New thrift store open for business

St. Joseph’s Thrift Store staff has been working with our Facilities Crew since September 2012 on the remodel of a downtown Chamberlain building built in the 1900’s – formerly a grocery store.

St. Joseph’s Indian School purchased the building in the summer of 2012 with the intention of remodeling the building for a new Thrift Store and center to process in-kind donations.

We started moving in to the new building March 1!

We were grateful our move only took a week. The store opened to the public again on March 11, though there is still some exterior work to be finished once the weather warms up.

We first considered the project because of the lack of storage on campus for the donated items our benefactors so generously send. As we move forward, the plan is to have all donated goods delivered to the new In-Kind Processing Center, which is located downtown in the back part of the new Thrift Store.

Donated goods are sorted into many different categories. The main three are:

• Campus use
• Thrift Store
• Mission Run

First, we make sure the needs of the Lakota students are met. They have first pick of all donated clothing and other items.  If we’re not able to use a particular item on campus (such as baby clothes), then it will go to the thrift store or a reservation outreach. After a certain amount of time, items we have not been able to use are packed up and sent to an outreach on an Indian Reservation near us.

As this project comes to an end, the staff here at the Thrift Store and the processing center would like to thank the Facilities Staff for all the hard work and organization they put into this project.  They have helped make this transition an easy one!

A mock up of what the storefront will look like when it is 100% complete.

 

Facilities Update

Furniture is ready to take its place in the Summerlee Home!

Our facilities crew is hard at work finishing our remodel projects for the Lakota children at St. Joseph’s Indian School! Here’s an update:

The Summerlee Home is finished other than some minor finishing touches, like hanging bulletin boards and other small jobs. Houseparents are beginning to move some things into the home.  The Summerlee girls are planning on spending their first night in their newly renovated home on February 1.

Now that the Summerlee home is complete, we are able to put more staff on the William Home renovation.

The Summerlee Home now has a snack counter where the girls can visit with their houseparents while they’re preparing dinner.

We just finished taping the sheetrock and will begin the texturing process.  As soon as that’s done, we can start painting. We have also contacted the ceiling installer and he is scheduled to start installing our ceiling grid the first part of February.  The kitchen and bathroom cabinets are under construction in the carpenter’s shop. We hope to have this home completed the first part of April.

The thrift store’s new location is moving along nicely with a completion date in the first part of March.  We have just finished painting the retail section of the store and have moved to the back work and storage areas.  Contractors are in the process of hanging door frames and the ceiling grid will be placed next week.  Once we have our ceiling grids installed, the electricians will be able to start hanging light fixtures.  When the lighting and HVAC processes are complete, we will begin installing carpet and inlay flooring for the retail area, changing rooms, bathrooms, break room, and offices.

 

Guest Blogger: Facilities Team

These four ladies can’t wait to play in their new home!

School is in session and powwow week is here! Every department is hard at work to make sure everything is ready. Here is an update of our largest projects:

Summerlee Home Renovations:

We have about 95% of the exterior work completed, which includes new siding, shingles and windows.  As for the interior of the home, we have completed all the rough-in plumbing and electrical work, and just finished the first coat of taping joints.  When the taping and texturing are finished, we will begin painting.  It is very exciting to see the layout changes that were made in the home come to life.

William Home Renovations:

The demolition process is still underway in the William Home.  We are considering a possible change in the floor plan, which would incorporate the entrance to the lower lever and to the adjacent office area.  Once walls are removed, we will have a better idea of how we will proceed with this possible change.  We enjoy putting our heads together and seeing what will best work for the students and their home and other staff who work in the Benedictine building.

Now, for a few tidbits of some to the day-to-day activities that are taking place around campus:

Grounds department:

The grounds department is checking out all the sprinkler lines and repairing or replacing any bad sprinklers.  They are also removing trees on the west side of Akta Lakota Museum to better accommodate some of the work being done there and at the Summerlee Home.

Carpentry department:

The carpenters are completing a few minor finishing touches to the Stevens and Mathias Homes – our most recently completed renovations. New railings are being added at both entrances of the homes.  They are also installing new carpet in the Human Resources and Facilities Management offices.

Electrical department:

The electricians are in the Human Resource and Facilities Management offices installing new lighting to help brighten up the work space.  They recently finished wiring in the Summerlee Home.

Plumbing department:

The plumber is keeping up with everyday plumbing RQ’s and also helping with the demo work being done at the Thrift Store.

This week, everyone’s main focus will be getting ready for the powwow.

Thanks - Facilities Team

 

Guest Blogger: Facilities Team

Happy 4^th of July!!  I hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled holiday.  With the summer being in full swing, we are also at full speed with all our projects on campus.  This summer seems to have an even busier schedule than we have in the past.

Here is a summary of some of the projects that have been started at St. Joseph’s Indian School:

Drainage Project:

This week the company we’re working with pulled onto campus with their big equipment and began removing the concrete in front of the Benedictine and Kateri Buildings. First, second and third grade students have their homes in the Benedictine Building, while the Kateri Building houses high school girls.

Mathias Remodel:

We are finishing up with the Mathias Remodel.  Right now the guys are working on their punch list to get the final details finished up just in time for the houseparents to arrive on campus in the next couple of weeks. The junior high girls who live in the Mathias Home will return to campus on August 12 for school to begin Monday morning, August 13.

School Painting and Carpeting:

St. Joseph’s Elementary School is getting a little touch up this summer also.  We are re-painting all the classrooms and laying new carpet.

