Building pride in the Rich Hill community

Dear Editor:

The Rich Hill School Board appointed the Multi-Purpose Completion Committee to develop a fund drive to raise the third portion of the funding to complete the safe room. The committee is set to start the fund drive on July 1 with the theme of, "Building Pride in the Rich Hill Community." The goal of the committee is to raise $1 million through private donations to complete construction of the multi-purpose facility; this includes equipment, bleachers, restrooms, and locker rooms. The completed safe room will be a 15,000 square foot dome structure and will be funded by the approved FEMA grant of $790,895, matching funds from the district of $263,605, and the approved April 2 bond issue of $1 million.

Early in May, I attended a meeting to visit the multi-purpose facility at Archie. I was impressed. Rich Hill's building will mirror Archie's facility in many ways. I believe the completion of the safe room will in many ways be "Building Pride in the Rich Hill Community."

Our committee is working on the groundwork to contact all alumni of Rich Hill High School to build support for this project. The committee would like to share the following information with the community;

1. A Dec. 1, 2013, date is set for pledges or donations to be submitted for the project.

2. The donations will be given directly to the Rich Hill School District. The district has set up a separate bank account for donations to the multi-purpose facility and will manage the funds during the construction process.

3. The committee plans to reach all alumni, area businesses and foundations through informational mailings and meetings.

4. The committee will hold informational meetings in August, September, October, and November.

5. Recognition levels for donations have been set as follows: Platinum -- above $50,000; Gold -- $25,000 to $49,999; Silver -- $10,000 to $24,999; and Bronze -- $500 to $9,999.

6. A website is in development to provide information and to give updates on the fundraising progress. The website is www.RichHillSafeRoom.com.

At this time we have already received a generous donation. Mr. and Mrs. Danny Ellis have supported the Rich Hill School District and area students for over 15 years with scholarships from the Ellis Foundation and a personal contribution to the new High School construction in 2002. Once again Mr. and Mrs. Ellis have stepped forward with a generous Platinum level donation to help kick off our fundraising effort. Our committee is very grateful for their continued support as alumni of the Rich Hill School District.

The following members of the committee will take questions or comments that you may have: Clifford Smith, Carl Steiger, Larry Hacker, David Yarick, Miranda Kassner and Kevin Fischer.

I hope you will come to a meeting or contact a committee member, and please seriously consider a donation to the safe room completion. When the safe room is completed in 2014 it will have been 30 years since the current Rich Hill High School gymnasium was built. Let us continue, "Building Pride in the Rich Hill Community."

Thank you,

Kevin Fischer and the Multi-Purpose Completion Committee