He wasn't thinking about the former sports heroes and business moguls and movie stars and venture capitalists who have made this resort town their home, and have invested millions in its community infrastructure.
No, Anderson was thinking about the kids who attend his middle school, because he “watched the pennies and nickels and dimes of our students come in” these last few years, helping to fund the auditorium.
But the pennies, nickels and dimes are just as important, Anderson said, because they provide regular folk with what is known as “ownership.” And those coins taught youngsters that even they could make a difference in their world.
The world of Whitefish is a world of philanthropy unlike any other. During the past dozen years, the 6,000 or so townsfolk have raised a staggering $25 million in private donations for what John Kramer calls “important community projects.”
Kramer, who has quietly found himself at the center of each and every one of those fundraising efforts, remembers well the first project - a combined public library and black-box theater effort that ran $3.2 million before it was finished.
Since opening, it has drawn a steady stream of quality acts, including an in-house powerhouse of Broadway regulars playing to the public.
Then came $2.2 million for the indoor ice rink, $1 million-plus for the complex of soccer and baseball fields, $6 million for the aquatic and fitness center, $6.5 million for the new hospital, a half-million for the skateboard park.
The new auditorium ran $4.7 million to build, $5.3 million if you include design work and loan interest.
So far, Kramer said, the community has kicked in all but a million of that final price tag, and he hopes to have that last bit raised within the year.
It's a “cautiously optimistic” goal, he admits, but he has good reason for his optimism, if not his caution. The final donation for the hospital fund drive, for instance, the one that put the project over the top, was a $750,000 gift from a single individual.
To be sure, the wealthy of Whitefish have made all these bricks and mortar possible, Kramer said, but the bigger numbers tell the bigger story.
So far, some 800 people have donated to make the auditorium possible. Just as many gave to the aquatic and fitness center. Every project, in fact, has benefited from more than 500 individual donors. Some give $5. Some give $500,000.
“This is a town of only 6,000 people,” he said, “and 800 have donated to this project alone. Whitefish is one of the most generous and giving communities in America. This town supports quality charitable projects, particularly projects that seem to help a lot of people.”
And especially if those people are kids. You don't have to be old and rich, after all, to go swimming at the pool, or skating at the rink, or reading at the library, or skateboarding at the park, or playing at the playground, or to play a ballgame at the field.
When Joe Basirico thinks about raising money for those ballfields, he doesn't think about the big donors. He thinks about Mrs. Moen's fifth-grade class, which brought in the first donation.
They held auctions, he said, sold pies, raked leaves, shoveled snow, raised $35 apiece to be named on the big board of “founding athletes.” Which might explain why those kids can now be seen picking up candy wrappers and other trash after a big game. They do own it, after all.
It seems everyone in town has their name on a brick or a bench or a whole ballfield.
“The investment has been made by the entire community,” Kramer said, from the guy who wrote the big check to the guy who donated his excavator for the weekend. “This is a town with vision.”
The most recent vision - 500 seats, an orchestra pit, tremendous acoustics - began several years back when voters gave the thumbs-up to rebuilding 70-year-old Central School. The $10.2 million bond, however, did not cover the cost of upgrading the aged school auditorium.
So Kramer and a citizen committee hit the streets, raised the money, hired the same Seattle design team that worked on the Missoula Children's Theatre building.
“We gutted it wall to wall and floor to ceiling,” he said.
It's only a couple blocks from that fancy new black-box theater, but it's a whole different kind of performance space, Kramer said. It's a “traditional thrust theater,” with a raised stage, sunken pit, sloped seating.
“It's designed for symphonies and long musical productions,” Kramer said. “With such a lively performing arts community, we needed a second venue.”
That this state-of-the-art stage is housed squarely inside the new middle school - but with a mezzanine and cavernous ceiling that look like an urban performing arts venue - is evidence of the town's literal ownership, as well as the egalitarian nature of Whitefish's recent philanthropy.
The inaugural concert, after all, was performed by public high school and middle school orchestral and choral groups and they, rather than the venue itself, stole the show.
Many mountain towns have been invaded by wealth, Kramer said, but few have so successfully brought those newcomers into the regular-folk fold.
“The citizens have done some wonderful things for their town,” Kramer said while waiting for the curtain to open.
But now it's time to slow down. He'll work a bit on the new dog park, maybe take a stab at upgrading Memorial Stadium, “but right now,” he said, “we don't want to suggest anything more than that.
“The donors will be happy to know that a lot of us are looking forward to a vacation from fundraising for a little while.”
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com.
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