Skate Ignatius gets $100K from anonymous donor

ST. IGNATIUS — Skate Ignatius project coordinators have made it big and clear that they need donations by hanging a sign in downtown Mission, asking people to “help build the skate park,” and that park came a huge step closer to reality with an anonymous $100,000 donation last week.

“I never imagined that something like this was going to fall into our lap,” said project coordinator Kristie Nerby. “Now, we only need $36,000 more to fund the first phase of the project. If we can get that then we can start construction soon.”

The sign was put up earlier this month, and should help with fundraising efforts, Nerby said.

“We are trying to raise awareness about the project so that people will know that we are serious,” Nerby said. “And we want to get the community around this project.”

And the community has apparently responded. Even before the large donation was made, Nerby was able to secure cash pledges and in-kind material donations that totaled $48,000.

“Everybody has been phenomenal lately. I would have never believed that we could get this close to phase one so soon,” she said.

On the recently erected sign, a skateboard shaped logo tracks the amount of donations coming in to the project to let people know how close the group is to getting enough money to begin construction on the skate park.

“It's moving faster than I thought it would,” Nerby said.

Ben Ferencz donated his skills as a graphic artist to design the sign and put it together.

“We got the plastics for the sign at a deal from 21st Century Plastics. Then, I put the design on, in house,” he said.

Ferencz has a personal interest in the project.

“I have a daughter [not yet a year old] and if she wants to skate someday I want her to have a place to do it,” he said.

Once put together, each of the four Dibond aluminum plastic sections of the sign measure out to be 16 feet long by eight feet wide.

“Everything went together pretty fast,” he said.

City council chairman Marine Johnson showed up to see the sign and lend her support to the project.

“The council has been there to help through the approval processes that they have had to go through before they can begin building. Also at Taelman Park, [the future location of the skate park] we are working on the development of a playground,” she said.

Doug Martin also on the Parks Advisory Board helped put up the sign.

“This is a great project,” he commented.

Kenan Nerby, local skateboarder, took the day off from high school to help out. He has continuously helped Kristie Nerby, his mom, with fund raising events.

“I helped sell raffle tickets and other stuff,” he said. “Because, we need it [the park] to go in, soon.”

Local Jim Thornton can recall “the good times” when he was a skater with the Pepsi Club skating group in California, and today, he still supports skating as one of the first 400 Club members — a club designed to help raise funds to build the park.

“The times I was roller skating were the most fun in my life. I look back on that and realize that it helped mold my life. In the 60s and 70s, skating gave me direction. Skating can keep kids out of trouble,” he said.

And Thornton, too, has a personal interest in the skate park.

“As soon as the park is in, I'll be skating,” he said. “People think that kids will smoke dope [at the park] but I'll be there to keep them in line. And I'm a doctor and an EMT so that should help.”

Skate Ignatius Project organizers will be at the Polson Trade Fair on Saturday, April 28th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organizers will be selling merchandise and accepting donations to help build the park. Miss Montana 2007 Stephanie Trudeau will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to sign autographs and help support her hometown project. For more information, folks can call Nerby at 745-4888, or send a donation to: PO Box 254, St. Ignatius, MT 59865. Make checks payable to the Lake County Community Development Foundation.