DANNY STANLEY

• TREASURER, ATLANTA GRADE SCHOOL FRIENDS

• 28 YEARS IN COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH, WITH A PRIVATE COUNSELING SERVICE

• ALSO WORKED WITH A COMPANY FOCUSED ON RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, SOIL STABILIZATION AND SUBGRADE DIRT WORK.

• PROJECT MANAGER, ATLANTA-MILLER GRADE SCHOOL

Atlanta-Miller Grade School is a Works Progress Administration (WPA) school dating from 1936.

It took 120 days to complete construction by the Hardy Brothers of Texarkana.

Six large classrooms, restrooms, teacher's lounge, an auditorium, and administrative offices were included.

1975 to 1980

The school was in use until the mid-1970s. Between 1975 and 1980, it became the Atlanta Multi-Purpose Center.

1990 to 2000

It was then used for community storage. The building fell into decline. It received no maintenance.

Supporters banded together to save the school. The property was purchased. Physical maintenance - and financial contributionsstabilized the school.

IRS designation received in 2003, but volunteer work began as early as 2001.

Atlanta Grade School Friends recently purchased the property adjacent to the building to serve as an off-street parking lot.

In 2022 we counted our volunteer hours: 21,000 hours were donated over 20 years.

The value of those hours – which we believe to be a conservative estimate – is $555,030 according to the Independent Sector.

An issue for small historic preservation projects: being allor mostly-volunteer, their budgets can look small on paper (suggesting they are unsophisticated), but their impact is substantial and meaningful.

Be sure to count your volunteer hours and share the information!