Ottawa Hills turned soil Thursday during a groundbreaking ceremony for the district’s new health and fitness center.
The Kadens Family Fitness Center — named after the campaign’s lead donors, Pete and Amy Kadens — is scheduled to open in December.
Superintendent Kevin Miller said the 4,000-square-foot fitness center will address the district’s need for more space.
“The new fitness center will really support our physical education and health curriculum and other curricular areas. It will obviously support our athletics programs and it will also be a great resource for our community,” he said.
The facility will include equipment for weight training as well as floor space for extracurriculars, such as the district’s dance team, and academic groups that include the district’s STEM Robotics program.
In addition, Mr. Miller said the facility will be used to host evening exercise classes for community members through the district’s office of Village Life.
Campaign chairwoman Jackie Berenzweig announced that the foundation has raised $1.34 million toward its $1.5 million goal and announced there is a campaign to raise the remaining $160,000.
Mr. Miller said he hopes the public announcement encourages local community members to further participate.
“As we go public with that capital campaign today, we’ve already raised 90 percent of that $1.5 million. The 90 percent are donors that have made their donations and pledges kind of quietly and behind the scenes and now we are publicly asking people to help us raise that remaining 10 percent,” he said.
The Kadens announced their $500,000 donation in October. The couple — alumni, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists living in Chicago — told The Blade they donated the funds to help provide a “well-rounded experience” for both students and community members.
Mr. Kadens said Thursday that the gift is personal for his family.
“It’s pretty special to be able to come back to the community that gave you so much. It’s part of the legacy for us and our family and our kids,” he said, adding that he hopes his children — ages 8, 6, 4 — remember to give back to their community.
Surprised by the district’s progress, Mr. Kadens said the facility has been in the works for only 10 months.
“ ... to think that this would all come together in 10 months a year ago would have seemed very far-fetched,” he said.
First Published May 23, 2019, 4:16 p.m.
