City wants help on community center grant

Coeur d’Alene wants local residents to share their ideas and questions to help the city win a $20 million Kroc grant for a community center.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council recently approved an ad hoc committee to oversee the grant request to the Salvation Army. The committee is having a public meeting Dec. 16 to give people a chance to comment before the formal grant application is complete. The deadline is Feb. 15.

The city is Idaho’s top pick to compete with applications from 12 other Western states for five to seven grants to build Kroc Centers.

McDonald’s heiress Joan B. Kroc bestowed $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army – the largest donation ever given to a charity – to build community centers modeled after the $50 million Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in San Diego.

Currently Kootenai County has no community center, public swimming pool, Boys and Girls Club center or YMCA. It also has no Salvation Army presence. Mayor Sandi Bloem said all these things should show the area’s desperate need to give people of all ages a place to gather and recreate.

The new ad hoc committee includes Bloem, former Lt. Gov. and state Sen. Jack Riggs, Jonathan Coe of the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce, Elaine Smith and city project coordinator Victoria Bruno. The committee also has four subcommittees covering strategy, site selection, programs and finance.

The committee urges interested residents to attend the 6 p.m. meeting at the Coeur d’Alene High School Commons Area. For general information, contact Bruno at 769-2204 or write Victoria@cdaid.org.

For information about potential programs or users, call Sue Thilo at 765-5691 or Steve Anthony at 769-2250. For information about pledges or endowments, call Jack Riggs at 765-3326.