Lowe's and NTHP grant St. Lawrence $100,000
Posted Friday June 09, 2006
TWO OF MAINE’S HISTORIC LANDMARKS RECEIVE GRANTS FROM LOWE’S FOR RESTORATION PROJECTS: FRIENDS OF THE ST.

LAWRENCE CHURCH RECEIVES $100,000
AND CAMDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY RECEIVES $50,000

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Today, Lowe’s and the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that they are awarding $150,000 in grants to fund restoration projects at the Friends of the St. Lawrence Church Parish Hall, in Portland, and the Camden Public Library’s Camden Harbor Park and Amphitheatre, in Camden. The projects were among ten recipients in the Northeast United States selected by Lowe’s and the National Trust to receive grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. Funding for these grants was provided by Lowe’s through a $1 million contribution to the National Trust.

“With the support and generosity of our vendors, Lowe’s is proud to support efforts aligned with our mission of improving the places where our customers, employees and families live, work and play,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation. “Focusing on priority projects of the National Trust for Historic Preservation enables us to make dramatic and long-lasting improvements to these communities.”

“The National Trust has benefited from its fruitful partnership with Lowe’s for more than six years through the sale of American Tradition paint in Lowe’s stores, and in various other capacities,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We are so pleased that our partnership has been extended to also benefit these very deserving preservation projects. Lowe’s has proven that it is a good steward of our nation’s history.”

The Friends of the St. Lawrence Church will use the $100,000 grant to fund the repair and restoration of the masonry wall façade of the St. Lawrence Parish Hall (1897), a local Landmark and part of the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center - a cultural center for Portland’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood that provides an affordable and accessable venue for diverse offerings of theater, dance, music, film, meetings, and workshops. Since 1996, the Friends of St. Lawrence Church have raised more than $1.5 million to bring back the historic church, which re-opened to the public in 2001 and currently serves 30,000 patrons annually.

The Camden Public Library will use the $50,000 grant to fund Phase II of a $800,000 preservation project to complete the restoration of the Camden Harbor Park Amphitheatre (c. 1928-1935). Phase II includes installing new plantings and sculptures and restoring old sculpture in Fauns Garden and making improvements to the gatehouse for use as a boxoffice and information kiosk. The Camden Harbor Park and Amphitheatre – designed by renowned landscape architects, Fredericl Law Olmsted, Jr. and Fletcher Steele, respectively – lie adjacent to the Camden Public Library and welcome thousands of visitors annually for concerts, arts and crafts shows, weddings and festivals.

Other grant recipients include: Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association, Concord, MA; The Gloucester Adventure, Inc., Gloucester, MA; Museum of Afro-American History, Boston, MA; Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History, Brooklyn, NY; Pearl S. Buck International, Perkasie, PA; Newport Restoration Foundation, Middletown, RI; St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center, Woonsocket, RI; Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, Richmond, VT. To read more about each grant recipient, visit www.nationaltrust.org.

The National Trust’s Northeast Office identified several important historic preservation projects in a ten-state region from Maine to Delaware, which met the established criteria: property is at least 50 years old; property must be open to the public; funds must be used to support a bricks-and-mortar project. Project proponents then presented strong proposals to a selection committee comprised of Lowe’s and National Trust representatives who made the final selections. The National Trust Northeast Office will work with each of the grant recipients to complete the projects over the next year.

Lowe’s is a proud supporter of Habitat for Humanity International, American Red Cross, United Way of America, and the Home Safety Council, in addition to numerous non-profit organizations and programs that help communities across the country. Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation awards more than $3 million annually to diverse organizations across the United States. Lowe’s also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe’s Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative. Lowe’s is a FORTUNE® 50 company with fiscal year 2004 sales of $36.5 billion and more than 1,175 stores in 49 states. For more information, visit Lowes.com/community.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that tell America’s story. Staff at the Washington, D.C. headquarters, six regional offices and 26 historic sites work with the Trust’s 270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states. For more information, visit the Trust’s web site at www.nationaltrust.org.