The Director's Chair, By Glen E. Keller, Jr.
(from the Spring/Summer, 1998 issue of Boots and Saddles)
The All-Westernaire meeting on June 24 was simply the kickoff to a massive effort to improve the future of Westernaires. It has taken us nearly 50 years, 40 at Fort Westernaire, to arrive at the point that we are ... bursting at the seams. Our poor horses are confined to one acre of ground (115-120 horses and ponies). We have 4 classrooms which are pretty doggone busy during the diagramming sessions. We only have 1 indoor arena since last fall's snow storm plus the occasional use of the GP building on the Fairgrounds. We have 1 outdoor arena (the upper) and rely on the County Fairgrounds for any other outdoor facilities. Frankly, there is increasing pressure in the county to require youth organizations that use the fairgrounds to pay a per horse or per child charge. We have been able to resist the march of time on that issue until now, but it is only a matter of time. Westernaires has always been self supporting, but that kind of charge would dramatically change the financial picture.
The new arrangement we have been able to negotiate will allow the Westernaires the use of land for grazing, Westernaire controlled outdoor arenas and a new indoor show arena with 1000 spectator seats. Parking is to be controlled by the Westernaires as well, although it will have to be carefully managed and maintained. Add to that the construction of a new Blue Arena, larger by far than the old one that collapsed, and a new classroom building together with a new caretaker's home and we will have achieved a satisfactory facility to manage today's 1000 riders and even a few more rental horses. We will be able to all of this and not lose our self-sustaining operating budget.
Even though we say we are financially self-sustaining, we do live from hand to mouth with a little room in our annual budget to do any capital acquisitions and upgrades. An occasional bus or truck, a tractor now and then and little else. A proposed construction budget of nearly $1.5 million is surely outside our annual operating budget. The Executive Board has determined that we have no other option than to go out to the community to raise the dollars necessary.
As we began to study the fund raising materials we could find, we discovered that most of the foundations and corporations like to see just what the membership of an organization will do toward a project before they contribute. We have, therefore, set some goals ... difficult but not impossible to obtain ... to show them how committed we are. The fund raising budget which we have set out is:
Alumni & Friends $200,000
Donated labor & materials $100,000
Membership and teams $80,000
Foundations & Corporations 1,000,000
TOTAL $1,380,000
This presumes that we are accurate in our estimates of the construction cost. I hope that we have not forgotten anything that raises the cost and, therefore, our needs. The membership may, of course, pledge any amount to the Expansion Fund. It seemed to us, however, that we should create a special thing for the membership as well. Therefore, the members and current volunteers will be allowed a special treat as well, the privilege of purchasing a brick for the entry foyer of the new building with their name inscribed on the brick. Teams, too, may raise money through collecting cans, paper drives, barn dances and a host of other kinds of activities and have the team name on a brick. Each brick will be inscribed for a $100 brick fee.
I think it is even more important that we do not forget the need for volunteer labor of many kinds. While we can keep track of the cash we collect from so many different sources, if we don't all pitch in our time and labor, we will see the costs escalate beyond our ability to raise money. Some examples of what we can do:
We have been donated 37,000 feet of 2" oil pipe to use for fencing the new arena. This must be picked up in Parachute, Colorado and brought here. Then, we all must pitch in an effort to build the fence. Even if you are not a welder there will be jobs to do.
We will soon begin digging for the new retaining wall to support the new blue arena. We will have a huge job to do before the building itself arrives in late August. Not too many of us can run a back hoe or a big loader, but I'll bet we all are familiar with the business end of a shovel and a posthole digger. We will have plenty of work.
We all need to keep our minds creatively active. Some will have employers who will be able to contribute cash or material to the project. We need to provide materials so you can contact those people. Some of you have skills we don't even know we need yet. Tell your monitors who will get the information to the Chief Monitors who will get it to me. We win try to keep it coordinated. I think the 50th year celebration for Westernaires will truly be something special!
