Imagine a 12,500 square foot Community Center on the Mountain.

Then imagine that the Hoodland Women’s Club could make it a reality.
Now, stop imagining, sit back, and watch it happen.

Ten years ago, club member Barbara Saldivar started the process of getting a
Community Center on the Mountain. Late last year, primarily through the
efforts of chair Kay Baker, the club secured a $6,000 grant to fund a project
manager’s position. Diane Lokting took over the post in February.

And look at what the Women’s Club has accomplished.

As Lokting put it: “It’s not what the classic idea is of a women’s club – a
bunch of women sitting around knitting.”

On October 18, at a study session of the Board of County Commissioners, the
Community Center project attained lift-off.

“This is going to happen,” Lokting said. “There will be bumps, but nothing will
stop this.”

Opening date is planned for April 2013.

Women’s Club members were lined up at the study session, ready to make
their pitch. At this point an ally emerged and the process picked up steam.
Commissioner Jim Bernard took charge of the session.

“It was time to get this thing done,” Bernard said. “One of the problems in
government is that it studies the hell out of things and nothing gets done –
paralysis by analysis.”

Since that session the club has secured a conditional use permit from the
county and ODOT has approved the project’s location.The center will be
located to the north of the Dorman Center on land owned by Clackamas
County Parks Department. The land will be leased to the Women’s Club at no
cost, according to Lokting, and the club will own the proposed 12,500 square
foot building.

The club is shooting for a price tag in the neighborhood of $1.65 million, and
members are already zeroing in on that nice neighborhood.

Secured funding includes: $250,000 from the parks department’s timber
trust; $250,000 from the Hoodland Library fund; $100,000 in a private
bequest through the Hoodland Senior Center; and $50,000 from the Women’s
Club.

On the radar is a pair of grant requests for the Meyer Memorial Trust
($350,000) and the Ford Family Foundation ($250,000), and more grant
writing and fundraising projects are in the works.

Plans for the center are wide-ranging, but Lokting tipped the club’s hand on
what to expect of the expansive space. The key is the Hoodland Library.
“The library’s lease expires April, 2013, (at its present site in the Hoodland
Shopping Center)” Lokting said. “The Community Center has to be ready by
then.”

Besides a 2,500 square foot library – a light-filled space specifically designed
around the needs of the library – the space will accommodate a 3,750 square
foot community room to be used for weddings, reunions, meetings, classes,
birthday parties and after-school programs.

There will be a 1,300 square foot space to be divided among four offices and a
conference room. This space will be rented to people looking for new,
efficient, green space for businesses, mental health programs and community
college classes.

A 370 square foot Senior Center – presently housed in the Dorman Center –
will be dedicated for office spaces and storage of equipment.

There will also be a commercial kitchen, a space for the Neighborhood
Missions Food Closet, an outdoor area with barbecue, tables, benches and a
gazebo for outdoor activities and parties and a 2,500 square foot space for
children’s programming.

“We also hope to attract an emergency area for the Red Cross, provide for a
domestic violence outreach program, set up a farmer’s market, and even
bring in a satellite sheriff’s office,” Lokting said. “We already have preliminary
commitments from the Domestic Violence Outreach Program and the Red
Cross.”

Construction plans are for a stick-built building which, in the present economic
climate, should bring a better price to the project.

“That plan will also open the bids for local builders that will hire local workers,
and that will lead to complete community involvement,” Bernard said.

“Anything we (county commission) can do to help local economies, we want to
do.”

Lokting pointed out that community support is needed to show major
foundations (Meyer, Ford) that the community supports the building of the
center. Pledge cards are being circulated, a fundraiser at a local restaurant is
being planned, and community based fundraisers will be launched in the near
future.

As Lokting clearly stated: “Nothing will stop us.”