I’m very pleased to announce that the Save the Newspapers fundraiser dinner last month was a success. With roughly 140 supporters joining us for the evening, the event raised over $5,000 dollars for the museum and our project to digitize the historic newspapers in the archives before they crumble to dust. The evening fundraiser consisted of musical entertainment, over 40 raffle prizes, a wine pull, and a catered meal from Dickey’s BBQ which included some fabulous brisket. A huge thank you to Melissa Nelson, her family, the board members and volunteers involved, those who supported the event, and our sponsors for making the 2016 annual fundraiser an overwhelming success.
The project is not an inexpensive endeavor but I cannot think of too many worthwhile efforts with long term benefits to the preservation of local history than this. The long-term goal is about $42,000 to digitally save over 100 years of Bellevue, Papillion, Gretna, and Springfield newspapers. While there are several grants I have written to help, if you are computer savvy and interested in giving, we have started a support page which can be found at https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/save-the-historic-newspapers. Donations for as little as $10 can be made there and these funds will be earmarked to specifically help save the newspapers. If we raise enough, we can begin the project as soon as late this year and begin to have our historic newspapers preserved on a similar level to that of the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. As members, thank you for your support on this project and all our other projects to help keep our local history alive in Sarpy County.See you at the museum,
Ben Justman