Group on track to improve sports facility
Linda Sappington
A newly formed non-profit organization in Charlo is seeking to raise money to improve Charlo Schools outdoor facilities.
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CHARLO — When several people in the Charlo community saw a need for improving their outdoor facilities, they grew weary of idle talk and decided to simply “get started.” Harley Coleman, facilitator for the Charlo Community Outdoor Complex non-profit organization believes that this project is necessary for a successful community.
“It has been over 45 years since any major work has been done to the Charlo track and field,” Coleman said. “Right now, our athletes are basically running on dirt. Obviously a rubberized track is going to be better for our youth and for the community members … plus when a town has nicer things, it is going to give the great teachers and coaches we have in this community more of an incentive to stay.”
The non-profit is trying to raise enough money so that they can recrown the football field and lay new sod, put an underground sprinkler system in all outdoor facilities, install new lighting for football and track facilities, and install an eight-lane rubberized track as well as rubberizing the runways of the four field events.
The total cost of the project has been estimated around $600,000 to $650,000, which organizers are planning to fundraise through future events, a GoFundMe page under Charlo Community Outdoor Complex, and by gathering donations from alumni and local individuals. As the project nears completion they will be seeking grant monies and state funding.
“We are raising money on our own, so we do not have to go to the local taxpayers,” Coleman said. “Our next big step is to go to area businesses to ask for pledges to help support our project.”
The group has raised $50,000 since they started eight months ago, half coming from former alumni. The non-profit is giving donors an opportunity to be recognized after the project is finished.
“We are looking for some major donors that want to donate, whether it is a class that graduated, a business, or a family,” Coleman said. “We will be naming the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault pit after the larger donors.”
Several people volunteered to be a part in helping to make this project happen. The core group of people are Irvin Long, corporate donations; Joel Fuhrmann, alumni relations; Bernice Hawkaluk, alumni relations and secretary; LaDonna Fryberger, fundraisers; Mindy Cox, grants and social media; Dianna Kelley, legal paperwork; and Harley and Sharon Coleman, facilitator and treasurer. Several people have volunteered as this evolved and those involved with the non-profit are impressed.
“There is a great group of people that have joined us and decided to help,” Coleman said. “It is a great feeling to have someone call and ask, ‘Hey, I would like to help in any way that I can’ … that is something that puts a smile on my face.”
For Coleman this project is “more than just having nice things,” but an effort to have a place the community can gather and support one another.
“I graduated from Charlo … along with many other people helping put this together,” Coleman said. “Pride helps pride. Charlo is a proud community and we want our extracurricular activities to have all the opportunities they can to succeed. It is about the youth.”
The Charlo Community Outdoor Complex non-profit group can “see the great benefit of instilling in our youth the values and qualities essential in developing thoughtful, confident, and productive young men and women” and would appreciate any donations to help toward their goal.
