We thank God for the miracle of the new Grays Harbor Adventist Christian School facility and recognize over 50 documented evidences of the Lord's leading.
1) Both constituent churches having proactive, supportive pastors about the dream of a new consolidated school.
2) The constituency meeting considering the idea of consolidating the Grays Harbor SDA School and the Elma SDA School resulted in a unanimous vote.
4) A former Elma pastor became proactive and joined the group making the request described in #3 (above).
5) The request in #3 was approved by the Corporation Board resulting in over $100,000 being granted to the GHACS building fund.
6) The culmination of the two schools into one resulting in a great teaching team, all of whom were pro-actively supporting the new school construction.
7) The first joint school year proved to be a very smooth and successful year, in spite of traveling distances and crowded conditions.
8) The new joint school board, teachers, and constituency, all proved to be cooperative and united, with no divisive problems.
9) Five years after the first effort to make a purchase of property, with no appropriate sites available to purchase during that whole time, all of a sudden there were three suitable sites to choose from, all for sale!
10) For two or three years, the DNR property on which the school now stands, was known to be for sale, often with a "For Sale" sign, during which time we were not interested. It was not until we were serious about purchasing land, that this site was, for the first time actually available for purchase, in spite of the "For Sale" sign. The property was sold in a sealed bid, with ours as the winning bid.
11) Potential Problem Solved: Three fire hydrants needed for site. With a sprinkler system, one large hydrant. The property included one hydrant already, but too small, but the fire chief approved it as adequate.
12) ) Potential Problem Solved: Septic systems are typically a big problem in the Central Park area, often resulting in new owners being required to build new, expensive, mound systems. The property had two small, 30 year old conventional septic systems, neither being adequate for a school. The Environmental Health Inspector approved the use of both systems by dividing the drainage from the building into two.
13) Potential Problem Solved: Both schools were used to depending on the GH Transit for bussing some students. This new site did not seem to lend itself to the GHT. At first they said they would not stop and if they did, they would not turn into the school, resulting students walking on the side of the highway. Ultimately, not only did the GHT work with us, but redo the bus schedule to accommodate our school schedule, as well as drive right to the school's front door. They even provide a "special" bus twice a day to make the schedule work!
14) ) Potential Problem Solved: Insufficient existing electrical power service resulting in $6000.00 additional cost. PUD Engineer approved new wires from the road and a new transformer at no cost!
15) ) Potential Problem Solved: The expense of supplying water to any new school site. This site not only had a well, but was connected to the city water main, which was at the property edge.
16) ) Potential Problem Solved: The cost of security fencing was not a problem with the site, due to costly "Cyclone" fencing on the property, including gates. Plus enough steel posts to complete the fencing was purchased for $100 at state surplus.
17) Ideally, the location would afford high visibility for a sign. This sign is on the busiest highway in the county! Probably, everyone living in this county drives by the school.
18) Ideally, the location would have most of the property out of flood plains and wet lands. All of this site is usable land. In fact, it is the top of the hill!
19) Potential Problem Solved: Either the site could be in an correctly zoned location for a school but not be near houses to attract students, or just the opposite, in a residential area, but not properly zoned. In this case, the land was bordered on two sides by housing developments and a school was an allowed use, not even requiring a variance or a public hearing. This kind of problem, though solvable, could take months to correct, resulting in slowing down the date of starting school at the new site.
20) ) Potential Problem Solved: At the time of making the bid on the DNR property, there were several rumors of competitive bidders, including The Campbell Group and a California land developer who wanted to make a housing development. Ultimately, we were the only bidder.
21) Our wish was to be able to start work on the property as soon as possible in a race against time, and the land owner allowed us to start work before closing.
22) ) Potential Problem Solved: To afford the project, we needed volunteer labor, and Maranatha Volunteers needs about two years advanced notice. Larry and Jacque Goodhew made it possible for us to contact volunteers that came to help with only a few months' notice.
23) ) Potential Problem Solved: Usually, county inspectors and planners would require a large paved parking area completed, with landscaping before occupancy. The county personnel were very cooperative and flexible, allowing us to use the existing pavement, and some added pavement, but leaving the majority of the parking in gravel, which was already in place.
24 ) School construction requires the services of an architect. One of the Grays Harbor church members generously offered to donate his services as an engineer to act as the architect and the county building inspector Oked the substitution.
