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	The Manchester Enterprise A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Group issues challenge to fund playground gear

Worth Repeating Inc. offers to give $5,000 if community will match it

By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers

PUBLISHED: February 15, 2007

Adequate funding to purchase and install new playground equipment in Carr Park is getting closer to reality, thanks to a challenge from a nonprofit group in Manchester.

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Worth Repeating Inc. has offered to put up $5,000 if the community will match it by an equal amount.

Village Council Trustee Kari Newman said the project only lacks about $10,000 to be complete, which is a relative drop in the bucket compared with the project's total price tag.

"A group I'm with called The Barn Raisers has been working for the last couple of years to raise the money," Newman said. "We're trying to put together $125,000."

Worth Repeating's Sharon Curtis said the challenge grant fit well with her group's mission of supporting worthy causes within the community.

"At our Jan. 4, meeting we made a joint board decision that it would be a good way for (the Barn Raisers) to raise funds if they could raise that amount," she said. "We are in the nonprofit field, so it seemed like a good thing to do."

Like many consignment shops, Worth Repeating accepts gently-used clothing, accessories and household goods for resale, but it is unique in having a volunteer staff and "recycling" its profits by making donations to meet various community needs.

"We put $25,000 back into the community last year," Curtis said. "Our board of directors looks at the requests people make of us, and our volunteers make suggestions about donations we could make."

Newman said the Barn Raisers will be about 60 percent to its fund-raising goal soon, which will make it far easier to apply for grants to make up the rest.

"We are well-poised for a grant in April, if we get the matching funds," she said. "The village is also seeking state matching funds for the entire project."

Village President Pat Vailliencourt said the village is acting as a fiduciary, or financial conduit, for any government grant money or local donations.

"All the funds we raise go through the village because it's actually for parks equipment," she said.

The $5,000 to match Worth Repeating's offer can come from almost any source, whether it's one big chunk from a corporation or many small, individual contributions.

"We'll take the donations anywhere we can get them," Vailliencourt said.

Curtis said she is not concerned so much about the source of the funding, but the end result.

"I think they are looking for individual donations, primarily," she said. "We're just interested in helping them reach their goal."

Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173.