Dayton Youth Facility to Open in Sept.

DAYTON--"Yes, that is our bowling alley," said Dan Butler showing the County Commissioners the architectural drawings for the new Boys and Girls Club in Dayton, at the Feb. 6 commissioners' meeting.

Butler and his wife, Ginny, bought the former bowling alley on W. Cameron St., in Dayton, last May. Construction on the Boys and Girls Club is due to begin this month, and the facility will be open for business on Sept. 4, said Ginny Butler.

She said the Wolfe Architectural Group in Spokane donated $15,000 for the building design. Donations are coming from a variety of sources, she said.

Cathy Lee and Michael Haight, of Dayton, have donated $10,000. $2,000 was donated for surveying the property, and the security system will be donated by the president of the Spokane Boys and Girls Club, who owns a security business.

$2500 for kitchen upgrades has been raised through local fundraising efforts. An $18,000 grant from the Wildhorse Foundation will be used for the auxiliary heating system. The Exchange Club of Walla Walla has donated $500, and Dayton Kiwanis has donated another $500. There are other individual donations totaling $5,000., and there are roughly eight grant applications to various other organizations, still pending.

Ginny Butler said half of the money from the $150,000 endowment that has been set up in the Blue Mountain Community Foundation will be spent on renovations. The other half is coming from grants from Umpqua bank, the Inland Northwest Foundation, and State Farm Insurance.

"After that we will have this building for $50 per square foot," Butler said. "You can't build a garden shed for $50 a square foot."

Contact Ginny Butler at: ginb@mac.com for information about how to donate to the Dayton Boys and Girls Club.