Riverbender.comCommunity Center

Events YOU Don't Want to Miss

2010-11-16T13:10:00.003-06:00

We have some exciting events planned in the near future...

11/17: Teen Advisory Meeting 7-8:30pm - Any Teen in 8th-12th who is interested in planning the events at the Center is invited to come to the meeting and be part of the team.

11/17: Line Dancing for adults 7-9pm $5pp

11/18: Adult Advisory Meeting 7-8pm - Any Adult interested in planning and participating in the events and programs at the Center and or joining any other committees we have set up to operate the center is invited to come to the meeting and be part of the team.

11/19: OPEN HOUSE on Friday November 19 from 7-9 pm - Fun for the whole family - Santa will be at the Center to read stories, and hot cocoa and cookies will be served. All the Center games and amenities will be available for all guests to play. This is a great opportunity for parents to see what goes on at the Center.

11/20: Robotix Club is going on a Field Trip to MO on Saturday. Let us know if you are interested in joining this club. Open to teens 11-18

11/27: Green Gift Bazaar 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Buy your friends & family a gift this holiday season that is locally made and eco-friendly! No entry fee to shop. Kids make a FREE take-home Holiday Nature Craft.

To see all events view our: Complete Calendar

November Dance ~ Open Mic Night

2010-11-16T12:28:00.013-06:00

Was a Success!

The Underground stage was booming with bands and budding artists of all ages all evening long.

The River Bend Community certainly boasts musical talent! It sure was fun to have some of them converge on the Community Center Stage.

And some teens mingled around, played the video games, billiards and other games too. Did you know we now offer even more game systems like Xbox Kinect and Play Station Move?

The Main dancefloor and DJ was hopping as well.

If you have heard of the Center but haven't made it by, it is time you came to a dance and joined in the fun. Make sure to bring your friends with ~ unless you just like making them jealous!

BOO! Halloween is coming!

2010-10-20T12:22:00.003-05:00

The Riverbender.com Community Center wants to invite you to a couple of our Halloween events!

On Friday October 22 (Yes 2 days away), we will be holding our first ever Halloween Dance Party! We will have costume contests and activities. The center will be open to all attendees. The middle school times are 6-8:30 pm and the high school times are 9-11:30 pm. It will be frightfully fun!

And for FAMILIES! We have a family Halloween Party for all before the parade on October 30 from 5-8:30. Now children of all ages can enjoy the fun and games of the Center. Remember families that play together stay together! After you play, just walk down the block to see the parade. Homemade chili & chili dogs will be available for purchase.

Back to work on the Center

2010-10-20T12:06:00.003-05:00

We have come a long way in the past few months setting up committees, events and programming as well as adding games and features to the center.

In April we opened our cafe and have hosted several events including MCHS After Prom, a Spaghetti Dinner, an Annual Corporate event and had the Cafe open for many dances that we have held over the past few months.

During the summer we held events like theater camp, chess club and even a jazz concert and Back to School Bash. All have been very well received and provided much entertainment for young and old alike.

Our membership drive in September was a huge success. Members will have lower entrance fees and be invited to exclusive events. Consider becoming a member today.

The Center is developing programs that teach good financial practices and healthy lifestyles and a Student Film Festival is planned. We are starting to offer clubs like Junior Achievement and Robotix, and Mock Trial Team, and an Investment Club where students can try to outsmart the stock market and each other!

Our main events are our monthly "dances". You can see on the calendar all the dates set up to hold dances. All the amenities of the center are available during the dances, so if you're not up for dancing, there are lots of other activities.

Isn't it time you came by and checked it out??!!!

Back to the Blog

2010-10-20T11:58:00.002-05:00

Well what happens when you decide to try to win a grant from Pepsi??? Your life becomes consumed with voting and promoting. No time for blogging. So we are very far behind here. We voted throughout the months of March April and May. We did very well, as we ended up in 4th place each time competing against projects from across the country, some nationwide and many from communities much larger than ours.

We decided to pull our entry from the running and focus our efforts on the center and other means of financial support.

