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COLUMBUS – The fight to restore and maintain the R.E. Stafford Opera House has gained momentum as donors have contributed a significant amount of funding to assist the cause. The Columbus Historic Preservation Trust held their second town hall meeting on Oct. 2 in the Buddy Rau room of the opera house and finished the night receiving $9,400 in donations.
The campaign has benefitted from several anonymous donors that have matched the donations of the named donors to essentially double each donation. The attendees of the second town hall delivered $4,700 in donations that were matched by some of the anonymous donors to reach the night’s total.
“[We] hope that [our] donation of $2,500 will encourage others that they can make a contribution as well and feel even better knowing that it will be matched,” donors Grace and Steve McCullough said in a statement at the town hall meeting.
The funds that have already been raised allowed the CHPT to make a down payment on the elevator repairs, one of the main restoration projects required to get the opera house back in working order.
Some of the other necessary projects are the restoration of the thirdfloor restrooms, the addition of three restrooms on the second floor, new smoke detectors, the repair of water damage from a leaking roof and ventilation for the new elevator.
There are several marks that the campaign will need to reach to secure further matching funds that will provide significant progress towards the restoration of the opera house.
One of the anonymous donors is willing to match any donation made by the city government up to $100,000, effectively doubl ing whatever donation is provided by the city. Another anonymous donor is pledging $70,000 once the organization raises $250,000 in donations.
The CHPT has also requested a grant from the California Council for Interior Design Certification to provide the funds for the three additional restrooms on the second floor.
“Our hope is that the city will step forward and approve our CCIDC grant request, as well as some funding from the Hotel Occupancy Taxes,” CHPT Executive Director Melissa Parker said in a release, “the restoration and return of a fully functioning opera house and historic venue rental is sure to attract more tourism and business to Columbus.”
The CHPT is also participating in other donation initiatives as they have included themselves in Habitat for Humanity’s scarecrow competition. Organizations leave a scarecrow with a donation bucket outside of their places of business with the proceeds going to the Habitat for Humanity’s Pumpkin Patch fundraiser. The winner with the most donations at their scarecrow will receive a $500 donation back from Habitat for Humanity for their charity of choice. Voting ends on Oct. 28.
The opera house restoration project continues to gain momentum for CHPT as more donations come in and the repairs begin. For updates on the project and more information, find CHPT’s Facebook page: https:// www.facebook.com/ColumbusHistoricalPreser-vationTrust?
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