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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-05-24, Page 5Wednesday, May 24, 2017 • Signal Star 5 Huron Christian School amazed by capital campaign success HCS reaches $3 million campaign Ar goal for building project eight months into 18 -month campaign Justine Alkema Postmedia Network Huron Christian School had a fundraising goal for their building expansion project - $3 million dollars. They expected their wider community would support the initiative, but they didn't expect to blow past their goal only eight months into their 18 -month campaign. HCS principal Nick Geleynse, who has been the principal at the school for eight years and taught at the school 18 years before that, walked the News Record through the story of the campaign. "The story goes back to 2003, 2004," he said. "That was when we felt the need to do something at the school to recognize that the whole edu- cation process is changing. We need possibly more room, we need to modify what we have here, and so forth." For example, there's more information now about how kids learn, which changes the space required. Some of their classrooms have flexi- ble seating instead of desks in rows, or maybe some stu- dents work better standing, or in a different room. Stu- dents' school work is increasingly collaborative, so group work areas need to be created. Massive progres- sions. in technology are a part of needing different space as well. So, they hired a capital campaign consultant around that time in 2003, and that consultant did an assess- ment of the school's sup- porters. They came back and said the community was not ready to support a project of this scale. At that point, the goal was around $2.5 million. "We were extremely disap- pointed, and the idea kind of died. But there was always the conversation in the back- ground of 'what if we could, what if we could." The idea came back on the table around three years ago. It partly came from staff who were recognizing again that the space they have and the way the school was designed back in the 50s and 60s hasn't kept up with how rad- ically education has changed. The staff came up with a wish list of how they wanted to see the school modified. Some staff members did a tour of other schools under renovation. It went to the board, and they backed the idea. They hired consulting organization the Dennis Group that did another assessment of the commu- nity. This time, they carne back with the news that the school's supporters were very ready to support this type of project. ii It was something we could have never imagined. We're just stunned by it." = HCS principal Nick Geleynse They set a goal of $3 mil- lion dollars for the project, and the campaign was launched in September, 2016. The Dennis Group recom- mended they don't go public with the campaign until they reach around 50-60% of their goal, which is not unusual for a fundraising campaign. That way, they could hit the ground running when they opened it up to more people. So, the school consulted their database of some peo- ple who had donated to the school over the past number of decades and approached them first. "Up until this point of the story, this is a very typical campaign," said Geleynse. "But this is where the story goes completely off the nor- mal path. What has been completely atypical is the incredible response." Typically for a $3 million campaign, the Dennis Group recommended it be over an 18 -month period. So, the school made that their goal. "However, we quickly rec- ognized the campaign was going way faster than a typi- cal campaign." Only a few months into the campaign, they were already at 60% of their goal. "It became very clear to us very early on that when peo- ple said they were support- ive of this campaign, they didn't just say they were, but they backed that up with writing cheques and making pledges." Back then, in late 2016, they knew they had an upcoming membership meeting on May 8. They made that their goal of when they would go public. That would be eight months into the campaign, a normal timeline for when to go public. The meeting came around last Monday night. The school invited members to come to the meeting for an update on the capital campaign project. However instead of just going public, they revealed that they had already raised $3.1 mil- lion dollars. As for the members' reac- tions, Geleynse said, "They were just blown away. They were in awe" "It was something we could have never imagined," said Geleynse. "We're just stunned by it. But on the other hand, we're so thankful. Our board chair, Paul Vandendool, said it well. He said, 'our humanly set goal is history."" Yet Geleynse said they are not close to being done their campaign. One of their cam- paign goals was to give eve- ryone who has been con- nected to the school over the years the opportunity to donate. They are not even close to reaching everyone at this point. Campaign chairperson Agnes Waanders said, "God's story for the capital cam- paign is not over. We will continue this campaign with the same passion that we started with." "The whole process has been about seeking God's will for the school, and bath- ing the whole campaign in prayer," said Geleynse. "What we had planned as for what the school should look like is maybe not what God has planned, and that's what we need to discern in all of this - what's the new reality for Huron Christian School?" All funds raised will still he used for the building project, but they may need to rede- fine what that will look like. They originally planned that construction would begin in 2018, and they are still projecting that date at this time. Justine Alkema/Postmedia Huron Christian School in Clinton. Conhtuted photo A projected photo of the school after the $3 million construction project. 3rIkr3tiH KekretifewittodosontA cid 1144d(cy Ccifrefr 5cr preeit Living Your Best Life a 55+ seniors' EXPO! j..d 90h re ivtvted. WHEN? Friday, June 9th from 5:30pm - 7:OOpm & Saturday, June 10th from 9:30am - 3:OOpm WHERE? At the MacKay Centre, 10 North Street, Goderich Admission is free Cali 519 440-6660 for more information. HHSeniorexpo.ca 9 � Mort MacKay Centre for Seniors tc