And if the Rotary Club of Mill Valley is successful in its latest attempt to raise enough money to pay for the work – a “Raise the Roof” fundraiser at the Outdoor Art Club is set for June 13 – one of Mill Valley’s landmark buildings will get the love it needs.
“If all goes well, we hope to have a shovel in the ground in August or September,” said Sue Moxon, who has overseen the 8-year-old effort to raise the money needed to overhaul the building at 177 E. Blithedale Ave. Moxon sits on the board of nonprofit Mill Valley Scout Hall Inc., which owns Scout Hall.
The hall, which served as a saloon, a livery stable and a laundry drying shack in the early 1900s, is heavily used by a host of local groups beyond the scouts (and isn’t affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America), serving as the lone dedicated youth center in Southern Marin since 1919, Moxon said. It also housed the offices of the Mountain Play Association for many years before the organization that puts on the outdoor theater production on Mount Tam each year moved to San Rafael in late 2013.
The Raise the Roof event features dinner from Insalata’s in San Anselmo and a live auction with vacation rentals from Lake Tahoe to Ireland, a bevy of great wines and restaurant gift certificates.
The project initially had a $1.2 million target but has been scaled back a bit, Moxon said. The organization has scrapped a plan to open up the ceiling and install a skylight due to prohibitive costs and the structural work that would have resulted.
But the new iteration of the project still includes a massive amount of work, including a new roof, a remodel of the bathrooms to make them larger and ADA compliant, a remodel of the kitchen, new front and rear doors, new hardwood floors, ADA-compliant front and rear entrances, the installation of a wheelchair lift, new plumbing and electrical systems, new paint throughout and an alarm system.
The campaign has raised around $570,000 to date, mostly through more than 400 individual donations. It got a major boost when an anonymous donor awarded Scout Hall a $240,000 matching-funds grant and the fundraising effort was able to match it. In addition to the cash donations, they’ve received approximately $120,000 in in-kind donations, including a new roof cover from McLeran Roofing.
For Moxon, the Scout Hall renovations can’t come soon enough. While the remains a hub of local activities, Scout Hall plays a vital role for local youth groups. And the American Red Cross has designated Scout Hall as an emergency shelter once the renovations are finished, a role it played during the disastrous fire on Mount Tam in July 1929.
“This place is a Mill Valley landmark, and we’re making a community-wide appeal to help us restore it,” Moxon said.
The 411: Click here for more info and to buy tickets to the Rotary Club of Mill Valley’s “Raise the Roof” fundraiser at the Outdoor Art Club on June 13.
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