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SHERIDAN – A $25,000 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority will help renovate the kitchen and restrooms at the Sheridan Community Center.
The LCRA Community Development Partnership Program grant, along with about $125,000 in matching funds from the center’s board of directors, will pay for updating the building’s electrical system, remodeling and expanding the kitchen, and rebuilding the restrooms to bring them up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Work also will include adding LED lighting and refinishing the walls and ceiling.
The facility is used by people across Colorado County and neighboring counties for a variety of events, including weddings, birthday parties, civic meetings, reunions, nonprofit fundraisers and voting, said Reggie Brisco, president of the Sheridan Community Center board of directors.
“This is really the only place we have to get together, and people use it pretty regularly,” he said, “These spaces are extremely important to us because a lot of people don’t need or can’t afford those bigger halls.”
Brisco said the center hosts many gatherings that include food, so the kitchen gets a lot of use and needs improvements to keep it in good, working condition.
“Our kitchen is 50 years old and is often not adequate to handle large events,” he said, “Expanding and upgrading the kitchen will allow us to have a safer and more efficient workflow.”
The Sheridan Community Center has been a place for residents to reserve for social gatherings for more than 50 years, but it has been serving the area’s residents for much longer.
“When our school district was consol idated with two other districts, the high school students moved to a central location and there was no longer a need in our community for one of the school buildings,” Brisco said, “Our current community center used to be the building where the high school students went for shop class, and it also served as the band hall.”
Brisco said the center is a beloved part of the community, and the improvements will encourage more people to use the center by making the restrooms accessible to everyone and creating a more appealing and functional space.
“We are modernizing the building to make it more user friendly and ADA compliant for everyone to enjoy,” he said, “This center holds a special place in our hearts because all of us on the Sheridan Community Center board of directors remember being in that building for school activities when we attended high school there, and we are pleased these renovations will help extend the life of the center for our community to enjoy for many more years.”
The community grant is one of 44 grants awarded recently through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program, which helps volunteer fire departments, local governments, emergency responders and nonprofit organizations fund capital improvement projects in LCRA’s wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves.
Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in July. More information is available at lcra.org/cdpp.
