Sean C. Morgan
Efforts to improve Sweet Home High School’s auditorium are taking shape with organizational decisions, the announcement of grant funds for the project and a $1,000 donation by high school students.
Sweet Home Auditorium Remodel Chairman Ron Sharrah said the Elks National Foundation has awarded a $2,000 Gratitude Grant to begin repairing and remodeling the Sweet Home High School auditorium and stage.
It’s easier to go after smaller grants, $25,000 instead of $125,000, for example, he said, so the project has been broken into four phases.
The first phase will be repairs inside the auditorium, including drywall, plaster and concrete, and curtain replacement, which will cost around $30,000.
The second step will be to resurface the stage. Third is a new sound system, and fourth is a new lighting system.
Sharrah said he has a grant proposal ready to go for the first phase, and he just needs to decide where to apply first. The Oregon Cultural Trust and the Ford Family Foundation are possibly good matches for this project.
In the meantime, he is attending a series of grant-writing workshops offered by the Ford Family Foundation’s Rural Development Initiatives to learn more about successfully applying for grants.
Currently, the committee is getting fund-raising efforts organized, he said, and it’s looking for labor donations for repairs.
Choir students spent Saturday evening serving at the Elks Lodge for tips, which go straight to the project.
Also, Sweet Home High School Principal Keith Winslow said that students, who raise money each summer through various activities during the Oregon Jamboree, have decided to donate $1,000 of those funds toward the auditorium restoration project.
“The students who worked to raise the money like the idea of being the first money in the pot to show that they are involved and interested in doing their part toward a needed and prideful project,” Winslow said.
Sharrah said he would like to see repairs under way July 1 and finished “within about 15 days.” The second phase will start right after that.
“We are in full fund-raising mode right now,” he said. “What if we don’t get the grants?” It’s going to slow us down, but it’s not going to stop us.”
In-kind labor donations for demolition, repairs and installation and modifications are important to this project, he said. “In-kind donations add tremendously to the viability of our project and makes seeking grants and being approved far more likely. To date, our project needs volunteers for removing the existing equipment and curtains, effecting repairs to both the sheet rock and plaster and concrete walls and painting.”
In cases of businesses donating materials or labor, the Elks Lodge will provide the business with its nonprofit ID number so the work may be claimed as a charitable contribution for tax purposes, Sharrah said.
The committee meets next at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, in the Sweet Home High School Auditorium.
A subcommittee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to begin planning possible musical fund-raising events.
For more information or to get involved, contact Sharrah at [email protected].