Donation for classroom naming rights highlights 5th annual FernStock celebration

August 26, 2024 Robert Perea

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

With the construction of the first phase of the Community Response and Resource Center progressing rapidly and providing a tangible symbol of seven years of efforts by its members and other partners, the Fernley Community Foundation celebrated its fifth FernStock Dinner and Award Celebration on Aug. 17.

The event was highlighted by the announcement of a donation of $50,000 by Nick Hidek for the naming rights to a classroom in memory of his wife, Joy Hidek, who died in 2021. The donation is the largest individual donation the Fernley Community Foundation has received since it was founded in 2017.

The Fernley Community Foundation presented the City of Fernley with a check for $100,000, consisting of that donation, along with another $50,000 from years of fundraising and gifts from donors and members, at the Aug. 21 City Council meeting.

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Groundbreaking on the Community Response & Resource Center took place March 27 and current estimates are that it could be completed around next August.

When it’s completed, the first phase of the $20 million project will operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows Serving Fernley and serve as a hub for emergency response as well as child care.

The first phase currently under construction includes an 18,000 square-foot building with a 2,300 square-foot multipurpose room, administrative office spaces, a lobby/entryway, 3,000 square-feet of classroom and meeting spaces, a teen center, a game room for kids, a 1,600 square-foot commercial kitchen. Outside, the amenities will include a quarter-acre event lawn for outdoor activities.

Additional components that are planned for the next two phases of the project are an early learning center and a community gymnasium, although what would specifically be included in each phase, and when each phase would be built, has not yet been determined.

This year’s FernStock celebration held at the Boys & Girls Club Teen Center was the first since construction of the project began. The first event was held in 2019 at the Reno-Fernley Raceway, and subsequent events were held at the Fernley Senior Center, adjacent to where the Community Response & Resource Center is being built.

“We’re just really looking forward to the center being open next year and the resources it’s going to bring,” Fernley Community Foundation chairman Cody Wagner said. “Hopefully we will have a permanent venue next year.”

The donors and Community Foundation members honored at Saturday’s event were: