from other sources was also emphasized.
Jim Fleck estimated the corporation needs $2 million in the bank to keep the community center thriving.
Fleck, of Fleck Leadership Services in Columbia City, has been retained by the Dekko Foundation to lay the fund-raising campaign's groundwork. He's been on the job six weeks.
He advised the group they really have four things going on at once: the park pier project, the bike trail/greenway, the downtown beautification and creating a viable community center.
"It's going to be a big business," Fleck said. "Two million dollars is nothing to sneeze at."
He reminded those in attendance that North Webster has a rich historical heritage, one that needs to be revived and carried into the future.
He said a business plan needs to be developed to attract big money from foundations and industry.
And the more volunteers involved in the project, the better.
Sign-up sheets were available for history, building, education, prospecting, solicitation and hospitality committees.
Fleck said a capital campaign project is a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.
"Once people start giving, they continue to give," he said.
Contributions to the North Webster Community Center Inc are tax-deductible.