We thank all of you for your support during that voting period. We saw what this small town could do if they put their minds toward it. The Alton Park and Rec, Alton High School and Sts. Peter and Paul School did win their grants.

We will try again in the coming months and will ask for your support again. We can do it if we try! For now, back to work on the center!

2010-03-01T08:51:00.002-06:00

VOTE NOW to bring $250,000 to ALTON!!!

http://www.refresheverything.com/RiverBenderCommunityCenter

It has come to our attention that some of you still don't know what the Teen Center is all about! READ ON>>>>

The Teen center is for High School and Middle School students who want a fun place to hang out! So far here is what is what we are planning to offer:

• A Main Stage for bands to perform or DJjs to MC
• Wood dance floor - very upscale - no vinyl here!
• A Movie Theater - yes the only one in Alton• Gaming Stations - Wii, XBox and PlayStation3 all projected life size on the wall!
• Pinball, Foosball, Pop-a-Shot and ping pong
• 2 Brand new billiards tables
• The Underground - another stage which will be stocked with instruments and electronics so your band can rehearse, have a jam session for friends or even record a CD! This is also a great performing arts space.
• The Art Space - for the creative minded
• A Lounge / Teen Library for quieter time - TV, Books, Magazines, Computer stations, Board games, etc.
• Internet Cafe - surf the web while you wait for your food!

This is a beautiful, state of the art facility. No detail has been left out. No corners have been cut. The community wants to give this to you - that is why they are donating equipment and construction material, furnishings and labor. Spread the word and make sure you and all your friends vote every day. It's important. $250,000 important!

Looking Good!

2010-02-25T11:54:00.018-06:00

There is more progress on The Center each day.

Just hours after the the last meeting we posted, John and his Dad left for Atlanta to pick up restaurant booths for the cafe. "Why Atlanta?" you ask. The answer is simple and explains a lot about our operations. It was the best deal we could find. (in the entire nation!)

Very much research is done to be sure we have found the most value for our money ~ that doesn't always mean the cheapest ~ this will be a quality environment ~ upscale even. All donations to the center will be spent very wisely. And in fact, to date not very much has been spent with all the non-cash donations that have come in.

CARPET in the movie Theater!

This is such wonderful news ~ finish work in some of the areas has begun! A HUGE thank you to Ed Agles for donating the carpet for this room (and others) and Brian Scheffel from Straight Arrow Flooring and Kevin Neely from Direct Floors for personally installing the carpet at no charge! I'm telling ya ~ the community is really coming together to make this happen.

UPDATE: In a prior post we noted that Alton Refrigeration was going to donate the electronics for the Movie Theater ~ This has changed. They are going to furnish the Theater with the seating and tables! And Liberty Bank has presented a cash donation that will be used to cover the costs of the Theater sound system!

WHAT ELSE?

Here is some very nice furniture that was donated by Alton Refrigeration.

Here is some equipment that was donated:

The Gaming Stations were bought with a cash donation from Alton Memorial ~ notice the Wii FIT!!!

Richard Baird and his wife, Theresa O'Connor fixed up our glass displays to show off our shining stars of The Center ~ our sponsors who have made many many donations ~

If this doesn't say SHOP LOCAL ~ I don't know what does!!!!

Team Depot ~ Building CommUnity!

2010-02-20T12:36:00.011-06:00

Our sincere appreciation to Team Depot! They have been painting since 9:30 am in the Underground Music Room, the Art Space and the hallways.

How wonderful of them to volunteer their time for our Center!

It may look quite garish but this green is the perfect shade for our green screen! When bands play for a video camera we can add any background ~ they can have a concert at Madison Square Garden, Gordon Moore Park or even under the sea!

Six volunteers came in to help out.

GO TEAM DEPOT!

My only question is how can they paint all of that and not be covered in paint!?!? Nice Job ALL!

More Construction ~ More Donations!

2010-02-18T20:28:00.013-06:00

Well here's the update ~ 2 weeks later! The whole community keeps rallying around the Community Center!

The pool tables came in ~ Aren't they gorgeous? Thanks Atlantis Pools!

