Politics & Government
Turf Committee Will Soon Begin Fundraising
Fundraising organization for artificial turf field at Kinnelon High School obtaining 501(c)(3) status.
The committee formed to fundraise for being planned for will soon begin collecting donations, according to Councilman Jim Freda.
A fundraising committee was formed after the Kinnelon Council and decided to move forward with a project for a donor-funded turf field to be installed at the high school. Freda has lobbied for the turf field, as he has said the in the borough are poor and there is not enough field space to accomodate the recreation programs in the borough for extended use as a turf field would allow.
This will be the first artificial turf field in Kinnelon if constructed, although the Kinnelon Board of Education had attempted to install turf at the high school field in 2005, but the referendum asking voters to approve it was rejected. That project would have required school district dollars, but the project in consideration now would require no money from the district or borough.
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Freda said the fundraising has not yet begun because the committee is in the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) tax exemption status. Freda said the committee had considered using the Kinnelon Elementary Home and School Association's 501(c)(3) status but decided to move forward establishing the fundraising organization on its own.
While the committee works on obtaining its status, Freda also said the committee is moving forward with the early stages of engineering of the field.
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"We're meeting with the engineers, we're going to go ahead with hiring the engineers, (paying for them) with money from three people's donations," Freda said.
The goal of the fundraising committee is for 40 people to raise $10,000 each, but Freda said the engineers will begin the design work on the project with the money already raised in donations and should the project not come to fruition due to lack of funding, the design drawings will be given to the Kinnelon school district as a gift.
As for the remainder of the fundraising, Freda estimated that the committee will begin their efforts within the next two to three weeks.
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