BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
EDISON – The Edison Memorial Tower Fund is seeking donations for renovation of the Edison Tower.
The non-profit organization has spent the better part of the last year trying to raise money for renovations to the Edison Memorial Tower and with the deadline for matching federal funds approaching, Nancy Zerbe, the head of the corp. is reaching out to businesses for donations.
“We still need another $200,000 by the end of June,” Zerbe said. “We who are optimists have not given up.”
The Tower Corp. was awarded an extension from the federal government to receive matching funds back in February, for the tower’s renovation. They stand to gain $379,000 from the federal government as long as they raise that amount themselves. The current amount stands around $179,000, Zerbe said.
While the township council approved the transfer of about $4,000 from previous Tower fund raisers to the Tower Corp. on May 23, Zerbe said the money must come from private sources so the Tower Corp. is reaching out to businesses to “step up” and help raise the money by the June 30 deadline.
“There has been talk of getting business leaders together and have a luncheon,” Zerbe said. “If we want to make this happen we have to step up to the plate.”
The community has stepped up in recent months, with donations coming from local school fundraisers and the like, however, the tower fund needs to meet the $379,000 mark to receive any money at all, Zerbe said. Anything less and they would lose the entire amount from the government.
Zerbe said that the tower corp. is targeting business to donate and said that she hopes the community could come up with the amount, which she said is really not that much money.
“It’s definitely time that if the community as a whole cares about this site and its heritage it’s time to step up and donate,” Zerbe said.
Zerbe said that there is a lot of interest in the project and that it has a potential in the long term but since the planning of the tower is in such a preliminary stage that it is hard for people to relate to it. She hopes to change that sentiment before the deadline.
“The timing is what we’ve been handed,” Zerbe said. “We got the best we could which is a six month extension to the end of June. We either raise the $379,000 … or we lose the opportunity.”
Zerbe said that the Tower Corp. needs long term support from the business and community leaders and get people excited about it.
The Tower Corp. has held several functions to do just that, including two wine and cheese parties with local businesses.
Zerbe said that the Tower has had a bad reputation in the past of not being able to get its act together and that she would not want to see this opportunity slip by.
“The good thing is that people haven’t given up yet,” Zerbe said. “I know it’s a long way to go but we’re still trying.”
As for Zerbe she will work to raise the money until the very last day she can.
“I’m staying optimistic until July 1,” Zerbe said.