Workers come in every day finishing drywall, installing can light fixtures, measuring for carpet, tearing out unused equipment, more security cameras (thanks Ron!), painting and building shelves. We're trying hard to compile the number of hours put in by volunteers ~ and it's hard because we haven't kept good records ~ but we have this blog and FB and some notes on paper ~ But between all the volunteers' hours over the last 3 months there are hundreds.

[pic: Ron & Angie]

We received our largest Cash donation to date from Liberty Bank tonight at our Open House Meeting. They are very generous ~ and we promised them that the money would be used very wisely as we are such penny pinchers! We want the best for the kids !~ but we are committed to finding the best deal so the money goes a long way.

BIG meeting tonight was a success. We had a great turnout. We gave tours, Caitlyn brought goodies again ~ 4 pans of cakes and brownies ~ ok her Mom, Misty, did the cooking this time! ~ and we talked about the grants Pepsi is giving out over the next 20 months. We encouraged everyone to sign up and vote!

YOU also need to vote for the Alton Ideas in the Pepsi Refresh Project EVERY DAY. They will improve the Rock Springs Park Tennis Court & the AHS Tennis Court. We need everyone's help to support projects that IMPROVE OUR COMMUNITY! It's so easy ~ just log in and press the vote button ~ Takes MUCH less time than Facebook! ;)

Find the links to help Alton Park & Rec & Alton High at http://Riverbender.com/VOTE

January Work - ROLLING!

2010-01-28T09:53:00.017-06:00

January was a busy month at the center. The progress is motivating. Every weekend the center was filled with volunteers working on various projects.

This is Arcade Alley:

It was formerly 3 or 4 offices and a hallway. Office walls were torn down, built in cabinets were pulled out, lights were rewired to be on new circuits, walls were re-drywalled, taped and mudded and painted! New drop ceiling was put in - all with materials from the old ceiling. 3 projectors were mounted into ceiling and project life-size games on the new white walls - as you can see in the picture. There is an xbox, wii and Play Station 3. Just a little carpet and trim-work and this room is ready to go.

Wishlist includes cabinets to house gaming stations, couches and coffee tables. Work on this room was done by: Dave Worley, Jerry Mueller, David, Zach and Ben Moehn, Fred Hentrich, Mike, Steven & Thomas Hentrich, Susie Trefny, Andy Hentrich, Sandy Witt, Thomas Sillivan, Matt Wuellner, Wendy, Logan and Morgan Wickenhauser & Ron Tanner. Even Nicholas and Sammy helped out!

The Movie Theater:

This area was also made up of several offices that were torn out. The stadium seating is built and finish work is being done on the walls by volunteers. Hopefully it will be ready for paint in a couple days. Thanks to H2K and Al Manring for their work on this room. Then it will need carpet and finish work. The electronics for the theater are being donated by Alton Refrigeration - they have been so generous in this project. Here are the sample couches they are donating for the theater:

The Dancefloor is complete and the wood floor was donated by Direct Floors. The Main Stage and back wall was built by Jun Construction. It all looks great!

The Old Main Lobby has gone through a major change.
You can see the teller walls have been removed. The marble was used to fill in the columns and the carpet was filled in to match the rest. This is the area where the new pool tables will be going. They will be in tomorrow! They were also generously donated by Atlantis Pools!

Next up The Underground! This is the band room where teens practice without driving their parents crazy! This will be a practice room and also a performance room. For bands wanting to do a set for friends or for the other teens, there will be plenty of space to fill with couches to hang out on. Instruments and amplifiers and electronics all donated by Halpin Music will be available so you don't have to drag your gear over to play. There will be recording equipment for creating your own Cds. This space can also be used for small scale theater performances.

Thanks to our helpers on this room who had to do some demolition, build the stage, and wiring: Dave Worley, Jerry Mueller (got his 10 foot stage!), Byron Birkner, John Hentrich, and Richard Baird.

The Art Room. This room will be a work of art! Right now it is a blank canvas but the palatte is full of color! Sara McGibony has assembled a group working on creating this space. If you are artistic and would like to help with setting up this room, design, materials donations, program ideas, etc., let us know. We are looking for a volunteer to be an ongoing Arts Program Manager.

