Considering that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, there is quite a bit happening around the Gustavus Community Center these days. We wanted to take a moment of your time to share our news and thank all of you who have been helping us make headway during these difficult times. |
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We recently sponsored our very first class in the new Community Center! Barb Sheinberg taught a group of 10 lucky participants to create a beautiful mosaic stepping stone. Practicing social distancing and wearing masks in the spacious and well-ventilated main hall, a group of Gustavians gathered three times to produce their own art projects to decorate their garden paths. Barb provided a vast array of mosaic materials so each student could let their imagination run wild. It was fun to see how unique each design turned out - and all of them were gorgeous! Thanks so much to Barb for her creativity, leadership, and work to make this such a positive experience in a challenging environment. Several important construction projects continued in the recent weeks as well. On the inside of the building, the door and window trim is almost finished. The interior trim is one of the items that needed to be struck from the main construction budget to save costs. The materials were purchased and delivered, but we agreed to do the installation with volunteer labor. If you have ever trimmed out a house, you know how much work this entails. Boards need to be sealed with multiple coats, then cut to length, then nailed in place. All in all, there are hundreds of boards needed to go around every door and window in the Center. This effort has been led by board member Kyle Bishop, who has put in hundreds of hours of volunteer labor, along with Dave Byerlee and Craig Murdoch. Also helping on the trim project are volunteers Jane Button, McLean Steadman, Aaron Bohlke, Lou Cacioppo, Janice Byerlee, David Cannamore, Brittney Cannamore, Dawn Walker, Mike, Kona, and Aurora Atkins, Karen Platt, Zach Brown, Laura Marcus, Jeff Irwin, Jim Saracco, Lisa Etherington, Cathy Martineau, and Kathy Streveler. Another notable donation came from Diane and Bill Nash, who donated several large pieces of quality exercise equipment. Currently sitting in our fitness room are a stationary bike, rowing machine, nautilus machine, inclining treadmill, and free weights. All of this equipment is only lightly used and in excellent condition. This is a great start to a room which will hopefully be generating a lot of sweat someday soon. | | |
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One of GCC’s most ardent supporters over the years has been Mark Berry, who has been our go-to consultant for all things plumbing and heating related from day one. Recently, our board spent several hours on a walk-through of the GCC utility systems with Mark, who installed them all. We learned a lot about our appliances and utilities and saw that plumbing and heating can be done artistically! Big thanks to Mark for all his paid and substantial volunteer work to make GCC systems that will run smoothly into the future. | | |
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Most noticeable to anyone passing by the Center recently is the addition of two concrete porches on the north and south sides of the Center. This was a large undertaking with literally tons of donations. Kriss Hart donated $5,000 worth of concrete. Glacier Bay Construction donated $4,000 in excavation work and truck time. Tons of thanks are also owed to those of you who were able to donate to our “Hot Mix” fundraiser which generated the $10,000 we needed to take advantage of the donated materials and labor. Now all that those two porches need are roofs, which brings us to our next update topic, which is grant funding. |
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To bring you up to speed on the other grant funding, let’s start with our USDA grant. Back in February we were awarded $55,000 which we used to purchase all types of fixtures and furnishings for the kitchen and main hall. With the help of Kriss Hart’s barge, we were able to get much of that purchase all the way from Seattle to the Center with no charge for freight. Volunteers Mike Atkins, Dawn Walker, Cheryl Cook, Cathy Martineau, Jane Button, Deb Johnson, and Julie Williams have organized, assembled, and labeled much of the kitchen and main hall purchases. $55k gets you A LOT of stuff, and unboxing it, labelling it, and stacking it has taken plenty of volunteer effort. In the past six weeks, GCC has applied for six new grants. Two were denied, three were awarded, and one is still pending. In the pending grant, a request was made to finish construction of the two porches with roofs. If this request is awarded, construction must be completed by the end of the year. Fingers crossed! The first of the three grants recently awarded came from the USDA, who encouraged us to apply for some remaining 2020 funds following our initial $55K grant. We just learned that we were awarded an additional $16,000 from the USDA to be used for flooring, computer equipment, a washer/dryer, and several other items that will help us meet the challenges of sanitation in and after the pandemic. The federal CARES grant is being distributed in Alaska at several levels and led to two recent grant awards. At the community level, the City of Gustavus is providing small businesses affected by COVID-19 with a share of the funds the City received. GCC was awarded $1,650. Through the Alaska State Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, we also just received an award of $28,000 to cover insurance, personal protective equipment, and part of a salary for an Activities Director / Facility Manager. We see this paid position as essential to being able to safely use the Center while abiding by COVID-19 precautions. The bottom line after receiving these recent grants is that we have been fortunate to receive enough money to continue to move our mission forward without having to ask you, our friends and neighbors, to donate more money in a time when our pocketbooks are already stretched thin in this flagging economy. |
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Finally, the board has undergone a few changes since our last update. Cathy Martineau has moved down south and has decided to step down from the GCC board. She served as our treasurer, keeping an eye on thousands of dollars zooming out of our bank account! Thanks, Cathy, for all of your hard work. In addition, one of our core founding board members, Kathy Streveler, has decided to step down after serving on the board for 10 years. We can’t thank Kathy enough for all of her contributions. There simply would not be a GCC if not for all of her tireless work. Stepping up to fill these vacancies on our nine-member board are Dawn Walker, Bekah Mitrea, and Katy Dighton. They have big shoes to fill, but they are working hard to fill them. They bring new energy, new ideas, and a variety of experience and skill sets to our board at a critical time. Rounding out the board are Chris Gabriele (secretary), Jane Button (treasurer), Sean Neilson (President), David Cannamore, and Kyle Bishop. This leaves just one vacancy on our board which we hope to fill soon. Thanks to all of you for your support. COVID-19 has dramatically changed the playing field for GCC, but with lots of help we are doing the best we can making lemonade out of lemons. We will get through these challenging times, and in the mean time we hope that the Community Center can play a growing role in creating a space where we can gather safely and celebrate community together. | | |
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