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- Category: Past Issues
POMFRET --- With donations of money, labor and supplies, the memory of Gary Gates will live on in a renovated horse barn at Windham-Tolland 4-H.
The Ocean State Auto Auction recently held an memorial auction June 23, on what would have been Gary Gates' 70th birthday, and donated $3,500 to the Windham-Tolland 4-H Foundation for the Gary Gates Barn Renovation Fund. The fund already has $10,200 in it.
The cost of renovating horse barn #1 is expected to be $22,000, according to foundation officials. The Gary Gates Barn Renovation Fund was set up by Gates' family after his death last year. Donations are still gratefully accepted. Call the Foundation office at 860-974-3379 for more information about this project or to make a donation.
Foundation officials said that horse barn #1 was built in 1970 and was in major need of repair. The Gates family established a fund in Gary’s memory when he died last year to benefit Windham County 4-Hers and the 4-H horse camp program. The 4-H foundation board and the Gates family agreed that using part of this fund to renovate the barn would be an "important and visible way to honor Gary’s memory." Using foundation member labor, the barn was partially demolished and a new concrete floor was poured last fall.
This spring, the first 60 x 20 foot section was sided with board and batten and divided into three areas, with windows and doors installed on the classroom/tack room section. This will provide additional program and storage space in wet weather and off season. The next step on this section will be to do interior wiring, complete the interior and then add an overhead garage door for the hay room and end storage unit.
Sept. 16 Connecticut Light and Power volunteers plan to stain the exterior on the new section, tear down the old stalls on the other end of the barn and ready that area for the construction of 12 new box stalls. A donation of lumber up to $2,300 has been pledged by Hull Forest Products, Inc. towards the cost of the new stalls when the foundation is ready to build them.
So far, the cost of the barn renovation to date has been $14,100. This additional contribution from Ocean State Auto Auction, the lumber donation from Hull Forest Products, and the donation of labor from volunteers from CL & P, will allow the foundation to continue to make progress on this renovation project which is expected to cost approximately $22,000 in total.
Additional donations of labor, an overhead garage door and additional monetary contributions to the Gates Barn Renovation Fund would help the 4-H complete this renovation before to next year’s horse camp. To donate any of these items, please contact the Foundation office at 860-974-3379. This collaborative effort by many people, spearheaded by the Gates family will benefit generations of horse campers in the years to come, foundation members added.