The South Peninsula Athletic and Recreation Center is one step closer to getting a new, safer floor for the facility.

According to a May 26 press release, the SPARC received notification on Thursday, May 25 that they were awarded a Matching Capital Project Grant from the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust totalling $239,340. These funds, which amount to half the expected project cost, will go toward pouring a new concrete slab and installing new athletic flooring in the SPARC facility on the Sterling Highway.

The other half of the needed funds are provided by a local match, 92% of which has already been raised, according to the release. SPARC credits the support of local funders including the Homer Foundation’s Opportunity Fund, Cottonwood Donor Advised Fund and KLEPS Donor Advised Fund, Homer 100+ Women Who Care, the Sons of the American Legion, and other individual and corporate donors for the successful raising of the local match, the release states.

Approximately $18,000 in matching funds are still needed, which will be made up through ongoing fundraising efforts, according to the release.

Homer News previously reported that SPARC board member Ginny Espenshade had presented an update to the Homer City Council on Jan. 23 regarding the flooring project, noting that the board had been working toward obtaining a Murdock grant to fund the project and had already raised $30,000 toward a local match at that time.

The facility’s current flooring, constructed from used materials, was always meant to be a temporary solution and was no longer optimal for performance or safety, Espenshade told the council on Jan. 23. With this project, the board plans to install seamless commercial rubber flooring over the poured concrete slab in order to better and more safely facilitate SPARC patrons, according to Espenshade.

For more information about the SPARC’s new flooring project, contact SPARC board chair Malcolm Gaylord at chair@sparchomer.org.