The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

In a surprise move, Tom Coffield last week publicly announced his resignation as Managing Director of Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation (SOAR).

Although his decision was announced to the SOAR District Board of Directors in February, Coffield is staying on until June 30 in order to help get a new director on board.

In his letter of resignation Coffield said, “It has been a privilege to work with all of you and I hope to continue working with SOAR as a volunteer, however it is time for SOAR to have new leadership and new energy.”

Coffield said he just decided it was time, after 10 years, to hand over the reins to a new leader. He said the Sisters community has been good to him and his wife Becky and he plans to volunteer to work with SOAR and the schools in the future.

He has plans to work part time and to “spend a lot of time traveling with my wife.” He owns a boat repair business in Alaska which he has operated part-time and will continue to run part-time.

Coffield feels that SOAR needs a new Managing Director who will help achieve long-range goals of the organization and provide an injection of new energy. He said, “I am not a Parks & Rec person, but it is time for one now.”

Coffield expressed gratitude to the community for allowing him to be a big part of Sisters. He said, “I have enjoyed developing SOAR programs and working with the youth of the community.”

Then vice president of the Kiwanis Club of Sisters, Carol “C.B.” Davis recalls that in 1993 the Long Range Planning Committee of Kiwanis recognized that Sisters’ young people were hanging out on street corners. They went to other organizations to enlist support to develop a program to get the youngsters off the street.

Shortly thereafter, then-high school principal Dennis Dempsey became a driving force behind the program when he alerted community members to available grant funds for youth programs.

By March of 1995, aprogram was ready to go, with a $42,000 budget raised from donations. SOAR hired Coffield as director that first year.

Under Coffield’s guidance SOAR has seen steady growth.

In 1997, SOAR directors went to the voters seeking stable funding to continue and expand operations. Voters gave SOAR a $100,000 tax base.

In 2002, a 1,760-square-foot modular building was set in place on Locust Street through private and corporate donations. The building provided office space and room for SOAR’s after-school clubhouse. The same year SOAR opened its “Teen Cabana,” a place for teens to gather after school and evenings, complete with videos, games and refreshments.

In 2003, SOAR directors broke ground on Phase 1 of a new complex near Sisters High School. That building includes a 2,000-square-foot Taekwondo/dance studio, the Teen Cabana Club, space for Head Start, Central Oregon Community College (COCC) classes, and offices. Many credit Coffield with almost single-handedly raising the $1 million for the building, through grants and fund-raising activities.

The same year, Coffield and Bonnie Malone, a founding SOAR Director, were named Co-Citizens of the Year by the Sisters Chamber of Commerce.

In 2004, the new SOAR building was dedicated as the “Coffield Center,” in honor of Coffield’s service to theorganization.

SOAR now offers a wide range of youth and adult activities, including a Latch Key program for children in grades K-5, middle school tutoring programs, summer school camps, wilderness and outdoor classes for all age groups, open gym times for adult sports, and specialty classes in art, drama, and computers. SOAR also conducts all middle school sports and employs high school students to help teach/coach younger children.

SOAR Phase 2 plans include an all-weather gymnasium, a senior center and expanded COCC classroom space. The first of several community ball fields is currently under construction with the help of locally donated labor and almost $40,000 raised by the Kiwanis Club of Sisters.

Coffield’s activities have gone beyond SOAR. He has been on the Sisters School Board, Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS) Board, and a member of the teen anti-drinking/drugs group TAPS.

About Coffield’s contribution to SOAR, Davis said, “Nobody could have accomplished what he did. He truly has lived SOAR.”

She added, “This is a major thing in my life, a joy to see it evolve under Tom’s leadership and to be a part of it. It’s exciting what we have accomplished.

“I’m especially proud that not one tax dollar was spent on the SOAR building — that is because of Tom.”

Applications are being accepted for Coffield’s position until April 15. Interviews will follow selections by a review committee and the Board of Directors.