Cash for Commodes

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Four banks in the Hall High School area each donated $1,000 to the Hall Booster Organization's project to add restrooms to Richard Nesti Stadium. Pictured are Superintendent Mike Struna (from left), Kim McKee of North Central Bank in Ladd, Dave Kromphardt of Spring Valley City Bank, Julie Eilers, Dan Carrico of State Bank of Cherry, Janet Davis, Jack Boroski of Citizens First National Bank in Spring Valley, Hildi Grivetti and Rhonda Bezely. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt)

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SPRING VALLEY — Members of the Hall Booster Organization (HBO) are determined to return some greatly missed objects to the Richard Nesti football stadium.

Toilets.

For many years, Hall fans and visitors alike have had to rely on portable toilets to take care of their needs during home football games.

“When competitors come to play, they say, ‘You’re kidding. Our kids are using these porta-potties? Where do we wash our hands?” said Janet Davis, HBO president. “The joke is always when you play Hall, you go the bathroom before you go.”

The stadium used to have toilets under the north bleachers, but they were closed to public use about 15 years ago. In 2003, when the new bleachers were installed, the old restrooms were removed and never replaced. The school board discussed updating the restrooms at the time, but there wasn’t enough room to make them handicapped accessible.

But finally, enough is enough.

“Hall is the only school in the conference that does not provide public restrooms,” Davis said. “We’ve just had so many complaints about the porta-potties, and we felt, with the crumbling economy, if not now, we would never get it done.”

So Davis, along with HBO vice president Rhonda Bezely, secretary Julie Eilers and treasurer Hildi Grivetti set to work. The decision was made to renovate the existing concession stand rather than building a new facility to save money, but the school architect still estimated the cost at $93,000.

“The four of us looked at each other and said, ‘Oh my gosh, no way,’” Davis said.

The women decided to see how much of the project could be done through donations of time, talent and materials, and Davis said the response has been amazing.

One company is donating the siding and another has promised the fixtures. Davis said Jim Garland has been great at lining up volunteer labor, and a local union has promised its help. The city has waived some costs, and the school has agreed to pick up the costs for electricity and the architect. Now the women are waiting for a materials list, and then they will make the rounds looking for donations of some of those items.

While donors have been generous, Davis said many more donations are still needed. One big fundraiser planned is a trivia night to be held at the Spring Valley Boat Club Nov. 14. Davis said they have received many items to be raffled off and are still looking for more.

The renovation will add a women’s bathroom with five stalls and a men’s bathroom with two stalls and three urinals, plus outdoor high-low water fountains that are
handicapped-accessible. Davis expects the underground excavation to begin in early September, and the plan is to have the facilities available for the 2010 football season.

Davis said the need is important, not just for Hall football fans, but for those who attend other events at Nesti such as Illinois Valley Youth Football League, the Special Olympics of the Illinois Valley and Relay for Life. She said having better facilities could create opportunities for hosting more events.

Davis stressed the Cash for Commodes project will not take away from the regular HBO activities.

“We’re just putting a ton of time in,” she said. “This is too important to too many people.”

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