Volunteers kick-start Rehoboth School's $7M construction project

This is an architectural drawing of the Rehoboth Sports Center. Dirt work is currently being done on the athletic center's site. The center will include space for three basketball courts, a fitness center, spacious lobby, and a new band room. [Courtesy Image]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

REHOBOTH — Ribbon cutting ceremonies, golden shovels, visiting dignitaries and guest speakers are all typical features of official groundbreaking ceremonies.

And Rehoboth Christian School will be having one of those public events on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 2.

But for the 15 men who have traveled from across the country to volunteer their services to the school, the real groundbreaking took place a couple of weeks ago. With the help of their labor, the ground at two sites on the school campus is now being broken, dug up, moved, replaced, compacted, and leveled.

It's all part of the nearly $7 million building project the school is undertaking to build a 40,000 square foot sports center and a new soccer field.

The 15 volunteers coming from the states of Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan are donating anywhere from one week to more than five weeks of their time to work for free, operating the heavy equipment needed to prepare the two construction sites.

Alan V. Pearson, the chief development officer for Rehoboth, estimates the volunteers are donating about 1,740 man hours of labor and saving the school about $100,000 in labor costs.

"That's the big story for us," said Pearson, who added volunteer labor on some future smaller jobs with the project will shave off another $50,000.

In a recent interview, Pearson and Ron Polinder, the school's executive director, expressed gratitude to the volunteers. On any given day, said Polinder, the school has at least "200 years of experience" with the men working on the sites.

"There's a 'boys-and-their-toys' aspect to all of this," Pearson admitted, "and I think they're having fun."

Polinder agreed, but also remarked that "it's only in the upside down Kingdom of God" that people spend their own time and money to help others and serve God.

Confidence and caution
According to the school officials, the $1.2 million soccer field will feature artificial turf, a running track, lighting, concession stand and bleachers. Pearson believes the field, which will be built west of the old Rehoboth Church, will be "eye-catching" from I-40. It is scheduled to be completed next summer.

Plans for the $5.4 million sports center include space for three basketball courts, a main lobby, a fitness center, locker rooms, concession stand, patio, band room, storage space, and a possible classroom. The main basketball gym will seat 1,200 spectators, which is three times as many people as the current gym can accommodate. The 2,000 square foot fitness center will feature weight machines, free weights, treadmills, and a wall of windows that face the scenic hogbacks south of the school campus. The center is slated for completion in November 2007.

"It's going to be a beautiful facility," Pearson said, "we're really excited about it."

Infrastructure costs will boost the projects to about $7 million, said Pearson. In addition, said Polinder, the school is budgeting for an even higher amount with the inclusion of an endowment fund that will cover the ongoing costs of utilities and maintenance.

The Richard and Helen De Vos Foundation jump started the project with a charitable donation of $5 million. According to Pearson, most of that money is to be spent on the new sports center, although some is going to the soccer field and to a modest remodeling of the school's old gymnasium.

Pearson said the school has some other smaller gifts and pledges earmarked for the project, but that the school is launching a fund raising campaign.

"We're proceeding with confidence and caution," Polinder said of the fund raising task. "We still have a ways to go." Rehoboth administrators try to "live somewhat by faith," he said, while still acting fiscally responsible.

One source the school will not be receiving money from is the Nike corporation. A couple of years ago, with much public fanfare, Rehoboth launched a campaign to collect thousands of used athletic shoes for a Nike grant program. The goal was to collect 5,000 pairs of shoes to turn over to Nike for recycling purposes, and Nike would reward the school with a $20,000 grant for a new soccer field.

Unfortunately, said Polinder, Nike changed the rules of the program while Rehoboth was in the middle of collecting the shoes. "That was a disappointment...," he admitted ."They shut us out." That experience not only left school administrators disappointed, it left them with thousands of old shoes on their hands, which they said they would be willing to donate to another organization.

Local benefit
"We want to appeal to the local community as well," Pearson said of the fund raising campaign, adding that Rehoboth officials expect the soccer field, gyms, and fitness center to have some public use in addition to their use by Rehoboth students.

"We really do hope our local supporters and local businessmen get behind us," agreed Polinder, who believes Rehoboth has contributed much to the Gallup community in terms of quality of life and economic investments.

In return, he noted, many Gallup businesses have been very generous with the school in the past and with this current construction project. As the project proceeds, he said, Gallup should experience economic benefit as local subcontractors and their employees are hired.

But for the next few weeks, the primary construction workers will be the out-of-state volunteers who are working for reasons other than money.

Ron Wiersma, the volunteer coordinator from Lynden, Wash., will be working at Rehoboth through Nov. 17. He has volunteered on several other previous construction projects at the school. Wiersma said he grew up hearing about Rehoboth in his childhood Sunday School classes, where offerings were collected to help the school. In addition to enjoying the natural beauty of the Southwest while working at Rehoboth, Wiersma said he and the other volunteers get satisfaction by donating their time for a good cause.

"We see these kids growing up and getting a good education," he said. "There's just a good feeling about that."

For more information, contact Alan V. Pearson or Ron Polinder at (505) 863-4412.