After a successful fundraising campaign that spanned two months, the Clinton Community Hall is sporting a new roof.
Since May 26, community members have raised a total of $22,700 for the costly replacement of the old roof, which had been leaking for several years.
This past week, a team of roofers put the finishing touches on the hall’s new metal roof. Sue Mills, the president of the hall’s board of directors, said the hope is that the replacement will last about 50 years. The material will also be able to be recycled when the time comes.
“We’re trying to be good stewards of the community’s money and of the community’s assets,” she said. “This is a very environmentally aware community.”
Some donors who contributed funds towards the project included memories and stories about the community hall. One man said when he was a teenager during the 1960s, he helped build the fireplace on the building. Another woman shared that her high school graduation in 1969 was held in the hall and, in the following years, she had been back to it for various other social occasions.
“This community obviously very much values that building,” said Kathy Craven, the vice president of the hall’s board of directors.
The generosity of the community took both Craven and Mills by surprise. The metal roofing supplier discounted the cost of materials by $1,000 after hearing about the project. The roofing team even offered to provide a matching roof for a nearby storage shed, free of cost.
The community’s donations, plus money saved by the board over the years, nearly covered the total $45,000 cost of the roof. Some additional funds will come from the board’s emergency reserve account.
Apart from some damaged fascia boards that needed to be taken out, the replacement went smoothly. Mills said the next goal will be working on replacing the hall’s single-pane windows.
“There’s never a dull moment, but we’re so thrilled that this is behind us because it took us five years to save $16,000,” she said.
The community hall’s board does not plan to ask the community for more donations any time soon.
“We asked them for the roof,” she said. “We’ll figure out a way to do the windows.”
