Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum receives $1 million donation
The Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum on Thursday got a $1 million boost for the construction of a children’s museum.
The Morey Foundation is making a flat donation of $1 million to the museum and pledges it will match up to $500,000 of any additional donations made by other organizations or individuals in the community.
It will donate $2 for every dollar made by a school or church organization, according to a foundation press release.
Lon Morey, president of the Morey Foundation, said he wants to encourage schools and churches to get involved because children will benefit most from the museum — so he wants them to be able to help create it.
“The more we can get them involved in the building of it, the more they can feel an ownership of it,” he said.
Jennifer Fields, chairperson of the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum board of directors, said churches and schools will be more likely to organize fundraisers if they know their donations will end up being tripled.
“People with little kids can’t write $25,000 checks usually, but they can hold bake sales or hold car washes and make triple the money they would normally make,” she said. “So they don’t feel like, ‘Oh, it’s just $100.’ It turns into 300.”
Fields said their ultimate goal is to raise between three and four million dollars, so The Morey Foundation’s donation could provide about half of it.
She said the money will be used for pre-construction of the children’s museum, including design, architectural services and hiring staff. According to the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum’s website, the group hopes to have the children’s museum open in 2011.
Morey said he is confident his donation will have a positive effect on the community and he has a lot of faith in the organization’s leaders.
“I met with them three or four times and their enthusiasm is as strong today as it was in the beginning,” he said. “I think this was sort of a pipe dream at first and now they can see it becoming a reality, and they’re really excited.”
