An out-of-town donor swept in this week with a big check for Explorium Denton, a local nonprofit children’s museum.
Pat Smith, treasurer for the nonprofit’s board of directors, said painting, renovations and other construction projects are back in high gear after he deposited a $75,000 check Friday.
“We let the contractor know,” Smith said, adding that crews would install lighting this weekend and do some painting.
The donor wishes to remain anonymous, Smith said.
The nonprofit’s leadership recently announced that unexpected renovation costs and slow giving had eaten into the museum’s reserves. Executive director Anyah Martinez said earlier this month the board might have to pull the plug on a project that's been six years in the making.
“We’re really close to that $100,000 mark we need to keep going,” Martinez said.
The museum is located in a 7,000-square-foot space in Stonehill Center in north Denton. With the cash infusion, Smith said the museum could open by the end of August.
“The chicken coop is 70 percent complete,” Smith said of one of the museum’s largest exhibits in an agriculture-themed area for toddlers.
Other exhibits will include a musical instrument forest, and a teepee where children can use a light table to experiment with color and light and X-rays of animal and human skeletons. The “How Things Work” area will have microscopes and a magnetic wall, and the “Make and Think” spot will get kids experimenting in a hands-on space with tools and a sewing machine. Another area is designed for play — a climbing structure, big blocks for building and toys that inspire making mechanical contraptions.
Work on the exhibits and the museum had stalled, but not before a crew erected a sign outside the space in June. It caught the eye of motorists on Interstate 35.
Martinez said callers have dialed the museum daily, asking about admission costs, hours of operation and programs.
The anonymous donor doesn’t live in Denton or have young children, Martinez said. The donor has loose ties with the Denton community, and has already put the board in touch with other possible donors.
The donor contacted the museum after a story ran in the Denton Record-Chronicle about the financial roadblock, Martinez said. The same donor gave the museum its seed money, and Martinez had sent him an update that didn’t request money, but reported that “things were getting tight.”
“I’ve been praying constantly,” Martinez said. “I finally just said, ‘God, send help.’ You know what happened? The donor sent me the email and it said, ‘Help is on the way.'”
The children’s museum has a GoFundMe campaign that had raised an additional $1,105 by Friday evening.
Martinez said she hopes the large donation will lead others to make smaller donations.
Once the museum opens, officials have tentatively set admission prices at $6 per adult and $5 per child. Martinez said previously she hopes to get a grant that would allow families with SNAP benefits to get into the museum free.
Potential donors can call the museum at 940-595-4001.
For more information on giving, visit www.exploriumdenton.org.
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