The new Seeley Lake Community Foundation building: Where collaboration happens

The snow is flying and the Seeley Lake Community Foundation is hard at work on our biggest new project, creating a community space in the former Deer Country Quilts building, along Highway 83. We're working to make this beautiful log building, in the heart of downtown Seeley Lake, into a hub for community activities and a centralized location for residents and visitors to access important services.

SLCF exists to support local nonprofit organizations, and connect and grow resources for the Seeley Lake area. What a great opportunity, then, to facilitate a beautiful, multi-functional space to enhance the quality of life and sense of community here! Our vision for this building is to create an exciting and inspiring local space where nonprofits are united to meet the common economic, social, cultural and educational needs and aspirations of Seeley Lake, Montana.

SLCF plans to occupy a portion of the building and lease out areas to other non-profits. We're looking to have Missoula Aging Services on the ADA-accessible ground floor level, helping residents successfully age in place. We're hoping to create a visitor center, staffed by the local Chamber of Commerce, promoting local businesses and helping a mainstay of our rural economy. We're in talks with other groups about how to best create a space designed to energize their projects and goals. Collaboration is important community-wide, and we're looking at how this new space can augment services provided elsewhere in town, too.

In combination with a substantial donation from Loren and Pam Rose of over half of the value of the building, SLCF purchased the property in December. Fundraising began at the 2018 SLCF banquet in August, where over 80 percent of the down payment was raised in one night by generous donors! Our goal is to raise an additional $180,000 to own the building free of debt. Join us in creating an invigorating new community space by contributing, either online at https://www.slcfmt.org/a-new-home/ or by mailing checks to SLCF (P.O. Box 25).

Although we are only an hour from Missoula, accessing the multitude of services there is challenging for many Missoula county residents here. What if more Missoula nonprofits had a hub to provide satellite services to clients in a beautiful log building in downtown Seeley Lake? What if we could bring world-class workshops, trainings and educational activities into the beautiful, open, two-story, west wing of the building? What if we fostered a space where new community dreams were born, right in the heart of downtown? The possibilities are huge for what this project could mean for this small rural town.

SLCF and tenant organizations will start moving in by May. We're hoping to hold a grand opening of the space in June. Look for more information about how local organizations might use communal space in the coming months.

We'll see you soon at the new Seeley Lake Community Foundation building: where collaboration happens.

Contact Claire Muller, SLCF Executive Director, with ideas, questions or to learn more about how to contribute or be involved: cmuller@slcfmt.org or (406) 677-3506.

 

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