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Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

SOAR breaks ground on center
By Jim Cornelius

Tom Coffield explains SOAR plans. photo by Jim Cornelius

A joyful crowd of children, parents, community activists and board members of Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation gathered on Thursday, July 17, at the west end of the new Sisters High School parking lot to turn the first, symbolic shovels of dirt at the site of Phase One of a new Community Activity Center.

The center will be constructed west of Sisters High School on land leased from the Sisters School District.

Several speakers, noting the modest beginnings of SOAR, referred to the start of the new center as a kind of minor miracle. Yet it was really the product of a lot of hard work.

The SOAR Foundation raised $950,000 in grants and donations for this project. According to SOAR Director Tom Coffield, most of the grants for the project required significant matching funds from the Sisters community — requiring SOAR to raise about $100,000.

"I'm happy to say we've done that," Coffield said.

Ginger Durdan-Shaw, a SOAR board member, noted that this is the kind of project the local community has consistently rallied behind.

"This is what Sisters does best," she said. "The community comes together.

Coffield showed plans for the center to interested community members.

"Due to financial reasons, we decided to build our building in phases," Coffield said.

He explained that Phase One will include a 2,000-square-foot Taekwondo/dance studio, space for pre-school activities and the teen Cabana Club, and office space.

SOAR plans to share some space with Central Oregon Community College in a partnership that will enable both organizations to offer joint classes.

SOAR plans to add a gymnasium and community ball fields.

"We do not have the money raised to do that," Coffield said.

That means fund-raising will continue.

Coffield noted that service club efforts such as the Kiwanis golf tournament have raised $27,000 for ball fields and that ground may be broken on the first baseball diamond this fall.

According to SOAR board member Bonnie Malone, SOAR got its impetus in April, 1994, when then high school principal Dennis Dempsey alerted some community activists to available grant funds for youth programs.

By March of 1995, a program was ready to go, with a $42,000 budget raised from donations.

SOAR hired Coffield as director that first year.

"I hate to tell you what Tom's salary was, because it was really embarrassing," Malone said.

The organization grew through grants and in 1998, sought a 22 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation property tax base. Voters approved the tax base in November 1998.

The stable funding base allowed Coffield to pursue more grant funding and expand SOAR programs.

Now, the organization offers a wide range of programs and classes and serves an average of 250 children per day, according to Malone.

Vacationers and visitors to Sisters also avail themselves of the programs.

SOAR now operates on a budget of about $600,000.

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