Annual Report Your Story: Our Legacy - Gratiot County Community ...

Preserving Our HeritageThe Foundation was privilegedin 2011 to fund work at threecounty museums. The GratiotCounty Historical SocietyMuseum in Ithaca receiveda grant to paint its barn whichhouses largerartifacts. Thispainting willtake place assoon as theweather allowsin the spring of2012.A grant to theBreckenridge-Wheeler AreaHistoricalSocietyhelped replacelighting in themain museumand add airconditioning to the Drake Housemuseum. Society President DaveBriggs said, “The Gratiot CountyCommunity Foundation grantenabled our Society to makeneeded improvements that ourlimited budget would not be ableto handle. These improvements,in turn, make the museumexperience much nicer for ourpatrons and give the residents ofBreckenridge historical facilitiesthat they can be proud of.”9Dave Briggs, President of the Breckenridge-Wheeler Area Historical Society, installs lightingat the society’s museum in BreckenridgeUsing a Gratiot County CommunityFoundation grant, the St. LouisHistorical Society paintedmuch of the exterior of itsdepot-museum. The paint wascoordinated with the adjoiningTransportationPavilionand helpedunify themuseum site.Judy Root,President ofthe Society,said, “Oneof theresponsibilitiesof anyhistoricalsociety is tomaintain theitems andproperty thathave comeinto its possession. The depot,which was built in 1922, neededsome repairs and painting to helpmaintain the historical integrityof the building. Without thefunds from the Gratiot CountyCommunity Foundation, we wouldhave had to delay the needed workfor at least a couple of years.”Using Gratiot County CommunityFoundation grants, these threehistorical societies have beenenabled to preserve and improvetheir facilities.9