Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Community Center at Lake Chelan receives 2nd major donation from Tacoma based foundation

$1 million gift announced at recent fundraising event

Posted

CHELAN -  “You may be wondering why a foundation in Tacoma is so invested in this project.”  So commented Erin Shagren to a group of nearly 200 supporters of the Community Center at Lake Chelan (CCLC), as they recently assembled on a very hot summer evening at a gala fundraising event, co-hosted at the Larc Hill Vineyard by the Seven Acres Foundation and the Chelan Valley Wine Alliance. Mrs. Shagren had just announced a $1 million donation to the CCLC from one of her family’s two charitable organizations, the Tom and Meg Names Family Foundation.   
In answer to the question she had just posed, Mrs. Shagren went on to explain: “Our family has deep ties to this area.  Our grandparents were apple orchardists in Wenatchee and bought a cabin on the south shore of Lake Chelan in the 1940’s.  Our grandfather loved to fish and was looking for an escape from the day to day work on the orchard.  We as a family have been coming here ever since; our parents spent their retirement summers here and loved this area and the people in it.”  In closing, Mrs. Shagren noted that with this gift, the CCLC playground will be named in honor of her grandparents, John & Helen Moran, and she encouraged everyone in the audience to donate whatever they could to help build the new facility.  Her wish was definitely granted, as the attendees contributed just over $500,000 that evening to make the event a major success.
Ben Williams, Board President of Seven Acres Foundation, expressed his appreciation to Erin and her entire family for all they’ve done to help make the CCLC a reality.  “On behalf of our board, and the entire Chelan Valley community at large, we can’t possibly express in words how grateful we are.  Through their two charitable foundations, Erin and her sisters, Beth Dobbs and Monica King, have ensured that this wonderful new facility will soon be built.  When combined with their generous $500,000 commitment last summer from the Names Family Foundation (established in 1996 by their grandparents, Scott and Sis Names), this latest pledge of $1 million helps us combat the heavily increased costs of raw materials and labor, and we are now more confident than ever that we’ll be able to meet our revised, higher construction budget with as little debt service as possible.”
The Seven Acres Foundation is continuing its fundraising efforts for the CCLC, and initial development phases have now begun.  Having received its Civil Engineering permit last month, water, sewer and electrical lines are currently being installed at the facility’s Bighorn Way site, and once Seven Acres is awarded their Building Permit, concrete footings and foundations will be poured, and all required retaining walls will be built.  The large amount of steel required to build the facility has been ordered, and given the long lead times associated with this heavily demanded material, it’s expected to arrive early next Spring when the structure will then immediately begin construction.   
The mission of the Community Center at Lake Chelan is to connect people with the resources they need and with each other in order to enhance the quality of life in the Lake Chelan Valley.  To learn more about Seven Acres Foundation and the CCLC, or to donate to the campaign, please visit http://sevenacresfoundation.org/ or http://ccatleakechelanorg.

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