Summerlee and William Remodel:

We have kicked off the next round of home remodels with the Summerlee and William Homes, where our fourth and fifth-grade girls live.  The Summerlee Home has most of the demolition work complete. We have started framing up the new walls, which will reposition some of the rooms to give the houseparents a better view of kids during activities taking place in the home.

The William Home is in the demolition process.  This home will be extended a few feet to give the girls who live there more room in their living and play spaces.

The projects listed above are some of the bigger projects we have going on around campus.  We also have the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center expansion, which will add an alumni center, historical center and storage for the museum’s collection of art and artifacts.

Some of our daily work activities going on around campus include:

Grounds:

• Irrigation and mowing at Fisher Field, where our junior high students spend time playing after school and on weekends.

Plumbing:

• Plumbing in the Summerlee Home is roughed in and the Mathias Home plumbing completed.  The plumbing that has been inspected has passed both inspections.

Painting:

• Crew member Jeff is painting the Giles Home and should be finished this week.

Electrical:

• Finish wiring the Mathias Home, demo of electrical in Summerlee. Wiring new equipment at Tipi Press Printing and Development rooftop AC unit.

Mechanics:

• Annual vehicle inspections and daily maintenance.  St. Joseph’s fleet has 22 vehicles that insurance company totaled due to a recent hail storm.

 

Guest blogger: Facilities Team

Summer is approaching fast and St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus is looking nice and green!  The kids are in their last week of school and we are all busy working to get campus in tip top shape for our Eighth Grade Graduation on May 25.

St. Joseph’s Indian School’s Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel

We are in the process of updating our landscaping and planting some colorful flowers to brighten up our campus.  Our grounds crew has fixed up the yard around Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel where the graduation ceremony will take place.  We are also adding a special touch to the front entrance of our campus: a flag pole with some rock landscaping around it.  This will help add that special touch to the entrance and also help in giving family members and visitors directions to our campus.

Our renovation of the Stevens and Mathias Homes is still progress.  All of the major work is complete in the Stevens Home and the students have already started moving some of their home items back to help in getting ready for next year when they return from summer break.  The Mathias Home is, for the most part, completely painted except for some minor touching up.  They have started installing the ceramic tile flooring and have also started hanging the cabinets in the kitchen.

The new flag pole at the entrance of St. Joseph’s Indian School.

The entire facilities crew is busy laying out the schedule over the summer months and setting up future projects that will be taking place on campus here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.  We will be working on doing some updating in the school, start our next home renovations with the Summerlee and William Homes, and many more!

As always, we continue to keep busy doing our best in making the campus feel like home to all the kids that are here over the school year.

Until next time,

Facilities Crew

 

An update from Facilites

Gavin can't wait to see the new homes!

The Facilities Department at St. Joseph’s Indian School is still busy working on their primary project of renovating the Stevens and Mathias Homes.  The crew continues to make great progress and should be on schedule to complete the project on time.

The Stevens Home is getting closer to completion.  We are currently installing carpet throughout the upstairs bedrooms, and the floor tile is finished on both levels.  We consider the Stevens Home to be about 90% done.

As different areas are completed on the Stevens side of the home, the crew transfers over to the Mathias side.  We are currently finished with texturing the walls and will be starting to paint on the Mathias side next week.

 

Projects around St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus

The facilities crew continues to keep busy with their projects around campus.  During Christmas break we were able to employ a few college kids that helped the grounds crew trim up some trees around St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus.  Who would have ever thought we would be trimming trees in December in South Dakota? That is something that doesn’t happen very often!

The renovation work on the Stevens and Mathias Homes is going smoothly.  Right now our carpenters, electricians and plumbers are working every day to make it possible to meet our completion date.  We are hoping for the homes to be completed this summer and ready to move into at the start of the 2012 – 2013 school year.

The Stevens Home is in the painting stages.  The painting crew has finished the main floor of the Stevens Home and has begun working on the remaining painting, which should be finished by the end of next week.  The carpenters are also in the Stevens Home installing door frames throughout, and floor tile is being laid on the main floor.  The kitchen cabinets and counter tops for both homes arrived last week, so they are on site ready to be installed.  The Mathias Home will be completely sheet rocked this week and the taping will begin.  The duct work is also being completed this week on the Mathias Home.

Even though the renovation is keeping our facilities crews extremely busy, they also have the day-to-day maintenance that occurs around campus.  These gentlemen do a great job managing their work and making sure everything on campus is in tip-top condition.

Until next time!

The Facilities Staff

 

Lakota home remodeling project

The kids are so excited to see the finished homes!

The Lakota (Sioux) homes are eight homes in four buildings, two homes in each building. The homes are the Cyr/Perky, Fisher/Pinger, Speyer/Rooneyand the Stevens/Mathias. These homes were originally built in 1982. Our remodeling started in 2008 with the Cyr/Perky Home and we are finishing the project this year with the Stevens/Mathias Home.

During the renovations the kids that are assigned to those homes, are temporarily house in another home on campus.  The renovations usually begin when school is dismissed for the summer and finishes up the following summer.  Therefore, the home is under construction for one school year.

Part of the homes have had the walls opened up to make the family living and study areas more open. Handicapped bathrooms were also added.

To make the homes more energy-efficient:

• new windows were added
• the heating and cooling systems were upgraded
• more insulation was installed

St. Joseph’s remodeling projects are going great.

With the completion of the last of the home remodeling this year, the children will be living in homes that are cooler in the summer and much warmer on the coldest winter days, with all the conveniences of home.

PS – read more about St. Joseph’s Indian School remodeling projects here!

Your friends,

The Facilities Team