MORGANTOWN — “The story of BOPARC is a good story,” Denver Allen told members of The Dominion Post Editorial Board during a recent meeting.
Now, through the creation of the BOPARC Foundation, he’s hopeful community members will take a direct role in penning future chapters of that tale.
An idea bandied about in various forms for decades, BOPARC’s nonprofit fundraising arm is now fully functional and ready to lend a hand.
The foundation will be steered by a nine-member volunteer board. Lance Rollo is its first president.
“There’s not enough money to fund all the needs, and they’re sort of having to pick and choose, and prioritize,” Rollo said. “We’re just trying to help maybe alleviate some of that.”
The foundation board will operate independent of the BOPARC Board of Directors. The funds raised can be directed to specific parks or projects by donors. Funds without such restrictions will be allocated by the foundation board based off a priority list provided by BOPARC.
Rollo said the foundation isn’t meant to replace, but supplement, existing revenue streams.
“We’re here to be a resource. The bonding dollars are there for the big projects. The budget is there for all these other things, and we’re there to help support,” he said.
BOPARC intends to use an estimated $2.2 million in the current fiscal year — its portion of the city’s sales tax revenue — primarily as bonding leverage for major projects to overhaul the Morgantown Ice Arena ($10 million) and build a new pool complex in upper Marilla Park ($7 million to $9 million). The park system also receives county levy dollars to be used solely for the ice arena project.
As for this new fundraising endeavor, Allen said the first step is all about building a base of support; a foundation, if you will.
“The beauty of this is, you know, if someone wants to come in and plop down a bunch of money, we’re ready, but we’re trying to really build this thing,” Allen said. “The pyramid starts here and goes up … This is a volume thing. It’s a grassroots effort. Every dollar counts, everybody counts.”
Even so, the foundation has set a goal of raising $100,000 in its first 90 days.
Allen said he’s banking hard on the foundation’s Alumni Fund — a fund for those whose path to success passed through BOPARC — to help get that accomplished.
He noted there’s already an effort underway to raise funds for a complete overhaul of Marilla Park’s tennis complex.
Morgantown mayor and BOPARC board president, Jenny Selin, said the foundation is a long-awaited and much-needed component of BOPARC’s future.
“You have to have a base level of support for your park system in any community and it’s important the community have the ability to donate to its parks, especially here where the parks are so important to so many people,” she said. “It’s a big step.”
For more information on the BOPARC Foundation and how you can get involved, visit theboparcfoundation.org.
