In June of this year, several Anaconda-Deer Lodge County officials announced a proposal to demolish Anaconda's newest school building, W.K. Dwyer Primary School. This school underwent a multi-million dollar renovation between 2008 and 2014 and is now one of the best-built and modern facilities of it's kind in Montana.

The purpose of this fundraiser is to raise money for our alternate proposal to purchase and reopen the W.K. Dwyer building so that it can be put back to good use for the people of Anaconda, who have invested tens of millions of dollars for the construction and maintenance of this facility.

If successful, we will re-open the school and gymnasium for sporting events and much-needed services including child care and technical training/education. There is a great need in Anaconda for the amenities that Dwyer School offers, especially the gymnasium, classrooms and commercial kitchen.

Donations are only needed for this initial phase, since the building is fully capable of financing it's own operation once acquired, but the stakes are high. If sufficient capital is not raised in the coming weeks to purchase it, this facility, a facility that is already built and already needed, a facility that would cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to build again, will be forever lost to corrupt politicians and out-of-state interests.

That is why Care International, a 501(c)(3) has partnered with Montana Montana Foundation, also a Montana 501(c)(3), to raise money for this cause and put Dwyer School back to good use.

All monies donated towards this fundraiser will be used for the following purposes:

1. Immediately improving security at Dwyer School to protect the building from vandalism: We have already installed cameras on neighboring properties.

2. Covering costs associated with acquiring the building from Anaconda-Deer Lodge County: While the county is offering publicly to give away the Dwyer School property for free, our private negotiations with ADLC are ongoing and there will likely be some cost associated with the acquisition of this property from the county. In 2021, ADLC purchased Dwyer School from School District #10 for $150,000.00.

3. Repairing the vandalism that has occurred at the property and deep-cleaning the interior of the building: This can be done for under $5000.00, with most of that amount being needed for hiring a window repair contractor to fix the few broken windows. Interior cleaning and painting can mostly be accomplished by volunteers. Volunteers are always needed and appreciated so anyone interested in helping with that can contact us through this website.

4. Covering ~$3,000.00 in startup costs associated with re-opening Dwyer School's gymnasium. Regular operating costs after startup will be covered by rent proceeds generated by the gym and the rest of the building.

Every dollar donated will be put directly towards acquiring Dwyer School and those critical startup tasks listed above which require professional contractors to be hired. No donated monies will be used for any purpose besides those listed above. If, for any reason, it becomes impossible to utilize any portion of donated monies for these promised purposes, any unused amount will be donated to Montana Monuments Foundation's fund for the restoration of Anaconda's iconic Daly Gym. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

For anyone wanting more information on this project, send us a message through this website and we will respond as soon as possible . Thank you for considering this critical effort.