Ceremony marks start of FEMA building project
Members of the Abbotsford School District kicked off the construction of the FEMA building on Tuesday in front of a crowd of about 40 community members and donors.
The ceremony was conducted on the site in which the building is going to be placed. Abbotsford Superintendent Ryan Bargender introduced the project and those that would be carrying it out while thanking those that had donated time and money to financing the project.
In May of 2020, the building was estimated to be $3.2 million with $2.2 million of that funding coming from a FEMA grant completed by Jordan Buss. The district was on the hook for the other $1 million. A fundraising campaign brought in additional funds which totaled around $340,000.
Don Medenwaldt of the Abbotsford Education Foundation was in attendance for the ground breaking ceremony and handed over a ceremonial check to Bargender for $100,000. Along with the foundation’s donation, the district received donations from an anonymous donor for $100,000, Forward Bank donated $50,000, Abby Bank gave $50,000, Harland and Kathy Schraufnagel donated $15,000, $14,500 was given from the Shortner Family Trust, Kris O’Leary and Kevin Flink gave $5,000, Carol O’Leary donated $5,000 and Rachel and Cody Blumenshine gave $500.
After donations were collected, the district learned that the pandemic and inflation would more than double the original cost of the building. The district decided to scrap the dome idea which would have been a pricey $6.7 million and instead went with a more cost efficient project to ensure the $2.5 million in grant money and donations would be put to use.
The project was reexamined and a traditional structure was decided upon. The district still needed $1.5 million to deal with inflation and rising prices of materials. The school board decided to go to referendum for the funds and after overwhelming support, the referendum passed with 69 percent of the voting public voting “yes.”
Bargender noted the public support the district has gotten in the past and said time after time, the people in the Abbotsford School District have supported their school.
“AsIwentaroundtovariousgroupstoexplain the building project and referendum, I received a lot of positive feedback,” Bargender said. “Our community has always been very supportive of our school. Once again, the community has come through for our school. Thank you for wanting the best for our kids.”
Also in attendance were representatives from the HSR and Associates who came up with the architecture for the building and Market and Johnson out of Eau Claire who will be carrying out the construction of the project.
When completed, the building will be 16,253 square feet. It will have three 4-yearold kindergarten classrooms, a multipurpose gym, a collaboration area and a new community room.
According to Bargender, the building will be able to withstand an F5 tornado or missile hits.
Board members, staff members, facilities staff, City Administrator Josh Soyk, Abbotsford Mayor Jim Weix, the administrative team and others were acknowledged by Bargender during the closing moments of the ceremony.