This is truly going to be a one of a kind place here in Alton. Thanks for all your support!

Be our friend and get more frequent updates! facebook.com/riverbendercommunitycenter

Arcade Alley Work

2009-12-28T12:15:00.008-06:00

Merry Christmas to Everyone and Happy New Year too! 2010 will be the year of the New Community Center!

This week has been a busy time for working on the building. 3 offices were torn out to create what will become "Arcade Alley" which will feature 4 gaming stations each with its own projector screen for large format viewing. The space is nice and open now.

We already hosted a Birthday Party at the center ~ Future Teens!

A Week of Meetings

2009-12-19T17:40:00.002-06:00

This past week was the 3rd week of the month which means - Meeting week! Tuesday we met with the teens who are very excited to have their first activity in the center - a Trivia Night sometime in January (hopefully!)

The Adult meeting on Thursday also went very well. We outlined some of the Committees that are necessary and determined who would be the best fit to chair each. New faces show up at each meeting which is so wonderful. It is great to hear different ideas and opinions. We have a smart group of people working on this project.

We are working on all kinds of plans for the center including security, volunteer management, cafe design/menu/health code regs, code of conduct, rules & procedures, risk management, budget, findraising and more... Lots to do for sure!

Today was a work day, and the old bank office walls were torn out to create Arcade Alley. One nice glass wall was removed and now is enclosing the back of the theater ~ it looks very nice. The theater stadium levels are finished. And the wooden dance floor was installed today as well by Brian and John from Straight Arrow Flooring Installation ~ Thank you guys for working on your Saturday! Lots of help from David, Zach & Ben Moehn, Susie Trefny, Fred Hentrich, Thomas Sillivan, Matt Wuellner, Emily, and Sue & Jerry Mueller.

Fred has worked every day last week patching where we removed 2 walls to expand the internet cafe last weekend. He does so much for us!

The Meetings, Planning and Construction Go On

2009-12-05T10:21:00.015-06:00

In the main floor area the third teller partition has been removed and so has the wall where the security check in will be. The marble on the pillars will be replaced this weekend. We hope to have Carpet patched in this week.

The wood flooring for the dance floor has been delivered. It was donated by Direct Floors. A big thanks to all those companies for their support. And thanks again to our demolition help: Chris Norton, Thomas Hentrich, David Worley, Don Henkhaus, Fred Hentrich, Mike Hentrich, Susie Trefny & Al Manring.

H2K continues to work on the theater! Office walls were removed and new drywall is going up where the movie screen will be. And Jen Mechanical reworked the ductwork for that room as well. TK Carpet has agreed to do the carpet in the movie theater. We really appreciate everyone's help! It is all coming together!

The Teen Committee met this week on Tuesday. We had a much smaller group due to it being a very busy night for HS sports. They all came up with lots of ideas for projects and activities they could do themselves to raise funds for the center. They are also compiling playlists for Dj dance music and other ambient music playing throughout the center. Please contact us if you are interested in helping out!

The Adult Committee also met this week. Many issues were discussed about the center. Members are going to add to the Wish List any equipment we think is necessary as well as any potential donors. Several people will be working on the bylaws and Teen Center Membership Rules and Procedures so we can continue to move forward in this process.

We will be hosting an afterprom in April. So we have a hard deadline to meet to have the Center in shape!

Tony Hawk Skateboard Game Winner!

2009-12-01T12:11:00.000-06:00

Brayden was one of the winners of the Tony Hawk Giveaway at the Open House! Here he is playing it!

Our 2nd winner was Michael. Here he is watching another teen do a card trick!

Congratulations to both our winners!! Thanks to all for participating in the raffle. We were able to raise enough money to giveaway two instead of just one as originally planned!

Great Progress on the Teller Partitions!

