Pike Lumber Company - Community Involvement

Features:

• 10,500 square feet

• Banquet Room seating up to 320

• Two Smaller Conference Rooms seating 12-14

• Community Room seating up to 40

• Kitchen

• Restrooms

• Parking Space

The Akron Community Center will be located at the east edge of Pike Memorial Park, adjacent to State Road 14. This building's design reflects the architectural design of many of Akron's fine older homes. This project's estimated cost is $1.3 million. A large portion of these funds is being sought through matched grants, with the remainder being gifted through cash contributions and pledges from businesses and individuals.

Uses:

• Weddings

• Receptions

• Seminars

• Business Meetings

• Conventions

• Birthday and Anniversary Celebrations

• Graduations

• Civic and Club Gatherings

• Job / Employer Training Classes

• Educational Classes

• Social Groups

The Rochester Sentinel

Thursday, December 16, 2004

PIKE GIVES $100,000

Akron Lions get funding for community center

By Ann Allen - Correspondent, The Sentinel

PIKE DONATION On hand when Pike Lumber Co. donated $100,000 to the Akron Lions Club via Northern Indiana Community Foundation for the proposed Akron Community Center, from left – Pike president James Mulligan, retired Pike president Dean Baker, NICF head Terri Lynne Johnson, Akron Lions Club project manager John Brown, Pike secretary-treasurer Channing Utter, Fulton County Community Foundation head Teri Carr, Lions Club president George Graham and Pike vice president and head of Carbon operations Jim Steen. The Sentinel Photo / Ann Allen

Pike Lumber Co. donated $100,000 Wednesday to the Akron Lions Club through the Northern Indiana Community Foundation for the proposed Akron Community Center.

To be located in Pike Memorial Park, the popular recreation area named in honor of PLC founders, the late D.A. and Eva B. Pike, the 10,500 square-foot building will cost an estimated $1.3 million, according to John Brown, Lions Club project manager.

Plans prepared by Design Collaborative, a Fort Wayne architectural group, call for twin banquet rooms with a combined seating capacity of 320 plus two conference rooms, a kitchen, restrooms, and mechanical rooms.

“We see this building meeting community needs in a variety of ways,” Brown said.

“The design will accommodate large groups for weddings, reunions and other gatherings as well as provide separate rooms for smaller groups,” he said.

In making the gift, Channing Utter, the Pike's grandson and PLC secretary-treasurer, said, “Pike Lumber Co. feels this is a way to give back to the community for the tremendous support it has given us over the past 100 years. We hail this building as another step in ensuring that Akron remains a viable place in which to live and work during the next century. I know my father, the late Howard M. Utter, would approve since a community center was part of his long-term vision.”

In 2003, the Lions Club received $5,000 from the Fulton County Community Foundation, an NICF affiliate, to hire the architect. Earlier this month, FCCF granted the club $13,200 to promote a fund-raising campaign to match other grants, an estimated $250,000 before construction can begin. Pike's gift is 40 percent of this need.

“We intend to explore all available grant programs,” Brown said, estimating the project would take as long as three to five years.

“In the meantime, we encourage others to donate to this fund.”

NICF serves as a vehicle for accepting gifts and managing and dispersing funds.

This article appears courtesy of the Rochester Sentinel, Rochester, Indiana.