Canfield Nest Builders needs support

By ELISE FRANCO

efranco@vindy.com

Members of the Canfield Nest Builders need widespread community support to continue with their mission.

The nonprofit group, which was founded in 2006, continues to work to raise money for renovation and construction projects to enhance the Canfield School District athletic programs, said Mark Sabol, the group’s vice president of fundraising.

Sabol said the group has the plans for several future projects, but the funding isn’t there.

“We’re currently not moving forward because of the economy,” he said. “We’ve had problems getting pledges.”

Sabol said all of the projects are funded solely by donations and never through the school district or tax increases.

Jim Rousher, organization president, said he understands everyone is in a financial pinch, but community support is crucial, and every bit helps.

“When you’re a nonprofit, you have to rely on other people to help out,” he said. “We have the start of something good. We just need help,”

Rousher said the projects that already have been completed as well as the ones in the planning phases benefit everyone in Canfield.

He said the new football field, which was finished in 2006, is used by football teams at every age level, as well as the marching band, men and women’s soccer teams and the baseball and softball teams.

“It’s a place where you have pride. It’s your home. It’s Cardinal Stadium,” Rousher said. “It’s got to mean something to you.”

Rousher said the group has decided to put any future construction on hold and focus on paying off the debt from the first round of projects.

“We’ve borrowed well over $600,000, and we’ve got it down to where we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We probably did that whole thing with only 50 or 60 donations.”

Sabol said he can’t give a set timeline as to when the next round of projects will get under way.

“We aren’t comfortable starting new projects before taking care to pay off phase one,” he said.

But Sabol said the group does know what will come next when the funding is there.

He said they plan to add extensions onto the football stadium’s home-side seating and make it handicap accessible and expand the football and wrestling locker rooms and weight room.

“They’re important things to look at because our programs have grown tremendously in the last 10 years,” Sabol said. “We want to have a facility on even keel with the program.”

Sabol said they’ll keep working for as long as it takes. He said the finished product will reflect on Canfield as a whole.

“I think it’ll be a positive reflection on the community,” he said. “It will give the community a sense of accomplishment and knowing that they’ve done the best they can for their students.”

For more information on the Canfield Nest Builders, visit renovatetheroost.com.