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Kids compete on March 19 in the David Masengarb Memorial Elementary Boys Basketball Tournament in Manistee Catholic Central’s gymnasium. Work to renovate the gym will begin in September thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Manistee County Community Foundation.
Catherine Grinn
MANISTEE — Manistee Catholic Central’s gymnasium will be receiving a facelift thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Manistee County Community Foundation’s Minger Family Endowment Fund.
“It’s a $100,000 grant, and we had to do matching $40,000 funds — which we were able to do through donors — so the whole project is just under $140,000,” said principal Catherine Grinn. “It will replace the gym floor, replace all the seating and the fire exit doors. Then we have volunteers that are stepping up to update the locker rooms — clean those up and refresh those.”
Grinn said the project will start in September and should take six to eight weeks to complete.
“It did interfere with volleyball, but we have secured a different location for practices. We’re having a home game in August and then all the other games will be away,” she said. “The athletic department worked that out with the coaches. We’re all set. We still have a full season. We’ll still have a volleyball program. It’s not going to stop it in any way — we just had to adjust a few things.”
The gym renovation work will be performed by Floor Care Concepts, of Wyoming.
“It’s going to look amazing and the gym floor is going to be absolutely beautiful,” Grinn said. “The gym that we have is one of the few of that style in the state of Michigan, so … instead of trying to raise money for a new gym, we really wanted to upgrade and renovate the gym that we have, and we’re able to do that.”
Grinn said because the expected completion date is close to the school’s annual Helping A Religious Valued Education Shine Through fundraiser on Nov. 5, the event will be held at the St. Joseph Parish Hall.
“They said that it should take between six to eight weeks, so it’s not too bad. It’s actually going to be completed at the end of October or beginning of November, but the deadline was very close to the HARVEST date so we decided not to try to push that,” Grinn said. “The nice thing about it is when they get it done it will not interfere with basketball or any sports going forward, or any school activities or graduation or anything like that.
“It was just the best time of year to do it to have the least interference with sports and school events.”
Grinn said the parish hall was used for the early HARVEST fundraisers.
“It’s kind of neat since our school is very steeped in tradition and history and it’s the 35th anniversary of HARVEST and originally it was always done at the parish hall,” she said. “We’re just kind of going back home to where it was first done. … We went over there, looked at the building, looked at the area inside the parish hall to make sure we could accommodate everyone and still make it as beautiful as it is every year.”
MCC plans to make the gymnasium more accessible to the community upon its renovation, Grinn said.
“We do this now, but we want to let people know that the gym will be available if anyone needs an area to do an event, use it for sports or whatever it might be,” she said. “We’re kind of partnering with the community to do the upgrades — getting the grant through the Manistee County Community Foundation — so in doing that, we’re also going to be opening up the gym itself to a little more activity for the community.”
Grinn said the gymnasium isn’t the only part of the school being freshened up, stating that the football field received a few upgrades, as well.
“We have new scoreboard, a new sound system — which sounds amazing — and we’re also painting different areas that needed a little facelift,” she said. “The stadium will look really good for football season this year. … Everything will be ready for football season.”
Additionally, the school is having a security camera system installed this month.
Grinn said a lot of work has gone into ensuring students are safe and have the best experience possible while at the school.
“This summer has been just really exciting because we’ve been able to pull all this together and then have it ready for the kids when they come back,” she said. “… Our students are the most important things that we have. Those kids are what we’re there for. I think they should have the best that we can give them.
“I just love that we’ve been able to upgrade so many things,” Grinn continued. “This year it’s going to look different at the school, but different in a way that I hope puts a lot of smiles on a lot of kids’ faces.”
I was born and raised in Manistee. I earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Grand Valley State University. My hobbies include fishing, reading and playing music.