25) Ideally, the location needed to be centrally located between the two constituent churches. This site is within a 1/2 mile of the exact center.
26) The Chehalis SDA Church building project was just ending, when a volunteer there informed Max Hanks of our school project. He called us and volunteered the services of he and his wife at no cost. Without their services, the cost of electrical would have been preventative.
27) The eight bay shop building proved to be a bonus, resulting in steady income as storage unit rentals.
28) The conference has two sources of grants to help new construction. The grants for new churches was 5%, and the pool of funds had a 7 year waiting list. The grants for new schools was 10% of building costs and we were the only school doing construction, so there was plenty of funds available. The conference also allowed the funds to be used for purchasing the existing buildings, even though two would be remodeled and one for income rentals.
29) Potential Problem Solved: One of the requirements for applying for NUPC Revolving Funds, is written pledges from constituents. There was a great deal of reluctance to do pledges and it was feared, doing pledges would result in a negative response of constituents and NPUC alike. The NPUC approved the loan without the need for constituent pledges.
30) The Board of Education approved our school as Junior Academy status, in spite of many limiting factors.
31) Potential Problem Solved: In order to add 10th grade, there needs to be teachers that are certified in many different areas. This is usually accomplished by several 9th and 10th grade teachers combining their expertise to fulfill the requirements. Our Principal does that by himself!
32) There was a great deal of desire to add a kindergarten as a expansion of services and a feeder to the first grade. One of church constituents not only is a certified teacher, but was willing to start with kindergarten program on a "missionary" wage.
33) Potential Problem Solved: After a year of fund raising resulting in $35,000 in the building fund, we needed to raise $270,000 by the closing date. The Lord provided a way.
34) The WA State Dept. of Transportation informed us that we would have to pay for 300 feet of turn lanes on the highway, including moving many high tension power poles (at a cost of $20,000.00 per pole). We believe God performed a miracle and changed their mind totally.
35) Unanimous constituency vote to make a bid of the DNR property.
36) An anonymous donor gave a matching grant of $50,000.00.
37) The matching grant was contingent on commitments of equal value within a specified time period. The Lord provided.
38) County regulations limited highway signs to 15 sq. ft. The Planning Department had the rule changed so our sign could have 64 sq. ft. on each side!
39) The former Oakville SDA Church trust was redirected to help fund the school building project.
40) Normally commercial buildings, including schools, require certified electrical contractors and electricians do all of their electrical work. The Labor and Industries Plan Reviewer made an exception and allowed volunteers to do most of the work.
41) At times, the Labor and Industries Plan Reviewer has been so backlogged with electrical plans for schools that there was a 10 week waiting list. When we submitted the plans there was a 4 week wait, but the Plan Reviewer allowed us to start electrical work without a permit.
42) One of the costly technical requirements was intentionally overlooked because they were going to change the regulation in the future, but they treated our project as though the change had already been done, saving us a great deal of money and time.
43) TCI Cable installed TV cable for free.
44) The second phone line installation was requested at a time when they "happened" to have a promotional that waved the installation fee.
45) An expensive two-hour fire wall was required and later a way was found by the building inspector to allow us to not have to meet that requirement. The fact that we had a cooperative building inspector, in its self, is not only rare, but miraculous.
46) The day The Daily World newspaper included an almost full page story about the school's construction, "one of the most spectacular fires in Aberdeen history" was the color front page story and it was probably the most sought after newspaper of the year. We had to look all over the county to find a store or newsstand that had not sold out the paper first thing in the morning.
47) When the propane tank leaked, there was no spark, no fire, no loss of life, no injuries, and no property damage, resulting in an almost full page cover story on the front page of the Daily World newspaper.
48) When one of our volunteers transported school students from the construction site back to the school, all students were safely delivered moments prior to a serious freeway accident involving that same vehicle.
49) A temporary occupancy permit was granted many months prior to total completion, allowing for student to use new school.
50) During the planning, purchasing, and building stage, both churches lost past supportive pastors, but gained supportive pastors.
51) One of the new pastors was a former building contractor.
52) $30,000 given by a constituent at a most critical time.
53) Some of the contractors donated some or all of school's debt owed them.
54) Fedex had to find a new location to rent at the
very time we had storage units available, yielding ongoing income.
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