“Step Up!” capital campaign exceeds goal with generous donations from the community
On Sunday, June 5, the Morgan-Manning House in Brockport was filled with over 100 people and a festive mood of accomplishment. It was a celebration of the successful “Step Up” capital campaign that was launched in April, 2015 to repair the cantilevered staircase in the historic home built in 1854. A campaign goal of $25,000 was set to stabilize the staircase from the second floor to the third floor attic. (See “’Step Up!’ capital campaign launched at historic Morgan-Manning House,” Suburban News, Hamlin-Clarkson Herald, April 5, 2014 at www.westsidenewsny.com).
The campaign exceeded its goal by $12,000, capping out at $37,000. The success, well beyond expectation, represents the generosity of over 200 individual donors plus several organizations and businesses. They responded to a challenge from the Western Monroe Historical Society (WMHS) board of trustees to its members and citizens in the Brockport area.
That challenge was made in 2015, the 50th anniversary year of the founding of the WMHS board by volunteers who restored the home a year after a fire nearly destroyed it in 1964. The challenge was “to take the same initiative and pay forward the benefits received in the treasured home for fifty years.”
The extra funds enabled the repair of the neglected belvedere (commonly called the “cupola”) and preserved the historic family signatures on its walls. Repair and restoration has also been extended to the WMHS office area of the home, which suffered years of water damage. The work on the stairway and extended areas was done in part by contractors and also by many volunteers including Valery Ciciotti, Gordy Fox, Brian Fox, Larry Humm, Kevin McCarthy, Harry Shifton and Gary Skoog.
The capital campaign was chaired by Alicia Fink, president of the board at the time and currently the volunteer historian for WMHS. Gordy Fox supervised the entire project and invested many hours of work. At the celebration event he was presented with the first-ever “Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award.”
