Local couple sets philanthropy record

By CONSTANCE SEE

Whitefish Pilot

The fund-raising co-chairman for the Whitefish Middle School Auditorium and Performing Art Center said the recent challenge pledge from Richard and Carol Atkinson — along with five pledges received this weekend — helped raise total donations from more than 740 donors to $3.3 million. The project's end goal is to raise $4.7 million.

"To the best of my recollection, the donations for the auditorium totaling $600,000 from the Atkinsons represents the largest charitable gift ever in the city of Whitefish," Kramer said. "Whitefish is bucking the national trend. While most school districts are cutting back, we're expanding the arts."

The Atkinsons received the Great Whitefish Award for their many financial contributions to the community at the annual Whitefish Chamber of Commerce award banquet Jan. 4. While accepting the award, Richard challenged the community to donate to the auditorium with a matching offer.

He pledged to give $1 for the auditorium project for every $2 raised by the community, up to a total of $500,000 on top of the $100,000 the Atkinsons already donated in 2006.

The first gift towards the Atkinson challenge came last week from Rick and Alicia Blake in the amount of $100,000, Kramer said.

"Sometimes it takes something like this to spur people onward," Carol said. "It makes a difference when we can sit down and say, 'This is what we're doing,' and hope the synergy continues."

Last week, Richard asked parents and grandparents of children in local schools to look at a small donation spread over a period of five years.

"Two dollars a week would be $104 a year, and over five years, that's $500," Richard said. "Two dollars is a little less than the cost of a latte."

Carol said the auditorium project is for the children in Whitefish schools. School functions come first, she said. The facility could be used by the high school's band, orchestra, theater students and debate teams.

On weekends and in the summer, the state-of-the-art facility will become the permanent home of the Alpine Theatre Project and provide a Whitefish home for the Glacier Symphony and Chorale.

"The Glacier Symphony and Chorale is dying to come back to Whitefish," Richard said. "They'll be paying the district to use the building, and the Alpine Theatre Project has signed a 25-year lease to use the facility. Once it's built, hopefully we can draw big names like Henry Winkler, Olympia Dukakis, Robert Goulet and John Lithgow to perform here."

A second public tour of the auditorium will take place tomorrow, Jan. 19, from 4-6 p.m. For more information about the project, call John Kramer at 862-9555.