*culture is not optional (*cino) closed on the Huss School property in Three Rivers on Friday (June 12th).

*culture is not optional (*cino) is “a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting and equipping Christians for practical service in God’s Kingdom” and the goal of the effort involving the Huss property is to transform the former elementary school into a center to serve the organization, the local community, and points beyond.

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma is publications director with *culture is not optional.  She and her husband, Rob, have been leading the effort to secure the building.  When asked for a recap of the historic day, she said, “After a frantic morning of rushing to get all of our paperwork in order, we met on Friday at a title company in Portage with the seller and our real estate agents, as well as representatives from the title company and from our board of directors.  It was nice to finally meet Nancy Webster, the previous owner of the building.  It was also wonderful to receive the keys, which was a powerful symbol of agency and ownership.”

Acquisition of the building was made possible by the success of a fundraising campaign over the last several weeks to raise the $20,000 needed to close on the property.  At last report, the amount generated so far totaled $25,570.

On hand for closing on the Huss School were (left to right) Joanne Becker, April Holm, Nancy Webster, Karen Hay, Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma, Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma, Jeff Bouman. (Photo courtesy of Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma & Elena Hines)

When asked to react to the events of recent weeks, Kirstin said, “We’ve been experiencing so many strong emotions, primarily gratitude and amazement.  We had no idea what would happen when we set this whole thing in motion by making an offer on Huss School in late April.  It seems that this vision really tapped into something people are longing for and want to support with their time and money, both within our *culture is not optional network and the Three Rivers area.  We are humbled and honored that so many folks have been willing to entrust us with their resources to pursue a crazy big idea in our small town.  The possibilities seem endless at the moment and we’re very excited to see where it all goes next.”

Kirstin and Rob are slated to head out on Tuesday (June 16th) for the first leg of the Eat Well Food Tour (http://www.eatwellfoodtour.com) for two weeks.  She said the tour “will give us many hours in the car to process the past couple of months, continue imagining possibilities and set some priorities and deadlines for the rest of this year.”

Kirstin said, “We’re really just taking this all one step at a time, which some may think is foolish with such a huge project, but it creates space for us to develop ideas and gather resources in community with other dreamers and stake holders.  And that’s going to continue to be a priority: working alongside others to see where our ideas and skills and resources overlap in compelling ways. Groups like our *cino board of directors and the Three Rivers Area Faith Community will continue to be essential for visioning and accountability.”

“Phase II” of the Imagining Space project is to reach the $100,000 mark in fundraising by December 31st “to begin investing more deeply in the Imagining Space vision.”

Kirstin said, “People should be aware that things may be pretty quiet at the property for a little while, but there will be a lot happening behind the scenes as we work on zoning, drawings, fund raising, grant writing and research and so on.”  And she added, “If people ever want to get in touch with us about the project, the contact form on the Imagining Space web site (http://www.cultureisnotoptional.com/space/) goes right to our e-mail.”

Huss School is located at Broadway and Eighth streets in the city’s Second District.