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Volunteer gives SOU project close attention Mail Tribune/Bob Pennell A broken neck isn�t going to keep Bob Kendrick from working on the Southern Oregon University Foundation�s Center for the Visual Arts project from his home office in Ashland. Kendrick has saved the foundation at least $400,000, board members say. And even though he has to wear a brace after a car accident, he�s still keeping tabs on the CVA�s construction project. Kendrick works on Center for Visual Arts By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � The Southern Oregon University Foundation didn�t have to twist Bob Kendrick�s arm to get him to help out with the Center for the Visual Arts project. Not even a fractured neck could stop him. "The guy�s unbelievable," says Gary Miller, SOU Foundation board vice president. Kendrick, a retired Southern California developer and foundation board member, has been keeping a close eye on the $11.4 million campus construction project. Colleagues say his watchdog efforts have saved the foundation at least $400,000. "The largest gifts and grants cap out at $500,000, so he�s just about on equal footing with the largest gifts we�ve received," says board president Robert MacLellan. Kendrick�s gift is his time. He�s been monitoring the CVA construction as a pro bono development expert, carefully reviewing expenditures and construction documents. He worked with contractors to bring the CVA�s $10 million construction budget down to $7.2 million and to throw in a campuswide chilling system and furnishings for the CVA. Kendrick also donated time on construction of The Grove, a family center run by Community Works, and is helping plan for a possible expansion of the SOU library. "The public sector, academia, they�re not like entrepreneurs," says Kendrick, who moved to Ashland in 1993. "They�re not familiar with the game. "It�s easy for me." Until recently, Kendrick attended weekly meetings in the general contractor�s trailer. Now he has trouble making it up and down the stairs in his Chestnut Street condo. Kendrick and his wife, Becky, can�t remember details about an April 30 accident that totaled their 2000 Ford Expedition and killed the family dog. They know they�re lucky to be alive. Becky Kendrick suffered a broken fibula, collar bone and cracked ribs. She�s lost some sight in one eye and walks with a cane. Bob Kendrick�s neck was fractured when the vehicle flipped, rolled and landed upsidedown on Interstate 5 near Los Banos, Calif., about four hours north of Los Angeles. Until August, he�ll wear a "halo" that screws into his head and holds his neck perfectly still. He�s in constant pain but in relatively good humor. "My goal is just to be normal with a couple holes in my forehead," Kendrick says. He�s back at home, after a month�s stay in Modesto, Calif., and Medford hospitals. And he�s back to work. "As soon as they sent him home, he was anxious to see the spreadsheets, get the numbers from the contractors," MacLellan says. "He can�t hardly move, but he wants to see them." Kendrick also wants back in on the weekly construction meetings. He asked MacLellan whether the foundation could set up a two-way video conferencing system that links his house to the contractor�s trailer. It�s set for installation next week. At "a couple thousand," MacLellan says, the charge to set up the system is peanuts compared to the project�s multi-million-dollar budget. In any case, foundation board members seem to agree Kendrick is worth the cost. "Who knows?," MacLellan says. "Maybe in the next three or four months, he�ll save us another $50,000." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA