Contact: M Rodgers
Telephone: 716-440-1106
Email: mrodgers@buffalocentralterminal.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 28, 2012
Event Date: Monday, 12/31/12 – 11:00 am
Location: Buffalo Central Terminal – 495 Paderewski Drive, Buffalo, NY 14212
COMMUNITY TO HAND OFF HISTORIC LIGHT FIXTURE FROM FUNDS RAISED ON NEW YEARS EVE
Buffalo, New York, December 28, 2012 – After posting about an original light sconce found at an antique dealer in Toronto from the Buffalo Central Terminal on Facebook, Christopher Byrd of Broadway-Fillmore Alive!, Greg Witul, Karen Siuda McCann (an ex-pat living in Austin, TX) and Tony Fracasso of SpeakUp WNY got busy and created a ChipIn site to pull in donations from $5 – $500 to acquire the light.
Originally priced at $9,000, the antique dealer, Robert Navarro, reduced the price to $3,000 if it were returned to the Central Terminal Restoration Corp (CTRC). In the spirit of WNY community, it only took two weeks to collect $3,696 in donations from 105 people from Buffalo to Alden to North Carolina, Virginia and California. The community-based effort came about since the CTRC could not afford the purchase of the light since it needed to acquire funds for a complete roof replacement. That’s when the spirit of Western New Yorkers, along with ex-pats and re-pats took over the acquisition.
Mr. Navarro was very impressed with the results and time. So much so that he has now designated the community to take the funds raised ($3,000) and donate them back to the Buffalo Central Terminal’s roof replacement campaign. The balance of the funds raised were also donated back to the CTRC’s Adopt-A-Tile campaign in the name of the community and a special Veterans Memorial Tile in the name of Lt Colonel Matt Louis Urban, the United States Army’s most combat decorated soldier of World War II and namesake of the Matt Urban Center in the Broadway Fillmore District.
On Monday, December 31, 2012 at 11:00 am, Broadway Fillmore Alive, along with many of the donors who contributed to the fund, will host a press conference at the Buffalo Central Terminal as the light passes from the community to the CTRC. The event not only provides media to witness this pass-off of history, but becomes a tremendous way to end one year while looking forward to further steady progress of the rehabilitation of the Historic Buffalo Central Terminal in 2013.
“On behalf of the Buffalo Central Terminal and the Central Terminal Restoration Corp, I thank all in the community – near and far – for this effort. We have a great deal of work to do on the structure but it’s having a group of dedicated folks like you, with the everlasting passion for the Buffalo Central Terminal, who have worked so hard to bring this treasure back home that makes it all worthwhile!” – Marilyn Rodgers, Executive Director/CEO of the Central Terminal Restoration Corp.
The Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC) was founded in 1997 to oversee the stabilization and restoration of the New York Central Terminal in Buffalo, New York. The Terminal complex includes an 18-acre site that hosts an art deco office tower, passenger concourse and four-story baggage building. In 2011 the CTRC released its master plan that outlined various infrastructure needs and development opportunities. The mission of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation is to ensure that the original grandeur of the Terminal is available to current and future generations. Visit www.BuffaloCentralTerminal.org for more information.
If you would like more information about this topic,
please contact M Rodgers at 716-440-1106 or email at mrodgers@buffalocentralterminal.org.
