Golden shovel heralds classroom construction

On Wednesday, July 9, a golden shovel turned a spadeful of dirt at the ground breaking for four new, volunteer-built classrooms at the Sisters Elementary School.

"Over the weekend all the footings were dug out, including a huge rock they had to get out of the way," said Schools Superintendent Steve Swisher. "We expect forms on the foundation this week."

Swisher said the project was still on its aggressive timeline, with hopes that the classrooms will be ready by the time students return to school at the beginning of September.

"Steve Keeton told me all the permitting has been done. On Tuesday morning, Dennis Orwig, who is a donating the cabinets, will meet with (elementary principal) Tim Comfort to work on color schemes, so the cabinets blend with what we have without replicating the colors of the 70s," Swisher said.

Swisher added that project manager Bill Willits has been told that Pozzi Distributors will be donating all the windows for the project.

Fund-raising is keeping pace with construction. Letters hit the mail last Friday. A second set of mailings will be going out this week, to be followed up by phone calls.

"In the last few days a yeoman's effort has been put forth by Marsha Tierney, Jeri Weber and Jill Misener in getting all the mailings out and organizing the volunteer team of about a dozen people," said Swisher.

"Marsha Tierney, Carla Merrell representing Laredo Construction, and Roland Bliss organized a booth at the quilt show that raised more than $1,000 on that one day," Swisher added.

So far, about $20,000 of the necessary $85,000 in actual cash need has been raised, according to the superintendent. Without the volunteer effort, the four classrooms would cost nearly $400,000.

"We are also receiving encouragement from state-wide foundations on the possibility of a grant, possibly as much as $25,000," said Swisher.

The rest of the money will have to come through local donations, such as those raised during the quilt show.

The classroom raising has drawn media attention from Z-21 in Bend and KATU Channel 2 in Portland.