Brule Community Center
Association (BCCA)
BACKGROUND OF PROJECT SITE
Narrative Description of
Organization:
The BCCA is the managing entity for the
Brule Activity Center and is comprised of a volunteer board
of ten members who manage and oversee the daily maintenance,
rental, upkeep and improvements of the building and land.
There is no paid staff which work for this building. If
there are projects that require extra help there are always
community volunteers who step in to help complete the
project or job.
The South Platte Public School System
closed the Brule School facility in 2002. At this time there
was a group of concerned citizens who wanted to be sure the
gymnasium facility would be preserved and kept in good
working order for the community members to use. This group
of citizens raised the money to purchase the gymnasium
facility and the Brule Activity Center was brought into
being. This facility also housed the home economics
classroom, the band room, restrooms, and two other
classrooms on the main level. On the lower level of this
facility are two locker rooms, a custodial closet, and a
furnace room.
The Brule Activity Center was donated
to the Brule Fire Protection District after it was
purchased, with the understanding that the BCCA would
continue to be the managing entity for the facility. Please
see the lease agreement between the Brule Fire District and
the Brule Community Center Association (BCCA).
Vision for the BCCA:
- Provide a
positive environment for the young people of the
community where they can exercise, play ball, or gather
to socialize in a safe and controlled setting.
- Foster positive
family time through physical activity.
- Provide an
environment for education programs for all citizens.
This is to include, but not limited to: children’s
summer education programs, fire and EMS training
classes, English as a second language class and health
education programs for the senior citizens.
- Provide a place
for the senior citizens to have lunches, hold social
events, and have exercise classes.
- Provide a safe
place for walking for all community members, no matter
what the weather conditions may be.
- Preserve the
facility as a whole to allow for meeting rooms,
conventions, or social gatherings large or small.
BCCA FUNDING AND USAGE:
Building Funding
The Brule Activity Center is
self-funded with exercise memberships sold to the public,
rental of the meeting rooms, rental of the gym facilities
for conventions, trainings, and larger functions, rental of
the gym facility to the South Platte School District for
basketball practice, rental of the larger meeting room by a
personal trainer twice a week, and by preparing and serving
the noon meal at Brule Day. The BCCA also has steady income
from rental of one of the classrooms to the Village of Brule
for the city clerk’s office and rental of another of the
classrooms to the Keith County Senior Center for the senior
meals and functions. The newly remodeled kitchen provides
another source of income as an incubator kitchen for small
businesses.
Exercise Memberships
The Brule Activity Center is used year
round by members holding exercise cards. The number of
exercise memberships has increased by 65% in the past year.
We are consistently getting new exercise members from Brule
and the surrounding communities. Keeping the membership fees
at a nominal rate has allowed us to reach a larger group of
individuals, especially the senior citizens or families on a
fixed income. Individual memberships for one year are $25
and family memberships are $35. By enlisting corporate
sponsorship, foundation and grant funding we hope to better
our facility in size, availability, and in quality of
equipment we are able to have in it while remaining
reasonably priced for our “customers.”
Facility Rentals
Each year we continually increased the
overall usage of the building. In 2007 there were
approximately 2,975 people that used the facility for formal
functions. In 2008 there were approximately 3,700 attendees.
Thus far in 2009, attendance has topped 2,000 people for
functions in just the first three months. With the
activities already scheduled for the remainder of the year
we will far surpass the 3,700 from last year. These numbers
do not count the senior citizens who have lunch served daily
at the center (the senior citizens have their own “senior
room”), the 10-14 people that hold exercise ball and band
class twice a week, the high school basketball teams that
practice in the gym from South Platte, the Ogallala club
volleyball team that practices twice a week, or the Ogallala
and South Platte youth basketball practice that is held on
Saturday mornings in the winter. We have the seating
capacity for formal receptions or banquets of 450 people and
capacity for functions using bleacher seating of 650 people.
