Local Businesses Step Up
Center for the Arts Gains Support
 Photo courtesy of Ludington Daily News
Contractor Don Jensen and his crew remove the stained glass windows from the United Methodist Church. They will be stored and used in the church’s new building on Bryant Road. |
The Ludington Area Arts Council (LAAC) has had plenty of reasons to be thankful these days. Not only are they approaching the closing of the purchase of the new Center for the Arts, the Ludington United Methodist Church building on Harrison Street in Ludington, but they also made a “haul” of donations from many artsminded people in the community with the recent “Peddle your Metal for the Arts” project through Padnos Scrap Iron and Metal’s Pere Marquette Yard on US 10 between Ludington and Scottville.
Padnos approached the arts council in March with their offer to help raise money for the proposed Center for the Arts by accepting metal donations from local businesses and individuals in April and May, with the proceeds to go to the arts council.
LAAC sent out letters to local businesses, and many stepped up to donate, including Dow Ludington Operations, which generously donated the proceeds of its scrap metal for the entire month of April.
"Dow’s philosophy is to invest in the communities where we operate and to encourage them to invest in themselves. Projects that impact a great number of people; support vital efforts to enhance education; and make substantial, visible community improvements are priorities for us,”said Bill Berrett, general manager, Dow Ludington Operations. “As such, Dow is proud to be a contributor to the Ludington Center for the Arts project through the Arts Council’s scrap metal drive. We are pleased for the opportunity to support this future community asset that will provide music and art education resources for students in our area as well as cultural enrichment and enjoyment for residents and visitors.”
There were many individuals, as well, who loaded up their trucks and trailers and brought their scrap metal to be weighed and recycled.
Jane Carpenter, fundraising co-chair for the LAAC, was ecstatic when the results were tabulated.
“We are grateful to Padnos for approaching us with this wonderful program,” she said. “We want to thank them and everyone who took advantage of this creative way of generating funds for the Center for the Arts. It is our fondest hope that everyone in the community will participate in creating the center for the Arts and creative fundraisers like this are a great help to making that happen. We are particularly thankful to Dow Chemical, for giving the campaign such a very big boost, which resulted in the campaign raising far more than we had expected.
The scrap metal drive was the brainchild of Lydia Schmock, Padnos’ Pere Marquette Yard manager.
“Louis Padnos Iron and Metal is a supporter of education and arts throughout Michigan. We are pleased to help support our local communities to grow and prosper and to promote the recycling of our valuable resources.” said Schmock.
Padnos is very active in the community, offering the fundraising capabilities of a scrap metal drive to many nonprofit organizations. The LAAC was one of many groups to benefit from the program, which raised over $10,000 for the arts council’s new Center for the Arts on South Harrison Street.
“We have some programs already lined up,” said Bill Carpenter, LAAC board president. “We’re very excited at the prospects that being in our Center for the Arts can bring, but we are still a long way from having the funding we need to make renovations and improvements on the century-old building.”
For more information on the Ludington Area Center for the Arts, contact Bill Carpenter at (231) 510-4147.
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