Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative and LCRA representatives present a $24,238 grant for improvements to the Red Rock Community Center. The grant is part of LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program. In the front row, from left, Melodie Dobie and Betty Foreman, Red Rock Community Center board members; Mike Allen and Meg Voelter, LCRA board members; Stephanie Wood and Mabel Alexander, Red Rock Community Center board members; Ashley Hayes, Red Rock Community Center president; State Representative Stan Gerdes, Texas House of Representatives, District 17; Phil Wilson, LCRA general manager; and Bobby Lewis, LCRA board member. In the second row, from left, Kolony Petty, Red Rock Community Center secretary; Gary Morkovsky, Red Rock Community Center head of maintenance; Debbie Morkovsky, Red Rock Community Center treasurer; Jim Russell, Red Rock Community Center vice president; Rick Arnic, LCRA regional affairs representative; Debbi Goertz, Bluebonnet Board member; and Roderick Emanuel, Bluebonnet Board Vice President/Vice Chairman. In the third row, from left, DeeAnna Petty, Red Rock Community Center board member; Matt Arthur, LCRA board member; Mark Meuth, Bastrop County commissioner, Precinct 3; Gregory Klaus, Bastrop County judge; Josh Coy, Bluebonnet Bastrop-area community representative; Fisher Reynolds, LCRA chief of staff; and Wesley Brinkmeyer, Bluebonnet manager of community and development services.

The Red Rock Community Center will get two new air-conditioning units and other needed improvements thanks to a $24,238 grant from Bluebonnet Electric cooperative and the Lower Colorado River Authority.

The Community Development Partnership Program grant, along with $14,150 in matching funds from the community center, will cover the costs to replace aging heating, ventilation and air conditioning units with two energy-efficient HVAC units. The grant will also pay to refinish the building’s original pine floors and paint its exterior.

The community center, which hosts social gatherings, free festivals and other events, was built in 1929 as the Red Rock Schoolhouse.

“Our center has been an essential part of this community for generations,” said Debbie Morkovsky, treasurer of the Red Rock Community Center. “People use this building for club meetings, public service presentations, fitness classes and voting, and they also use it as a place to celebrate life events with gatherings like baby showers, birthday parties, luncheons for funerals and family reunions.”
 
After the building’s conversion from a schoolhouse to a polling location in the 1960s, it fell into disrepair until a handful of local residents with ties to the structure’s origins stepped in.

“My mother-in-law, Betty Morkovsky, was among the founding members of the board that decided the building wasn’t done serving the community and needed to be saved, so they created the Red Rock Community Center,” Morkovsky said. “In fact, some families have passed down the role of board member from generation to generation three of our current board members are related to founding board members, including one whose father attended the Red Rock Schoolhouse.”

Even though board members set out a donation jar at every event, they have had to make cost-cutting decisions like discontinuing the center’s trash collection and disconnecting its phone service.

“Our years of saving and fundraising events, like our Market Days and Annual Fish Fry, allowed us to have enough for the matching funds needed for this grant, and we are thrilled to be able to make improvements the building desperately needs,” Morkovsky said. “We want to always be here for residents and we want people to know this is a safe, family-friendly space that is available for them.” The Red Rock Community Center board invites community members to provide suggestions for what they would like to see happening at the center. A meeting to make plans for 2024 will be at the center at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 9.

The community grant is one of five grants being awarded by Bluebonnet and LCRA through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program, which helps volunteer fire departments, local governments, emergency responders and nonprofit organizations fund capital improvement projects in LCRA’s wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves. Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of LCRA’s wholesale electric customers and is a partner in the grant program.

Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in January. More information available here