A prime piece of Bigfork real estate is the new permanent home of the Bigfork ACES, a nonprofit organization which provides educational programming for local children both after school and throughout the summer. ACES stands for Art, Community service, Education, and Sports. The organization’s programming focuses on one of these areas each day, so kids might find themselves building an electric circuit one day and ringing bells for Salvation Army kettles the next.
PureWest Christie’s owner and agent Jennifer Shelley represented the nonprofit in the sale and was thrilled to see the organization, which provides vital after school and summer services for Bigfork families, find a building to call its own after years in different rental spaces.
“Organizations that provide services for our community’s kids have always been close to my heart,” Jennifer says. “It’s a challenge for working families to figure out that gap between the end of the school day and the end of the work day—as well as summer—which is why ACES is so important to Bigfork. I could not be happier that the program now has a permanent home. What they do means so much to our community.”
When it was announced that the town’s former senior center building was going up for auction, Bigfork ACES hurried to assemble financing. They were prepared to bid up to $500,000 for the Bigfork property, but fortunately secured the building for the reserve price of $375,000.
Bigfork ACES provides an invaluable resource for working parents by offering a safe, educational space for children between the end of school and the end of the work day. They offer full-day summer programming as well, and their services are in high demand: their summer camps had a waitlist of 20 kids in 2021, and the valley’s growth will likely increase that number.
ACES hopes to grow its program on its now-permanent Bigfork lot, but new buildings and expansion are some distance in the future. For the moment, the staff is thrilled to have a solid foundation on which to build the future of quality after school programming in Bigfork.
For more information, please visit www.acesafterschool.com
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