GREENWOOD — The Western Foothills Land Trust took another step toward buying Noyes Mountain after an anonymous donor made a $50,000 contribution and offered to match up to $50,000 more in donations.

In August, the land trust revised its purchase and sale agreement with a landowner for Noyes Mountain, a 295-acre parcel in Greenwood overlooking Lake Pennesseewassee, also known as Norway Lake.

Lee Dassler, executive director of the Western Foothills Land Trust, said in August that the land trust would pay a nonrefundable $25,000 down payment in the coming days and $249,990 at closing, including a 1 percent interest penalty.

She said that the land trust has two years to raise the money.

On Monday, Dec. 19, the trust received the $50,000 donation.

“My first reaction was tears,” Dassler said Monday morning. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen frequently. It was huge.”

Dassler said the contribution will reduce the land trust’s two-year loan by the same amount.

And every dollar donated to the Noyes campaign in 2017 will be matched up to $50,000, Dassler said. “If we raise $50,000, the donor will match us with another $50,000, for a total of $100,000.”

The land trust also has a $76,000 grant that has not been realized. Dassler said that the grant, combined with the $50,000 donation and the $100,000 from the challenge match, would be enough for the trust to pay off the two-year loan.

Dassler said the representative for the anonymous donor was from out of state, and that it is likely that the donor is also from out of state.

“We’ve had huge support from people in our local community, and I think it’s really wonderful that we’re also getting support from outside of the state,” Dassler said.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

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