Community Foundation helps Capitan family clear burn debris off lot

• Foundation helps on many fronts, including scholarship, hospice, animal welfare and the arts

Members of the Community Foundation of Lincoln County, known locally as stewards of different scholarships and specific-focus funds, dirtied their hands this past week, but all in the name of helping a neighbor.

When a fire in Capitan in late November left Sharese Nunez and her three young sons homeless without an active homeowner's insurance policy in place, chairman Riker Davis knew that was situation where the foundation could help.

“One of the funds we maintain is The Shelter Fund, which was established after the Little Bear Fire (in 2012) by an anonymous benefactor to help victims of house fires or other types of calamities that would force a local resident from their home,” he said. “CFLC board member Alexandria Hutcheson is a resident of Capitan and she brought the news of the fire to the CFLC Board of Directors. Alexandria assisted in providing and completing the simple one page application for Shelter Fund consideration. The biggest present need was to clear the lot and haul off all the debris.”

Shawn Wilson of Wilson Excavating was contacted and asked to give a bid to perform the work.  While the bid was fair for the sizeable job, it was higher than the capabilities of The Shelter Fund to cover for an individual incident, Davis said.

“It was time to work out group effort,” he said.

He contacted Paul Wetzel at Sierra Contracting and explained the limitations of the Shelter Fund and the charitable nature of the job. He asked how many dumpsters were needed. The best estimate of four large roll-off dumpsters were figured by Wilson in his original bid. After short consideration, Paul Wetzel generously offered to provide all four dumpsters at no charge as a courtesy and community service, Davis said.

“Sierra Contracting is owned by Van Patton,” Davis said. “We are very appreciative of them. Once the cost of disposal was no longer a factor, Wilson was able to reduce his bid.

“Shawn jumped right on the charitable band wagon himself and very kindly reduced his fee to a bare minimum, far less than just crediting the expense of disposal,” Davis said. “Together, we found a figure that would accomplish the job at no profit that was within the reach of the limits of the Shelter Fund.”

The work was scheduled to be finished by Thursday,

But one last obstacle had to be addressed, Davis said.

“By law, the Shelter Fund may only write grants to nonprofit 501(c)3 type organizations,” he said. “Enter the compassion of Margo Mayo and Christian Services at the Gateway Church of Christ. I discussed the situation with Margo and she was glad to facilitate payment to Wilson Excavating as we have done before in a similar circumstance.”

“This project is a great example of a community pulling together to help a family in need,” Davis said. “The CFLC extends huge gratitude to Wilson Excavating, Sierra Contracting and Christian Services coming together to allow this collaborative effort to proceed and meet its goal. We understand that Sharese Nunez owns the land, so after this work is done she will be able to make plans for new lodging at her same location at 418 4th Street.”

If anyone wants to contribute to The Shelter Fund, they can specify a  particular cause, Davis said, and that also applies to the foundation’s Ruidoso Hospice Fund, Partners for Animal Welfare, Lincoln County Arts Grant, and eight local scholarships. Check out www.cfolc.org.

“These are different accounts that we manage together, but contributions may be targeted,” he said. “We are also building a Legacy Fund that gives annual grants now. It will continue to grow and serve Lincoln County forever.”