February 19, 2026

This year’s Donor Appreciation Zine was created with materials sourced from the Civic Center’s archive. These items included board agendas, strategic planning notes, donor letters, resumes, grant appeals, equipment brochures and so much more. All materials were from the late 1970s and early 1980s, likely saved from the volunteer team who saved the Civic Center from demolition after its time as a public school ended.

This project was a pleasure to piece together one scrap at a time and highlighted the similarities of the work of preservation and community building from then and now. From my eye, it would appear that the successes of collaborative work are timeless. They couldn’t do it alone then. We’re no different today.

Thanks for being a part of this part of history.

I hope you enjoy looking back at the Civic Center’s start as much as I have.

JESS BRAUER, Executive Director & ‘Zine Maker