QUAIL VALLEY -- Without a "miracle," Project LIFT, a 10-year-old tutoring center for low-income families, will cease operations June 30, its founder, Rita Peters, said Tuesday.

Others, including some members of the nonprofit agency's board and representatives of the county, believe a sliver of hope remains for the center's survival.

In 2005, Project LIFT received just half of the $150,000 it needs to continue operating, Peters told the center's board members Tuesday morning.

"All of us have been working for nothing, and it's very, very difficult for us to support ourselves and the concept of Project LIFT," said Peters, who added that she earned about $4,700 in 2005.

Although closure is no certainty, she said she is operating as if the end is imminent.

The 2.1-acre property at Goetz Road and Juanita Road that Project LIFT leases from three men who work in Long Beach will be up for sale soon, and the nonprofit agency will begin the process of liquidation, she said.

Project LIFT could be saved from closure, but Peters said she believes it's unlikely.

There are enough funds, she said, to cover expenses through Feb. 28. The owners of the site have agreed to waive the $2,000-a-month rent from March through June, she said.

If the county does not buy the lot Project LIFT leases, or if she fails to win a $125,000 grant she's applied for from the James Irvine Foundation, the center will close, she said.

"It'd be like an insurance policy," Peters said, referring to the foundation grant, which is awarded to just six California leaders. "But what are the odds?"

Members of the board believe that grants and help from the county could keep Project LIFT afloat. In 2005, LIFT secured a $150,000 community development block grant, Peters said. She added, however, that the block grant can only be used toward the purchase of the Quail Valley lot, which she estimated would cost at least $500,000.

Peters, citing the property owners' commitment to her nonprofit organization, told her board she believed a deal could be struck for under market value if there were a way to buy the property.

Steve Rhorer of Long Beach-based A.L.L. Roofing Materials, who is a co-owner of the property, declined Tuesday to discuss figures and the market for the commercially zoned property, but did say he'd be "more than happy" to discuss the lot with the county -- but negotiations haven't begun or even been initiated by the county, he added.

Peters said the county had indicated previously it would help purchase the property.

"We want to help Rita and help Project LIFT," Rhorer said. "If us selling the property to the county is a good deal for Rita and Project LIFT, we'd love to be able to do that."

Peters said a former member of the county's economic development agency had promised that there were "several pots of money" available to buy the lot. But the county has yet to contribute beyond the block grant, she said.

"It's a failure to the (Quail Valley) community, if that's a broken promise," she said.

But Verne Lauritzen, chief of staff to 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone, said, "There was never any promise or agreement that he (Stone) could provide any more than that (the $150,000 grant)."

Lauritzen, who said the block grant was bestowed with the understanding that Project LIFT would raise enough money to buy the property, added: "The supervisor just won't have the money to get them to $400,000."

Stone, who attended a Project LIFT-sponsored wellness breakfast in mid-September, hasn't returned any e-mails or letters from her since then, Peters said.

"Everyone has done their job here to try to move Jeff Stone and the county," she said.

Stone, however, has committed to contributing money from the supervisor's community improvement fund to Project LIFT, said Lauritzen, who noted that it only could be earmarked for operational use. He added that he hadn't seen a detailed list from Project LIFT as to how that money would be used.

"We certainly don't want to see that program go away," he said.

Stone said he is "very supportive" of Project LIFT.

"We hope to help them find a way to maintain a permanent presence in the community so that they can continue helping the impoverished constituents in that area," he said.

Most of the Project LIFT board members' ideas Tuesday to stave off closure were met by a response of "We've already tried that" from Peters.

"It's too little, too late," Peters said in an interview. "How many times can you get doors slammed in your face?"

Merle Baker, a Quail Valley-based board member, offered the most suggestions, including asking Mt. San Jacinto College for donations, and posting a "need money" listing on the Web site craigslist.com.

Peters, who acknowledged being frustrated and drained, said: "All these would be great ideas -- three years ago. But we're there (at the point of closure) -- we're already there."

Menifee Elementary School Principal Steve Kennedy, also a Project LIFT board member, said he remains hopeful Project LIFT will be saved. He encouraged Peters and her staff to document the number of students served over the nonprofit's 10-year history.

"We need the success stories," he said. "We need to validate the program."

Those statistics, he said, could then be presented to the county Board of Supervisors.

Baker said the board members and Project LIFT staff should invite those who have experienced "success stories" to give testimonials.

Kennedy said the tutoring center is "vitally important" for students who attend English-speaking public schools, but whose primary language is Spanish. Public education students in Quail Valley attend Menifee Elementary, then move up to Menifee Valley Middle School.

Despite her pessimism, Peters is hoping for a miracle. She said she cannot imagine life without Project LIFT. Peters, a former drug addict, said the nonprofit has been instrumental in her sobriety.

"Is there life after LIFT?" she asked. "I'm going to find out soon."

Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com. To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.

Prior articles: http://www.californian.com/articles/2005/12/22/news/californian/22_07_0212_21_05.txt