UPDATE: Larry Sanford told The Dispatch earlier this week that the design plans for the new Don Christopher Sports Complex at Christopher High School have been approved by the Department of the State Architect. The committee will meet Oct. 23 to begin developing the bidding process for contracts and hope to break ground at the site in early 2014.
Members of the Don Christopher Sports Complex Committee have been revving up fundraising efforts to secure the final $300,000 of the $2.6 million needed to begin the first phase of construction of the new high school athletic facility on the northwest Gilroy campus.
“The focus right now is to see how much we can raise to finish off Phase I,” said Committee Chair Larry Sanford.
He hopes that fundraising through the Legacy Club (created to aid the fundraising effort for the complex) and an email fundraising campaign will “help us fill the gaps,” Sanford said.
The total project cost of $4.25 million – which will be broken into two phases – was jump-started by $2.2 million in donations from the school’s namesake and local garlic entrepreneur Don Christopher, along with his wife, Karen.
“He’s probably the most generous guy I’ve seen in my life,” said Sanford of Christopher.
Don Christopher’s son, Bill Christopher – who heads up operations at Christopher Ranch – donated $80,000 for the new video scoreboard inside the stadium.
The Legacy Club, which will be limited to the first 100 families, has already raised $50,000 with 25 donors signing up at $2,000 a pop, according to Sanford. Legacy club donors are given lifetime entrance to all home games and will have the family name engraved in the home bleachers once they are constructed, or on a plaque or board at the entrance to the stadium.
The Exclusive Sports Complex fundraising campaign, an all-email based effort driven by CHS high school administration, faculty, staff and students, also kicked off in mid-September and runs until mid-October. Proceeds from that campaign have not been tabulated yet.
Legacy Club purchases and other donations can be made by visiting dcsportscomplex.org.
The first phase – which Sanford hopes to be completed by Aug. 4 before the start of the 2014-15 football season – includes the foundation of an all-weather track, an artificial turf football field, scoreboard, lights, temporary bleachers and the perimeter fence.
Sanford said the finishing surface of the track might be delayed until Phase II. The committee is short by about $375,000 until additional funding comes in, and they decided to prioritize the lights so the facility can be used “morning until night.”
The design plans were submitted to the Division of the State Architect in late June and the committee is expecting approval sometime this month, according to Sanford. This will allow the committee to begin the public bidding process and then break ground in February or March.
“We’re all very committed to get this done for all the kids at Christopher High School,” Sanford said. “This will be the largest classroom on campus. We continue to persevere to raise as much money as we can to get this thing done.”
The timeline for Phase II, which includes permanent home and visitor side bleachers, a press box and concession stands, has yet to be finalized but the fundraising will continue, Sanford said.
