Last month, an anonymous donor contributed $100,000 towards the academy’s restoration. That gift was added to $50,000 previously given to the Oneida Stake Academy Foundation, and the first match was made.

Following that, another anonymous gift of stone, valued at $158,00 was made to the OSAF, making it possible for the OSAF to request the second $50,000 of the grant from the Murdock Trust.

Those requests have been honored and the Murdock Trust recently sent $100,000 to the OSAF. The funds will be used to pay engineers and craftsmen who are now designing a new stone façade to be placed where the building’s original front façade fell out during an earthquake in the 1960s. Work on the roof is also being completed.

Saundra Hubbard is the Fund-raising Committee Chairman for the Oneida Stake Academy Foundation.  -Photo courtesy of Preston City.

Working with OSAF Fund-raising Chairman, Saundra Hubbard, the OSAF board is confident that as the public joins with them, the match for the final $50,000 will be met before their November 2011 deadline.

            “When we initially sought funds to move the academy building to Benson Park, so many people gave what they could that Congressman Mike Simpson was persuaded to seek public funding for the move. Those small, individual donations added up to just over $100,000 back then,” said OSAF Executive Director, Elliott Larsen.

            “Furthermore, when the building was originally constructed, all funds needed came from individuals willing to participate in this important venture, giving what they could. That is one of the reasons the building is so important to their descendants,” said OSAF chairman, Nathan Hale. It was his great-grandfather, Solomon Hale, who superintended raising the funds for the academy’s original construction.

            “We believe that working together brings about the best results,” said Hubbard. A simple formula for raising $175,000 is to have 100 people willing to give $100, 100 people willing to give $250 and 100 people to give $500.

            “As we work with sponsors capable of helping with the restoration in a much larger way, they are always interested in knowing what kind of local community support there is. This is a good way to show it,” said Hubbard.
 
All donations to the restoration of the Oneida Stake Academy Foundation (OSAF) are tax-deductible, as the OSAF is a non-profit foundation. Donations may be sent to the OSAF at P.O. Box 555, Preston, Idaho 83263. 

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