A scorched helmet rests on a fence post near the Enterprise High School field house.

An accidental fire destroyed the Enterprise High School (EHS) football field house on Oct. 8, taking all of the football and track gear with it.

Since then, donations have poured in and the football team returned to the field in completely new gear. The track gear will be replaced when the insurance money comes in.

Bill Hall of Joseph tapped his contacts at Nike for uniforms and shoes, and the school district ordered pads and helmets immediately, not waiting for the insurance money to come in.

“We haven’t got any insurance money yet,” said School Superintendent Brad Royse. “We’re still trying to decide what we’ll do about the building. We’ve not awarded a contract for building.”

Royse has been dealing with a “frustrating” issue with the insurance that is causing the delay.

“Our insurance company wants us to go with a big company who can take repairing the field house from ground zero to completion,” Royse said. “But local contractors want to have the opportunity to bid on that, too. Do we snub our noses at the insurance company and hire who we want to? What happens if we do? That’s the question. I don’t know the answer to that question yet, and that’s why the decision hasn’t been made yet.”

Cleanup, however, has already begun. Ken Nash of Nash Excavating in Enterprise was awarded the cleanup project.

No matter what happens with the insurance, local residents and business owners have been stepping up to donate funds for whatever is needed to see the sports program through the year.

The Enterprise football team returned to the field in a 36-6 home loss to Imbler on Oct. 23. The team wraps up its season Friday with a 6 p.m. game at Union/Cove.

The Enterprise Educational Foundation (EEF) received over $18,000 in donations with more coming in, according to EEF President Cindi Aschenbrenner.

All donations to the EEF are tax deductible.

A GoFundMe account established by Lisa Masters has raised more than $2,100. The crowd-sourcing site can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/kd5zzsn4.