Scott Swanson
Sweet Home Senior Center members had collected close to $1,300 by the end of last week in their quarter drive, the “Quarter Mile Race for the Roof.”
Members of the Center’s senior exercise class lined up part of their collection, the goal of which is to stretch the length of the gym – multiple times, if necessary, to raise funds to repair the roof of the Community Center.
Some flat portions of the roof, constructed 18 years ago, are leaking, particularly around vents.
Senior Center members, who use the building each weekday, along with the Boys & Girls Club, are working to raise some $16,000 for repairs.
Retired schoolteacher Pat Tungett came up with the idea of the Quarter Mile Race.
She said last week that the plan is to get receptacles onto counters in businesses throughout the community. She said enough quarters have already been collected to extend the length of the gym – 50 yards, which amounts to about $455, along with other donations.
One donor, she noted, “doesn’t even live in Sweet Home.”
The campaign will last into June, Tungett said.
She suggested that anyone wanting to donate more sizable amounts should simply stop by the Senior Center, at 880 18th Ave. For more information on the effort, call (541) 367-4775.
“People have been generous,” Tungett said. “Paper money works really well for us.”