Looking Good!

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!