Representatives from organizations including data center developer Crusoe, McCarthy Building Companies, and the Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce gathered at the Warrenton Elks Lodge Oct. 16 for “Fellowship Friday,” part of Construction Inclusion Week.

Jackie Rivera, project manager for McCarthy’s joint venture with DPR Construction, said the two companies, who are working together on Crusoe’s Warrenton data center, were founding partners of Construction Inclusion Week, which was celebrated for its sixth year last week.

“The goal of the Construction Inclusion Week is to bring people together. People could be the people you work with, the workforce, and the community,” Rivera said.

“So Monday, we had Mentorship Monday, where the young professionals get introduced to this concept of mentorship. Tuesday is about team building, Wednesday is all about the workforce and their mental health, Thursday is Thankful Thursday, and today is Fellowship Friday.”

Rivera said Bob Bray with the Warrenton Elks Lodge offered to let them use the space. The event allowed project stakeholders and those working on the data center construction to meet representatives of local business and nonprofits “that perhaps the project team can support, so whether it’s the Meals On Wheels for the senior citizens, or a scholarship for the WISE organization, we’d like to hear that, because we want to be better partners of the community,” Rivera said.

“We’re going to be here for three years, and we want to make sure that our presence in the next three years will leave behind a positive impact to the community,” she added.

“We understand that construction is disruptive, but we’re also here to make sure that whatever we leave behind, the experience that the community had with us while we were here was a positive one.”

Bray said the Elks jointly hosted the event with McCarthy “so we can introduce and see how they can be an asset to the businesses in this area,” adding that there has been a lot of negativity around the Crusoe data center.

Bray said it was important “as this influx of people come to our town, that they know who to go to, whether it be for a restaurant, whether it be for an oil change, whether it be for a rental property, or you know, a not-for-profit that they can help out with, maybe volunteer some time.”

Greater Warren County Economic Development Council consultant Steve Etcher was in attendance at the networking event. The organization was not involved in planning the gathering, but “anytime we can bring businesses together, that’s fantastic,” he said.

“People are making connections, and that’s important,” Etcher added. “We’re excited about the economic activity that’s occurring in the community. Construction work brings in a lot of workers, it brings in a lot of dollars to our economy, so it all looks very, very positive right now.”

Bobby Spoonster, community liaison for Crusoe, said he thought Fellowship Friday was a great event.

“Obviously, we thank Bob Bray and these guys for putting it on and hosting it,” he said. “The Elks have been great partners to us, just being able to utilize their space at times for meetings and opportunities for us, so we really appreciate them hosting this today for McCarthy on their Inclusion Week.”

Rivera said it was good for those who may have already been working together on the Crusoe project, but hadn’t met in person, to be able to put a face to a name, “because it’s beyond a phone call, it’s beyond an email.”

Among the groups that DPR and McCarthy seek to include in their Construction Inclusion Week are veterans, Rivera said, and one connection she made Oct. 16 was with Ben Childers, a veteran and owner of G-Force Parking Lot Striping.

Rivera had never met Childers before the Fellowship Friday event, she said, but after hearing about the services his company offers, she thought there could be opportunities to work together going forward.

“If not here, there’s another opportunity to work on the next ones in the years down the road,” she said.