Drawing of a renovated Hildreth House with new entrance addition at rear of building. (Drawing courtesy of LLB Architects)
Members of the committee reviewing plans for the renovation and expansion of Harvard’s senior center said this week they had begun to organize a drive to raise private funds for the project, whose total estimated cost has been reduced by $2 million since it was presented to Town Meeting two years ago.
“We have worked hard to trim costs and minimize the project’s cost on taxpayers,” Hildreth House Improvement Committee (HHIC) member Anne Taylor told the Board of Selectmen this Tuesday. But although the HHIC had not been charged to do so, she said, “the committee is well aware of the importance of private fundraising to the voters.” Taylor said that she, HHIC member Pat Jennings, and East Bare Hill resident Pat White had begun organizing a campaign that would be conducted under the umbrella of the Friends of the Council on Aging. The goal, said Taylor, will be to raise $500,000.
Reduced scope, lower cost
The appearance by Taylor and HHIC chairwoman Connie Larrabee was requested by the selectmen, who asked for a fundraising update at their last meeting on July 30 meeting. Over the past several months, HHIC has worked with the town’s architect, LLB, and volunteer professionals from town to scale back a schematic design whose cost had been estimated at $5.5 million. The latest design is roughly half the size of the original, and the cost is now estimated to be closer to $3.5 million.
“There have been tradeoffs and concessions, but we believe the revised plan will provide enough space for Council on Aging programs for the foreseeable future,” the committee wrote in its July 30 Progress Report.
The latest plan includes a smaller dining hall—reduced from 74 to 35-40 seats—an upstairs multipurpose room, a smaller terrace, and no covered drop off. While the dining room has been reduced in size, the report noted, “it would double the existing capacity.” A second major cost-saver has been the substitution of an enclosed wheelchair lift for a three-floor elevator. The committee is still “fine-tuning” kitchen layout, heating and air conditioning, and a site plan for the expanded building, which must solve the knotty problem of where to locate parking for the facility.
A $500,000 goal
On Tuesday night, Taylor told the selectmen that work to reduce the cost to taxpayers of an updated senior center would take several forms. She said HHIC and its consultants had already removed items such as furniture and appliances from the budget whose total value is an estimated $150,000. “[T]he committee has identified another $285,000 in components that could potentially appeal to donors or qualify for grants,” she said.
A first step towards further reductions will be to turn to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) for funding to replace windows, make all entrances to Hildreth House handicapped accessible, install a handicapped-accessible sink in the kitchen, and pay for the proposed wheelchair lift. The committee is also working with Energy Advisory Committee member Steve Matson to identify grants for energy improvements.
Volunteers wanted
To reach its $500,000 goal, the nascent Friends of the COA campaign needs help from someone with experience in researching and writing grant, Taylor said, as well as anyone who could help identify large donors. She said some had suggested the town reach out to people who grew up in Harvard and might want to make donations in memory of their parents or grandparent. To tap that resource, she said, the committee needs a volunteer who is experienced in social media.
The overall goal, as the charter of the HHIC reads, is to provide a center that can serve “the physical, social, and basic wellness needs of Harvard’s…senior population for the next several decades.”
Anyone who is interested in helping raise money for a full-service senior center in Harvard should contact Anne Taylor at 978-456-8866 or ataylor@charter.net.
