Manor awarded $50,000 Daniels Fund grant

Posted 12/13/16

“We’re so excited to receive this grant,” said Cindy Ibarra, executive director of the manor. “It means so much for the completion of our electrical generator and elevator upgrades. These are critical to the safety of our seniors living in …

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Manor awarded $50,000 Daniels Fund grant

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A $50,000 grant from the Daniels Fund will give a boost to plans to significantly improve the Rocky Mountain Manor retirement home in Powell.

“We’re so excited to receive this grant,” said Cindy Ibarra, executive director of the manor. “It means so much for the completion of our electrical generator and elevator upgrades. These are critical to the safety of our seniors living in place.”

The manor is already underway with a program of badly needed capital repairs and additions announced this summer. The full cost to accomplish the capital projects plan is estimated at $627,000.

The principal need is for reliable elevator service for the three-story building at 140 N. Cheyenne Street. The manor has 52 residents living on three floors.

“Our main elevator has gone down so many times we simply must do something,” Ibarra said. “The problem is that to refurbish the main elevator, it will be down for six to eight weeks.”

The solution adopted by the manor board is the construction of a back-up elevator on the outside of the building’s north end. The addition of the outside elevator shaft is nearing completion. The outside elevator will be connected to manor hallways by enclosed vestibules.

Generator and elevator upgrades go hand-in-hand. A new $125,000 diesel power generator is a major feature of the project and will provide the capacity to produce electricity for the entire building — including both elevators — in the event of a power outage.

The new generator has been delivered and is waiting installation.

The new elevator is also on-site and will be installed shortly. Ibarra expects the outside elevator project should be complete sometime in January. Then the refurbishing of the main elevator can begin at an estimated cost of $200,000.

Community donations have been key to the manor capital refurbishing. One anonymous donor contributed the entire $163,000 to build the outdoor elevator. Other donors have provided more than $62,000.

The Daniels Fund award of $50,000 for the generator gets the manor closer to its fundraising goal. Manor leaders have also applied for a rural development loan, and are waiting word on it. The full scope of what can be completed on the manor’s capital facilities plan is still to be determined.

“We need to upgrade our public bathrooms so they’re handicap accessible,” Ibarra said. “We have planned a new parking lot, but a lot depends on how much we can raise.”

“We have some money in reserve,” she added.

The Daniels Fund, established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, is a private charitable foundation dedicated to making life better for the people of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming through its grants program, scholarship program and ethics initiative.

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