"It takes many people to make a dream a reality." Walt Disney
Boyne Country Community Center History
Lifelong Boyne area resident, Jerry Matelski, was a dreamer...a visionary. In 2009 he helped found the Boyne Country Community Center, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3), whose dream is to open a community gathering space in Boyne City, Michigan. Sadly, Jerry passed away in 2010 but his dream for a Community Center did not.
In January 2011, the Boyne City Masons sold their lodge’s building to the Boyne Country Community Center for a bargain price of $50,000 with a loan generously provided by Northwestern Bank. The 6,000 square foot, two-story brick building is located in downtown Boyne City at 164 South Lake Street across from Veteran's Memorial Park. Amazingly, due to the voracious fundraising efforts of local businessman, Jim White, the building loan was completely paid off in just six short weeks thanks to hundreds of generous donors.
Since then, many individuals, businesses, clubs, and service organizations have made donations and volunteered toward the planned building renovations and improvements which are estimated to cost nearly $150,000 to complete before the Center is open to the public.
In 2012, the Community Center was granted property tax exemption status, greatly reducing its yearly operational costs. The Center currently owns the building with no mortgage or rent...not bad for a small town community grassroots organization! The volunteer Board of Directors has great plans for the Community Center and will not stop until Mr. Matelski's vision is reality.
Building Progress as of 2018
Since the building's purchase, volunteers have been renovating the building to make it up to code and more energy efficient, however, more donations are needed to complete the renovations needed to open. To date, we have completely remodeled the front entrance to make it safer and ADA accessible. Our major plans include building four new handicap-accessible bathrooms (two on each floor) and installing a $12,000 vertical wheelchair lift to make both levels accessible to all. To see a complete list of the building renovation plans, click here.
Possible Uses for the Community Center
The Center will not be an unsupervised hangout for kids and teens. Use of the Center will be scheduled and chaperoned by volunteers. Possible uses include, but are not limited to, the following:
Lifelong Boyne area resident, Jerry Matelski, was a dreamer...a visionary. In 2009 he helped found the Boyne Country Community Center, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3), whose dream is to open a community gathering space in Boyne City, Michigan. Sadly, Jerry passed away in 2010 but his dream for a Community Center did not.
In January 2011, the Boyne City Masons sold their lodge’s building to the Boyne Country Community Center for a bargain price of $50,000 with a loan generously provided by Northwestern Bank. The 6,000 square foot, two-story brick building is located in downtown Boyne City at 164 South Lake Street across from Veteran's Memorial Park. Amazingly, due to the voracious fundraising efforts of local businessman, Jim White, the building loan was completely paid off in just six short weeks thanks to hundreds of generous donors.
Since then, many individuals, businesses, clubs, and service organizations have made donations and volunteered toward the planned building renovations and improvements which are estimated to cost nearly $150,000 to complete before the Center is open to the public.
In 2012, the Community Center was granted property tax exemption status, greatly reducing its yearly operational costs. The Center currently owns the building with no mortgage or rent...not bad for a small town community grassroots organization! The volunteer Board of Directors has great plans for the Community Center and will not stop until Mr. Matelski's vision is reality.
Building Progress as of 2018
Since the building's purchase, volunteers have been renovating the building to make it up to code and more energy efficient, however, more donations are needed to complete the renovations needed to open. To date, we have completely remodeled the front entrance to make it safer and ADA accessible. Our major plans include building four new handicap-accessible bathrooms (two on each floor) and installing a $12,000 vertical wheelchair lift to make both levels accessible to all. To see a complete list of the building renovation plans, click here.
Possible Uses for the Community Center
The Center will not be an unsupervised hangout for kids and teens. Use of the Center will be scheduled and chaperoned by volunteers. Possible uses include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Clubs and service group meetings
- Scheduled events for middle and high school students
- Dance lessons
- Study groups
- Family game nights
- Exercise classes
- Art exhibits
- Coffee hours
- Chamber of Commerce meetings and/or events
- Catered private events (currently there is no space available in Boyne City to hold catered events)
- Hall rental