2009-11-28T07:45:00.004-06:00

It was another great day at the community center yesterday! Thanks to everyone who helped out (Dad, Al,Sister Susie, Chris Norton,Joey and Ashley, and earlier in the week Uncle Larry Maher) As you can see we removed two of the three of the three teller partition walls which included cabinets, marble, countertops, block walls, and wiring. Hopefully today (Saturday) we will finish up the remaining partition and begin to clean things up. Depending on the help that shows up we might get a chance to start in on the wall near the security check-in that needs to get removed.

For those of you that are not familiar with the plan... These partitions need to come out to make the 1st floor look more open and to give easy access to the pool tables and foseball tables. For more info check out our floor plans on the website.

Open House

2009-11-22T19:39:00.011-06:00

We decided to hold our Open House on Friday November 20th because we knew Downtown Alton would be bustling with people for the Taste of Alton and the lighting of the Christmas Tree. So we rallied our troops to pull off a last minute event.

We thought it would be a nice opportunity to introduce the greater community to our project. A chance for them to take a tour of the building as it sits – basically pre-construction, looking much like a bank and office space. A night to experience a glimpse of the fun to be had, and in the end to realize how much of a transformation this project is going to be.

Signs were made to guide the visitors through the three floors and explain what was in the works – which spaces would house which activities and which sponsors were making each area possible.

Even though the main area of the Community Center will eventually be a dance floor and stage for bands or DJs, we filled it with gaming stations: Pop-a-Shot, Darts, Wiis, Xbox, Playstation 3, Foosball, ping pong, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk skateboard and more! Special thanks to Alton Memorial Hospital for making such a generous donation of all the video game consoles. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the games and activities!

The event was a success with about 300 people showing up for a tour or to just browse and play games with other youths and their parents. It was a perfectly wonderful family atmosphere.

The Center raffled off 2 Tony Hawk skateboard games for Wii and Xbox - our winners were Brayden Favilla and Michael Crain. Our raffle, 50/50 and sales of soda and hot cocoa made enough to cover the raffle prizes.

We were all quite happy with the turnout at the Open House. We were able to inform more people about the Center than we have been able to through word of mouth and the website content we try to push.

Please help us continue to spread the word on this Center – If we can gather more interest and support the community can develop the Center into one of the best alternatives for our local teens to spend their free time.

Moving Along ... The Teens Join in!

2009-11-17T08:01:00.003-06:00

Last week we had a meeting with the Adult Advisory Board to get to know each other, tour the facilities and have a discussion about each person's hopes and dreams are for the center. The week before we held a similar meeting with the Board of Directors. Both went very well and further elevated the group's excitement.

Between the two groups we have assembled an amazing selection of people with exceptional qualifications. The future for this Teen Center is looking quite bright!

Tonight we hold our last Initial Meeting. We have yet another capable and energetic team forming. This group, The Teen Advisory Board, enlists the Teens themselves. They are going to have complete ownership in this process. It is their center, and they will be making all sorts of decisions from what activities will be offered to creating center policies. Oh and there will be plenty of hands-on work for everyone as well!

The Teens will work in tandem with the Adult Advisory Board who will offer their support and guidance through the process of building the historic bank into the Teen Center.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in such a project. We are honored to be working with some of Alton's best and brightest. Our teens are our future adults. It is good to see the willingness on their part to be involved and take responsibility to create this one-of-a-kind center.

Send in the Teens!!!! Can't wait to see everyone tonight!

Construction on Movie Theater Begins!

2009-11-04T22:43:00.004-06:00

Tonight was an exciting night as we began construction for the new 30 to 50 seat movie theater on the first floor of the teen center. Big thanks to H2K construction for donating their labor on this project! Hank Hart, Mark Elloitt, Eric Zipprich, and Tim Kane wasted no time as they swung into action about 3:30 today tearing out doors, desks, cabinets, windows and ceilings. If all goes well they'll be back at tomorrow to finish tearing down the remaining walls and ceiling. I need to also give a little kudos to my parents, sister Susie, wife Dawn, and kids for their help as well for carrying out materials and cleaning up the mess.

