The Phinney Neighborhood Association recently received a $5,000 grant from The Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation. The money will be used to help pay for painting the exterior of the center, a former elementary located at 6532 Phinney Ave. N.

The grant will help match a City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods grant the PNA received earlier this summer for $62,500 - half the cost of the paint job. Area businesses, residents and PNA members have also donated funds to the project, hoping to beat the Department of Neighborhoods' matching deadline of Jan. 5.

By late August, donations totaled $84,014 of the necessary $125,000. A number of fundraising events are being planned for October to help close the gap.

The PNA has leased the former John B. Allen Elementary School from the Seattle School District since 1981. The site includes two buildings: a three-story Colonial Revival-style wooden building built in 1904 and a three-story American Renaissance-style brick building built in 1977. The wooden building was last painted in 1983.

The Paul G. Allen Foundation, which is administered by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Northwest company in Bellevue, supports a wide variety of charities.

The PNA is a non-profit membership-based community organization run by the neighborhood. It continues to seek donations from the community. To help or to learn how to join the association, call 783-2244.