Main fundraiser photo

School Renovation

Robert E. Greiner School for the Handicapped has been serving the community since 1963, where it began as United Cerebral Palsy of Comanche County, Inc. and was housed in the basement of a local church. Colonel Robert E. Greiner founded the organization because he had a vision to create a safe and welcoming environment where those with special needs could go to socialize and learn the skills necessary to better integrate into mainstream society.

We have been in the same location for over 40 years. The building we have now was originally the old Comanche County Health Department years ago. As you can imagine, our facility is very old and it shows. We have been struggling for the last few years to raise enough funds to do a major renovation and just have not been able to get the support required.

Our organization fills a critical need in the community for educational services offered to special needs adults. Once the safety issues with our facility are eliminated, we would have the ability to branch out and increase our capacity. Right now, other than the public school system, our facility is the only one focusing on improving reading, math, and life/social skills for those we serve. There are other programs here for special needs individuals but it is mainly adult daycares or training programs involving labor intense activities that are unsuitable for the individuals we cater to.

As it is, we constantly have to patch over problems with the facility because doing a complete fix is just not something we can afford. We have critical issues with the building that make it unsuitable for our students to occupy it. You can go here to view some images of parts of the facility. Due to the problems we have with the grounds and the building itself, our enrollment has dropped drastically. Just a couple of years ago we had over 30 students. We now have less than 10 students enrolled and we are holding classes in our cafeteria, which is a small metal building that is adjacent to the school. Our cafeteria would not be suitable for more than 15 students and our main building, once updated, can easily serve 50. This much needed renovation would enable our current students to return to the main building and we would also be able to meet stringent health and safety standards required to serve military families with special needs dependents. 

We are starting this campaign in the hopes that the global community will help save our facility. We have had local companies come in to give us estimates on a complete renovation and the project would conservatively cost around $250,000. As I have said, we have been trying to gain funding for this project for a few years and we will be forced to sell the property and move to a smaller location if we cannot renovate the facility and make the grounds more attractive. The renovation would include fixing structural issues with the building, a new roof, flooring, redoing the ceiling, fixing the plumbing, fixing the heating and air units, bricking in the building to make it more attractive, paving the driveway area and various landscaping of the grounds

This school is a labor of love and would not have survived as long as it has without our dedicated staff and volunteers doing whatever they could to keep the doors open. The state of our facility has made the local community lose confidence in our ability to serve their needs because they know how daunting it would be to raise the funds needed to fix the building so we can increase our enrollment. Please help us keep Colonel Greiner’s vision alive.

Organizer

Robert Greiner
Organizer
Lawton, OK

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