Blackfoot Community Center has delinquent expenses and it wants your help staying open

BLACKFOOT — The Blackfoot Community Center is asking for organization support to support its doors open.

While nan nonprofit organization halfway has provided recreational activities astatine debased prices for 15 years, mostly acknowledgment to national grants, it’s been deed pinch unexpected costs that could unit it to close. Executive Director Ashlee Howell wants nan halfway to proceed to service nan community.

“Sometimes you scope a constituent wherever you either springiness up aliases inquire for help, and I deliberation that we’re astatine nan constituent wherever we really request to inquire for thief and put it retired to nan community,” Howell says.

Howell said nan organization halfway “has been a passion task and a labour of emotion from nan beginning.”

More than conscionable an indoor recreation space, nan organization halfway offers affordable preschool arsenic good arsenic earlier and aft schoolhouse programs. Howell said that nan authorities has notified them earlier that nan costs of nan center’s daycare is an outlier, astatine little than nan marketplace cost.

Beyond that, Howell said that nan organization halfway is simply a awesome abstraction for day parties, vendor fairs and different events.

“We emotion what we do and I cognize that we clasp a spot successful galore people’s hearts,” Howell said. “Either they’ve had their kids successful our programs aliases they themselves person been successful our programs.”

While 2024 has proved difficult for nan organization center, they had a bully twelvemonth successful 2023. Howell said they started past twelvemonth pinch a surplus.

But successful February, nan halfway was notified its costs had gone up owed to communal area attraction fees. While a information of nan $4,000 a period it pays successful rent goes towards those fees, further expenses were accrued owed to snowfall and crystal removal expenses, arsenic good arsenic parking batch and tile repairs.

The Blackfoot Community Center has received an further measure of adjacent to $10,000. In nan past, Howell has been capable to spot distant astatine expenses for illustration this, but she doesn’t callback it ever being this expensive.

Chris Langeland, nan spot head for nan Riverside Plaza wherever nan organization halfway is located, said nan nonprofit was now much delinquent connected expenses than it’s ever been. It had 30 days to salary disconnected nan attraction fees earlier it entered delinquency.

When nan spot owners didn’t perceive backmost from nan organization center, issuing a 3 time salary aliases vacate announcement entered nan conversation. The spot owners haven’t done that yet, but Langeland said he and Howell person discussed options. She hasn’t presented nan spot owners pinch an charismatic plan.

Langeland explained that if nan halfway is issued a salary aliases vacate notice, it doesn’t needfully mean that it has 3 days earlier it’s evicted.

“It intends that we’re putting her connected announcement that if she does not salary wrong 3 days, we reserve nan correct to vacate her,” Langeland said.

The spot owners don’t meet until May 21, truthful they’re not apt to return immoderate charismatic action earlier then. Langeland says they don’t want to spot nan organization halfway close.

“They want to activity pinch nan tenants to beryllium successful and fig this retired complete nan agelong run,” Langeland said.

The organization halfway has submitted astir six assistance applications to different section businesses, and members of nan organization tin thief them person those if they email letters of support aliases time off them a Google review.

“Those kinds of letters of support are highly important to show nan effect that we make successful this organization and that it is simply a valuable asset,” Howell said.

People tin besides spell to nan organization halfway for its events, for illustration DJ Dance Nights each Friday from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Anyone who would for illustration to sponsor an arena aliases make a aid tin interaction nan organization halfway astatine (208) 785-8022.