Fundraising begins for Charlo track, football complex
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
CHARLO — Lake County has, undeniably, some of the best community support systems of any place around. From raising money for building a pool in Polson to helping domestic abuse victims in Ronan, Lake County citizens do a lot for its cities and towns. Now, the Charlo community is stepping up to the plate to renovate and build an athletic complex at the high school.
On Thursday night, an informational dinner was given at Charlo High School to get the word out about the project.
It has been 47 long years since any money has been put into the complex and the dirt track and outdated facilities reflect this time.
According to Charlo K-12 principal Bonnie Perry, this amount of time has gone by because of the daunting prospect of raising money in a town that can’t rely on taxpayer revenue.
“I think it has always been talked about,” Perry said, “but $750,000 is a scary number.”
The figure is the upper limit for the total amount of money needing to be raised. About $60,000 has been raised since the insemination of the project one year ago, according to Harley Coleman, chairman of the nonprofit created to support the project. The money has overwhelmingly come from alumni of the school since no other fundraising efforts have yet begun.
Specifically, the money is being raised to lay new sod and recrown the football field, put in new lights, build an eight lane rubberized track, move back the fences to a safe distance around the complex, put in new bleachers, install an underground sprinkler system, and rubberize the runways of the four field events.
The evening began with a tri tip roast dinner, and after everyone had their fill, Perry stepped up and talked about what the complex would mean for the students.
“Life in Charlo is pretty much what it was in 1971,” she opened with. Some of it, she said, is good, like the close-knit community, but some things, like the track and field that were new then, are very much in need of repair now.
Perry also said that the students have definitely earned this upgrade. In a New York Times study that related income to education benchmarks, Charlo was one of only a handful of outliers that defied the general trend of the graph and actually achieved two benchmark levels above expected for such a low-income area. This study was done at the sixth grade level and Charlo tested on average 1.2 benchmarks above grade level. Adding onto this, Coleman said that 75 percent of the high school students in Charlo participate in extracurricular activities and that most maintain a 3.2 grade point average.
Coleman has led the charge for this project.
“I was at a track meet two years ago and I said we can do this. We can do this,” Coleman said. A year later one of the Charlo teachers challenged him to come through on his word, and he did. Now, the group of volunteers is officially a nonprofit under the name of Charlo Community Outdoor Complex. Other committee members include Irvin Long, Joel Fuhrmann, Bernice Hawkaluk, Mindy Cox, and Sharon Coleman.
“We have a really good group of core people,” Coleman said.
The most difficult task so far, according to Coleman, has been keeping everyone motivated and focused this year, but everyone from the volunteers to the school to the community have been super supportive of the endeavor. The nonprofit will continue to seek community support in the next four years to help complete the project.
