United Way launches $4.2M campaign to help Gateway Center, partners

In an effort to bring more financial stability to the Gateway Community Center in Kalispell, Northwest Montana United Way recently launched the first phase of a new capital campaign, Gateway 2 Miracles.

The organization has set an ambitious campaign goal of $4.2 million that will go toward retiring the center’s mortgage, finishing interior build-outs for agencies in the center, repairs to the campus parking lot and more.

“This endeavor is moving forward, providing support to our community with opportunities for human-service non-profit agencies to have their offices here and to support many of our community activities,” according to a letter from the Gateway 2 Miracles Capital Campaign Committee.

The endeavor is the first major campaign the umbrella organization has launched since Executive Director Roxanna Parker stepped into her role in February, replacing Sherry Stevens, who resigned in late November 2019. Parker said the campaign will set the building, its partners and its community up for future success.

“Paying off the mortgage will not only allow us to make the needed improvements to the Gateway, it will allow us to have the means to provide additional support, financial and in-kind, to our partners and ultimately, provide more support to those in-need in our community,” Parker said in an email.

Located in the former Gateway West Mall, the building houses more than 20 agencies including the Flathead Food Bank, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Montana Conservation Corps, and also provides conference rooms that are available to nonprofit organizations and are used by more than 100 Flathead Valley entities for meetings, celebrations and more.

The center is regarded as one of United Way’s most ambitious undertakings to date and was the dream of former Flathead County Administrator Earl Bennett. That dream, which was essentially to have many of the valley’s nonprofits operating under one convenient roof, was largely brought to fruition by Stevens, who served at United Way’s helm for more than three decades before resigning last year after allegations of mismanagement.

When United Way purchased the building in 2015, part of the vision was to be able to develop each of the center’s rental spaces, tailoring them to meet the various needs of the organizations. However, some of these projects have been temporarily sidelined over the years as United Way struggled to keep up with payments on the building. There are currently six spaces in need of being remodeled.

The acquisition cost the organization $2.4 million, though a campaign document says “The Gateway Cente rhas been appraised “for much more than the purchase price.” Current mortgage payments factor out to about $195,000 per year.

Parker said there is about $2 million left to pay off on the mortgage - a feat that would allow the center to better serve its building partners. And according to the letter from the campaign committee, United Way is “at a point now where it is critical to add capital to the project and move to insure its sustainability.”

As another part of that push for sustainability, available spaces in the Gateway Community Center can now be rented by businesses of all types, not just nonprofits. A map of the campus shows there are currently a dozen spaces open for rent that vary in size, scope and location within the center.

For more information on Northwest Montana United Way and the Gateway 2 Miracles campaign, go to unitedwaycares.org or call 406-752-7266

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com