ARLINGTON — Michael Wendland is running out of options.

He has searched high and low for support to build an undercover training facility for the Eagles baseball and softball teams, but isn’t finding much help.

“This project is completely contingent on the construction business, and right now, there isn’t one,” Wendland said. “People are on a razor’s edge.”

A year and a half ago, when this project came about, Wendland had all the help he would need.

“People were throwing materials at me, but I said wait until we get approval first and then we’ll accept donations,” he said. “I didn’t want to take anything before I knew we were going to get the okay to start.”

By the time the city and school board approved the project, however, the construction business went in that tank, and now Wendland is running out of time.

Having a window of July 15 to September 10 to build, Wendland has just 18 yards of concrete, all the steel siding he needs and a minimal amount of lumber. He’s 62 yards short of concrete and needs posts, trusses and composite roofing, which comes out to be about $70,000 in materials still needed.

With all the labor donated by local trades, Wendland said he has about 40 percent of what he needs.

In order to start the project, he needs the posts and trusses, which are about $10,000.

He has contacted 45 local businesses with just a few checks to show for it. He’s resorted to applying for national grants from Lowe’s Hardware and Major League Baseball with the odds of getting the funding he needs inside three weeks meeting the definition of bleak.

Wendland knows just as well as anyone that he is asking in an economy that has made it difficult to get donations.

As a contractor in the Arlington area, he can count on one hand the number of weeks he has worked so far in 2010.

“This would be my biggest project so far this year,” he said, referring to the scale of the construction.

Nevertheless, this is a project that will help build a baseball program that has been on verge for the past few years — and it will provide the school with another facility that it can use to accommodate the growing population feeding into the high school.

Wendland said he can complete the job easily inside the window before school starts back up, he just needs a little help from the community.

Donations can be mailed to Arlington 76ers, 13018 158th PL. NE, Arlington, WA, 98223.