A team effort has surfaced to build a gym for a nonprofit school for disadvantaged children.
Oak Grove Center for Education, Treatment & the Arts has embarked on a quest to build a $1 million gym on its Murrieta campus that features volleyball courts, a workout room and a performance area.
The campus is home to a residential youth treatment center, which serves 76 students who live in dorms, and day school that enrolls an additional 85 students who are bussed in every day for class and therapy sessions.
Today, students play softball, baseball and other outdoor-friendly games on outdoor fields, and on hot summer days their only reprieve is to head back indoors for shelter from the heat.
The new gym, which has been on the drawing board for more than a year, would provide a place where students could participate in physical activity at any time during the year.
"It would just be a godsend," said Tammy Wilson, the chief executive officer of the school. "It would provide so much in terms of the different recreation sports they can do, and even the ones who aren't at that level (of playing organized sports) can do all kinds of things in the gym area."
Wilson said the center has applied for various grants, and has also entered the Kohl's Cares school fundraising promotion that allows the public to vote on which schools in the country should receive $500,000 from the discount clothing and home merchandising store. Members of the public can vote for Oak Grove Center by visiting http://apps.facebook.com/KohlsCares/search and entering Oak Grove Institute in the search box.
The cause has garnered enough support so far that various community members and businesses have begun fundraising efforts to drum up cash for the project.
On Thursday, three men embarked on an expedition to climb Mt. Whitney in one day.
Marty Shea, a current Oak Grove board member, planned to make the climb with two friends. Sponsorships collected through the quest will benefit the effort to build the gym, he said.
"I'm very passionate about that nonprofit," Shea said earlier in the week. "It's just the gem of Southern California, and the gym campaign is a big thing. The kids don't have the multipurpose room; we want to get that gym built."
In addition, a BBQ & Blues event planned Saturday at Briar Rose Winery east of Temecula will support the gym construction, as will the Surfin' Safari benefit concert being held Aug. 21 at Keyways Winery.
Tickets for the BBQ & Blues event cost $48 per person. Concert-goers will enjoy a barbecue rib throw-down with four contestants vying for votes for the winning barbecue recipe. Additionally, attendees will be treated to blues music performed by Artwork Jamal, who was named the Male Vocalist of the Year by the 2010 West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. For information, visit www.BriarRoseWinery.com.
The Aug. 21 concert at Keyways will be run from 6 to 10 p.m. on the winery lawn, and will cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door. This concert will feature a Beach Boys cover band. For information, visit www.KeywaysWine.com.
Several other events are planned, Wilson said, and all the proceeds will go toward the ultimate goal of building a gym at the school.
"It would be phenomenal," she said.
Call staff writer Nelsy Rodriguez at 951-676-4315, ext. 2626.
