Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Asheville Citizen-Times‘ Barbara Blake reports that Rainbow Community School is trying to raise $200,000 by Dec. 20 to put toward a down payment on an adjacent piece of property so the school can expand. Rainbow is located at 574 Haywood Road, and it wants to buy the West Asheville Church of God property at 60 State St. Rainbow Community School will need to raise another $400,000 for the next three years to complete the purchase and renovations.
The school has already raised $115,000, according to its website
The next fundraising event will be held from 3-6:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the performance hall on the church property. Entertainment will include the Virginia Dare Devils and members of Zansa.
Rainbow was founded in 1977 and has big plans for expansion. With the project, Rainbow hopes to expand its reach even further, from impact on the environment to becoming a community resource. Among its plans:
• Developing a site plan to reduce heat gain and water runoff from the church parking lot to the French Broad River at Carrier Park; the asphalt lot will be reduced and buffered with permeable runoff controls; scientific permaculture gardens will be installed; and old-growth trees on the campus will be preserved.
“Essentially, five green acres in the heart of West Asheville will be preserved from development and dedicated to education and community betterment,” Owen said.
• About half of Rainbow’s Haywood Road frontage will be converted from a parking lot to a park for residents and visitors to use as a resting spot and place to interact with students through student-installed interactive informational displays. Plans include a tailgate market-like structure where students can try socially beneficial entrepreneurial plans, which is part of the sixth-grade curriculum at Rainbow.
• The 300-seat performance hall will be available to community groups and artists seeking an affordable events venue.
• Rainbow, which was honored with the Griffin Award in 1986 for preserving the historic Orr House, will preserve the main church building, which would have been at risk for destruction in favor of new development, Owen said.
