Youth center sees community backing as contract bidding looms

Youth center sees community backing as contract bidding looms

Students’ vision inches closer to life with banks’ support

Charles City banks pledged a combined $150,000 to help realize a couple students’ architectural sketches.

That’s the kind of community support rallying around the Floyd County Youth Enrichment Center (FCYEC), said volunteers Chuck Staudt and Amy Staudt. The banks join the Floyd County Board of Supervisors, which pledged $125,000 last spring, and Gil and Donna White’s $275,000 gift to the Charles City FFA, which founded the FCYEC vision.

The White’s gift was originally meant to be for a larger space to house FFA and 4-H projects indoors, but students got creative, Chuck said, and asked why the money couldn’t go toward something more for the county –– a facility that could be used year-round for everyone from schools and scouting troops to small businesses and industrial conferences. The initial sketches of student visions drawn up by Brandon Childs, Aaron Wright and Nick Wegner, are still the basis of the building’s exterior design.

“Thank goodness they had the intuition to want to do something besides just build a building,” Chuck said. “It’s going to be something that’s going to be here for generations to come, and today’s students and all their children, their grandchildren will benefit from." Architects finalized structural details on the sketch Tuesday before they’ll release the project for initial contract bids. Although the 10,000 square foot facility is not expected to be completed for rentals until 2017, groundbreaking could start as early as spring 2016 to have walls available for exhibits by fairtime in the summer, Amy said. The building is planned for the former Commercial Building site on the grounds, to the north of the show arena.

“We’re only going to spend what we have in hand or pledged from businesses or individuals,” Chuck said. “That’s a big commitment, and I think it says a lot for the direction of what the building’s going to be when we're sitting at $550,000 from those three entities (the Whites, Charles City banks and Floyd County Board of Supervisors).

“We have a projected cost that we get from the architect but until we see the bids we really won’t know until we see the final scope of work, or the final price tag." Fundraising and grant applications will continue for the FCYEC, which envisions heated floors to help maintain the building’s temperature and cut energy waste; a full kitchen and serving location, to save space in the main hall; and by the end of the project, an FFA historical installation in the entry lobby, sharing the story of the national and local organization.

“(It’s) an educational process for the kids,” Amy said. “They were part of the zoning, the design, they were part of the fundraising efforts.”

FUNDS PLEDGED BY BANKS, COUNTY

–– First Security Bank &

trust: $50,000 –– First Citizens National Bank: $50,000 –– state Bank: $25,000 –– C Us Bank: $25,000 –– Floyd County Board of

supervisors: $125,000

By Kate Hayden khayden@charlescitypress.com