Orr Corporation Continues Work, Fundraising For Fred Bradshaw Center

By Benjamin Cox on March 9, 2023 at 11:54am

The Orr Corporation says it’s not quite finished with the Fred L. Bradshaw Learning Center near Perry.

The corporation along with members from John Wood Community College dedicated the facility back in August.

According to the Quincy Herald-Whig, more than 1,000 people have come through the facility since then for classes, events, and a variety of programs.

The Orr Corporation held its annual meeting on Monday and said there is still a little bit of money left to raise to bring the more than $2 million facility to its completion. The Herald-Whig report says that between $50,000-$100,000 remain to be raised.

According to the Orr Corporation report, the group wants to add heat and air conditioning to the arena. The system has been installed, thanks to a donation from Beard Implement, but an additional $6,000 in electrical work still needs to be done to bring the system online. The work is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. They also would like to finish some exterior drainage work, add bleachers to the arena to seat around 400 people for trade shows, as well as purchase safety upgrades to the concrete flooring in the animal care unit.

Orr Corp. Chairman Matt Bradshaw told the Herald-Whig that the plan is to help John Wood Community College work toward creating an articulation agreement with the University of Illinois, similar to the one currently in place with Western Illinois University in the agriculture program.

The next major event at the Bradshaw Center is a pig sale on March 18th.