As is often seen in the Hamburg area, helping and supporting one another is a big part of small town and small communities. Since the beginning, the Hamburg Grange February pot pie dinners have helped to support different groups and causes in the community. This year, all the proceeds from this event will be donated to the Our Town Foundation “Save Our Strand” campaign.
Our Town Foundation bought the Strand Theater in March of 2013 to save it and has been working on the “Save Our Strand” campaign in phases.
“The first phase was to raise money to buy a digital projector, and to install a new sound system and film screen at a cost of approximately $60,000. Our second phase was to raise the funding to replace the deteriorated roof and add insulation under the roof at an expense of approximately $28,000,” explained Deena Kershner, Our Town Foundation Executive Director.
The current phase of the campaign is renovations and rehab of the marquee, painting the facade of the property and stabilizing and repainting the brick wall. At this time, the marquee is deteriorating and rusting, and the mortar in the brinks has crumbled from years of water damage as well as bricks starting to fall off the side making this a situation that has to be dealt with immediately.
“Those two major projects consumed the donations to date; therefore we need to raise the funds to move forward with the [next] three mentioned projects,” said Kershner. “The estimate for the marquee is approximately $14,000 and the estimate to scrape and paint the front came in around $3,000. We are still waiting for quotes for the exterior brick wall. None of the improvements can be done without additional financial support.”
To help with this next step and with the overall project of restoring the theater, the Hamburg Grange has decided to benefit this campaign with this year’s dinner. Due to film commissions that need to be paid, Our Town Foundation must rely on the community support in order to complete the major improvements.
“The Grange is here to support the community,” said Michael Adams, Hamburg Grange President. “We felt that the theater is an important asset to the Hamburg community.”
The pot pie dinner will be at the Hamburg Area High School on Feb. 21 (snow date is Feb. 28) from 4 to 7 p.m.
“By doing this for Our Town Foundation at the high school, this gives them a chance to talk to a larger audience at one time and allows to really get their message out to the public,” said Adams. “Our dinners seem to be a big community reunion.”
Tickets are available at the door, or by calling Mike Adams at 610-562-5933 or purchasing at Our Town Foundation located at 335 State St., Hamburg. The Grange is also collecting items at the dinner for the Northern Berks Food Pantry.
“Our Town Foundation is very grateful for the amount of community support received to date. Several organizations have made significant contributions to the campaign, as they realize the theater is an important community facility. We have also received several corporate donations and many local stores supported our benefit auction we held last October by donating items to auction,” said Kershner. “We hope the community supports our efforts by attending the Grange’s pot pie dinner. If anyone would like to make a donation towards the capital campaign, they may do so by stopping by the Our Town Foundation office at 335 State Street in Hamburg.”
A total of $85,667 has been raised of the $200,000 goal through donations, pledges, special events and a grant from the Dept. of Community and Economic Development.