Speaking of construction I need to mention that last Friday we got a step closer in the lower level with our Band room and our Art room. I didn't get the time to blog about it but we had a nice little crew working to clean up that mess down there and to prepare for the construction of a new stage in a room that might eventually be called the "Underground" This will be a place for band members to practice or play for friends in a comfortable setting "down under" Big thanks to the work crew that consisted of Richard Baird, Brian Gebben, Ashley Hentrich, Kaitlin Keenan, Smantha Horstman, and Stacey Worley, Megan Flatt, and Angie

Bringing you up to speed

2009-10-18T11:37:00.006-05:00

Since my blog started a bit after the project started I thought it might be important to jump back a little in time and bring you up to speed on a few things....

First and foremost I want to thank our initial group of sponsors!!! As soon as our offer on the building was accepted I had about a week to talk to a few businesses to see how they could help us get started. The response and enthusiasm for the project was overwhelming!

Have a look at what has been commited already!!!

Alton Memorial Hospital - Nintendo Wii Fit Arcade Game and Equipment
Atlantis Pools and Spas - Pool Tables and possible Foosball Table
Direct Floors - Labor and materials for oak dance floor on the main level
H2K Construction - Labor for 30 person home style movie theater with raised seating
Thomas Fahnestock, CPA -Incorporation of the new non-profit Community Center
Scheffel & Company - Consulting & labor to file for 501c3 tax exempt & charitable status

We have a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of us but if everyone in the communtiy is as giving and generous as the above group of initial sponsors we are going to have one of the best community centers in the nation.

We will be working on a wish list in the next week or two but if you can think of ways that you would like to contribute or if you know of others who are in a good position to help please spread the word and help us keep this project moving forward!

There are plenty of other things to talk about to bring you up to speed but I need to quit blogging for the moment and head back down to the center to get ready for some of our inital meetings. Check back soon for more details...

Riverbender.com settles into new offices at the Community Center

2009-10-18T10:13:00.004-05:00

Well things have been a little quiet on the Community Center front in the past week or two because we have been very busy working on getting our offices settled into the new building. Most people wouldn't know it but we didn't actually close on the building until this past Tuesday October 13th. Fortunately, prior to our closing, we were able to hang some temporary signs, do a lot of planning, and really get the ball rolling on the community center.

If you haven't bought a old 7 story building or moved your offices in a while there is more there than meets the eye. I knew it was going to be a lot of work but you tend to forget about all the little details that really eat up your time. In the past week or two we have bought and installed a new phone system, setup our wired and wireless network, configured Internet connectivity, and moved a lot of heavy furniture and office equipment. We've also shopped for insurance, negotiated our janitorial services, done a lot of paperwork, and on and on and on.

Without boring you with too many details I just wanted to say....

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! We've bought the building and Riverbender.com has moved in !!!

Now we can get back to work :-)

Open Invitation

2009-10-06T01:41:00.004-05:00

Consider this your open invitation! Anytime you would like a tour of building (and the Vault) please give me a call at 618-465-9850 x 226 or shoot an email to john@riverbender.com . We have not closed on the building yet but I do have a set of keys and the combination to the vault :-) There will be an open house / kickoff meeting soon after we close on the building (closing has been rescheduled for Oct. 13th)

If you would like an invite to the open house and kickoff meeting please join our mailing list

First of Many Posts (I hope)

2009-10-06T01:01:00.000-05:00

Well I'm really not much of a writer but figured a blog might be the best way to keep everyone up to date with what is going on with the community center project. Since this is my first attempt at blogging I don't want to make too many promises as to how frequently or how long I will keep up with this blog. For most of you that know me well, you know that I have a pretty difficult time just keeping up with email and phone calls. As time progresses I would like others to join in on this communication. For now please comment as much as possible to help keep us moving forward!

I am very excited about this project and so I want to do everything I can to get things off to a good start. I believe Communication and Community Involvement are going to be the two key factors in our success so here goes....

1) Keep an eye on this blog
2) Keep an eye on our website (http://www.riverbender.com/communitycenter)
3) Join our mailing list (http://www.riverbender.com/communitycenter/mailing_list.cfm)
4) Please Help in every way you possibly can! (our kids and our community need this center!!)

More info to follow very soon...