HUNTLEY — Last month, members from three local organizations showed up to a special Huntley Project Lions Club meeting at Homesteader Hall. Each group — the Huntley Project Senior Housing Coalition, the Huntley Project Museum and the Huntley Project Little League — was there in the hopes of receiving some of the funds that the Lions Club raised during the 2014 Homesteader Days in July.
The Senior Housing Coalition has been hard at work since last year for its ultimate goal: To purchase land and build a senior housing facility. Members Jean Ott and Phyllis Weidinger were on hand to request money for some interior items such as a walk-in freezer.
Neal Gunnels, curator of the Huntley Project Museum, attended the meeting to request funds to complete the restoration of a handful of buildings on the museum grounds.
Little League manager Casey Dolph brought his son Kory and another player, Kniles Thomsen, to ask for a new lawn mower for the baseball fields and a shed to store it in.
Lions Club members met again on Dec. 9 to decide which proposals they would like to fund. Ultimately, said Lions Club member Dan Krum, the group decided the museum and the Little League would most benefit from the money.
“We had the three requests,” Krum said. “And we just decided the third one, the senior center, was just not ready yet.”
The Senior Housing Coalition has been fundraising and receiving grants with the help of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, but a location has not been chosen for the facility, nor have architectural plans been completed. The project, which could end up costing upwards of $400,000, could take years to finish.
Krum said $13,685 will be presented to the Huntley Project Museum and $9,772 to the Huntley Project Little League — $5,450 for a John Deere lawn mower and $4,322 for a large storage shed.
Additional funds which were raised at Homesteader Days will also be used to get the lighting redone at the hall in Homesteader Park.
Krum added that the Lions Club is down a few members, to about 28 people, and are always looking for new people. He can be reached at 967-3281.
