WILTON — The Western Maine Play Museum recently received several large gifts, including a matching donation from the Berry family’s Sandy River Charitable Foundation for $150,000 and another $25,000 from the Bass Family for naming rights for the museum kitchen.
In the last three weeks, the museum also has received more than $11,000, mostly in small donations.
The increase in donations likely results from the group’s recent “10,000 Families Appeal,” where each family donated $25 to help achieve the intermediate goal of $250,000 in order to raise the funds necessary to match the Berry family grant.
Gofundme is another easy way to contribute online. It shows a “thermometer” measuring the effect of a donation immediately (gofundme.com/westernmaineplay).
And donors may still go to the group’s website to buy an engraved brick for the courtyard or to make another donation (www.westernmaineplay.org).
Amazon Smile is one of the easiest ways to donate. It automatically donates .5 percent of the cost of your item to a charity of your choice.
When purchasing an item online through Amazon, go first to the site smile.amazon.com where a donor can choose the Western Maine Play Museum as the designated charity (it’s listed, however, as “Western Maine Children’s Museum in Wilton, Maine.”)
Then shop as usual. It’s that simple. It’s an automatic contribution every time you shop for items you would order online anyway.
The WMPM also reminds Franklin Savings Bank customers that they can make a deposit directly to the WMPM account at any of their area branches in Wilton, Farmington, Jay, Skowhegan, Rumford and Rangeley.
Area children have also helped. Six-year-old Dakota White raised $14 for the museum with his lemonade stand. Zander Larriviere recently donated $25 of his own money to support the project. Fourth graders at Academy Hill School, with their teachers Brenda Laverdiere and Morgan Turner, have designated the WMPM as the recipient for their fundraisers this year through their Hannaford Business-Education Project.
For those concerned the project may not reach fruition, traceable donations can be refunded if necessary.
The WMPM thanks the community for its support.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.