Lorane School Project
Community Center Renovation and Development
Lorane is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located on Territorial Road about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Eugene; it is 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Cottage Grove. The community is near the headwaters of the North Fork Siuslaw River in a valley in the foothills of the Central Oregon Coast Range.
Local businesses include several wineries, including the King Estate Winery, Chateau Lorane Winery and Iris Hill Winery, and two general stores.[2]
Lorane is also home to several notable late-19th-century/early-20th-century buildings, including the Lorane Christian Church, built in 1889, the Lorane Rebekah Lodge, built in 1898, and the Lorane Grange hall, built in 1909.[2]
The 17,000-square-foot school was first built in 1921. The property consists of three buildings, including a gym that was added around 1950. There are 4.1 acres of property ripe and ready for life again.
The property has at least 10 classrooms, six bathrooms with a full cafeteria and kitchen downstairs.
In 2011, the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District decided it would temporarily close the school for a year to cut costs, according to archived board minutes. Later, the district decided to close the school permanently, despite significant community pushback.
READ Some Community Newsletters: https://allthingslorane.com/tag/lorane-elementary-school/ "hope that the future of the Lorane School might eventually be one that honors its history, heritage and respect within the community, for all that is left to us as a community is that fervent hope."
The Lorane School building rehab is vital to the South Lane Community.
The Community Kitchen Hub
The Community Kitchen Hub includes four components: meals for community center residents, service to rural residents, rural food distribution, and an on-site café. Coordinated with the Community Gardens. It also includes employment roles and compensation.
The Community Kitchen Hub is designed to serve as a central access point for nutritious food, community connection, and economic opportunity. The project includes:
- Prepared meals and pantry services for rural residents experiencing food insecurity
- Food delivery to those in need and underserved populations
- On-site meal service for community center residents
- On-site café for staff, families, and the public
This program is designed to be socially inclusive, nutritionally impactful, and economically sustainable. In addition to food access, it will create stable employment and community pride.
Impact Goals:
- Serve over 30 center residents daily
- Provide 10,000+ free or reduced meals per year to local residents
- Deliver food to 150+ rural households monthly
- Host monthly community events at the café
- Create 8–10 stable, local jobs
The South Lane Community Kitchen is more than a place to eat — it is a center of care, inclusion, and community resilience. This proposal reflects a long-term vision to feed people, build jobs, and strengthen neighborhoods by uniting food service with compassion, professionalism, and sustainability.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Lorane School District building rehab is vital to the South Lane Community.
This heritage building and surrounding property will be restored to create a community center with several components that will be run and operated by local non-profits/organizations and for profit agencies, including transitional housing in the old gym for at risk youth and human trafficked survivors. The annex building will hold low income senior housing.
Along with a community kitchen/restaurant and a community garden along with food distribution, all of the residents in transitional housing will have opportunities to participate to learn job skills and to help keep the community growing.
Other critical elements for the community will be addressed also as the center will house a medical clinic, a Counseling Center, as well as a meeting place for community members.
The Community Kitchen will be run by a local nonprofit food management organization where local residents can come have meals, the transitional housing and seniors will be fed and transitional housing residents are able to learn job skills that will help them as they transition with real life work experience and a resume.
The community gardens are an important part of the community kitchen too as we will grow as much organic food as possible, again creating job skills for transitional residents and for others in the community with the goal of a distribution system too for free and low cost food for the broader community and skills for transitional residents to learn there also.
Job skills will also be taught as part of the senior portion as well as classes in life skills taught by local experts and volunteers. All of the activities from renovation to implementation will provide jobs for the local community too in supervisory positions. It's important to rehabilitate not only the buildings but to empower the people that live in the community.
This community center will not only retain its historical heritage value, but will provide jobs, outreach, housing and care for marginalized members of the community. The restoration of this important historical structure by creating a community center will be vital for the success of this rural community and its future.
It is the first of several targeted properties around the state and the protocol to be used in renovations and reestablishing the importance of the history of each property, and the well being of all who live there, working together to create impactful community action and a future rooted in care.
**** The Lorane School was built in 1921. This 23,000-square-foot property sits on over 4.11 acres, offering a mix of historic charm and modern potential. With an indoor and an annex structure, it already boasts six bathrooms, a cafeteria and commercial kitchen, as well as a layout that can be customized to fit a variety of needs. It is perfect for community space, housing, a food hub and food distribution, and sustainable permaculture gardens.
With rural commercial zoning, it is an opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind community center and the protocol to create a social movement. This community center will not only retain its historical value, but will provide jobs, outreach, housing and care for marginalized members of the community. The restoration of this important property, by creating a community center, is vital to the community and diversity of Lorane and Lane County Oregon.
The goal is to keep replicating this with other vacant heritage properties just waiting for change.
Create Your Own Website With Webador