As many of you know, we recently finished renovating the BSA 757 Florida office in Jacksonville. The renovation process took 2 months of hard work by all of our employees and a number of volunteers from the local area to complete. We started with the southeast end of the building and completely remodeled it. We knocked down the old walls near the fitness center, added 3 new offices, and redesigned the meeting areas to accommodate up to 150 people. The new space has allowed us to start renting out the meeting rooms to some local businesses that travel in from Neptune Beach and Orange Park; every bit of extra revenue helps since we’re a 100% volunteer organization and have no government funding.
One of the most exciting parts of the new BSA 757 office is the Olympic-size pool we added outside. The new concrete pool fits about 50 people, holds a few hundred thousand gallons of water, and was designed by 2 of our volunteers. Prior to calling local concrete companies, 17 volunteers helped dismantle and clear out the old jungle gym to make room for the pool. The following week, commercial construction crews dug up the ground, and then the Jacksonville concrete contractors poured concrete and installed a new pool deck in less than one week. The speed and quality of their work was more than impressive. The company came highly recommended from one of our member’s who had worked with them before. Overall, we’re very happy with the result. The pool was a great addition to our office, especially during the warm weather.
The Jacksonville concrete contractors that worked on the project completed it for free as part of their Save Local Businesses initiative, which aims to help local businesses with funding improvement projects. We’re grateful for their help with our renovation and truly can’t ever repay them for what they’ve done. So, we’ve started a fundraiser to send the employees of their small, family-owned company on a vacation to Miami. It’s not as glamorous as we’d like, but it’s the least we can do. Please consider donating to the people who’ve helped us.