Leadership Upshur has scheduled three days to complete its service project, which will help bring a new children’s museum to Main Street.
Several representatives from Leadership Upshur attended the Jan. 15 Upshur County Commission meeting to review their plans for the project. Tara Saenz, financial center manager for Citizens Bank of West Virginia and a Leadership Upshur participant, said their class is recruiting everyone they know to help get the new museum ready to go.
“We’ve partnered with Appalachian Impact, who are opening the museum, to provide some manual labor, and we’re also looking to secure some financial sponsorships for some of the interactive museum spaces,” Saenz said. “We have been reaching out to local businesses to see if there are any partnerships available to secure materials and supplies.”
Their workdays are scheduled for Jan. 30, Jan. 31 and Feb. 5.
“We’re all going to try to pitch in — we’re bringing our spouses. The more help, the better,” Saenz said.
Eric Poling, Upshur County facilities director, said he was waiting to hear back from several businesses to see if they could donate needed supplies and materials.
“I’ve reached out to Lowe’s, and I got a letter I want to send them today. I’ve talked to a Valspar rep about getting some supplies — they’re usually pretty good about donating a lot of paint, maybe some supplies. We’ll see, but the paint is what they usually like to donate,” Poling said. “I reached out to Home Depot; they are supposed to contact me today, and Sherwin-Williams told me they were maxed out on donations at the moment.”
They plan to paint several rooms in blues, yellows, pinks and a teal color.
“We’re going to repaint the whole ceiling. There will be a lot of priming, some patching — I think we’re looking at, altogether, primer and paint, about 25 gallons,” Poling said.
Upshur County Development Authority director Brandon Tenney said Leadership Upshur has worked a little differently this year because he and Tammy Reger, president of the Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce, have taken over the program.
“We have one more official meeting for the program left, and then the service project as well. We’ve changed it a little bit this year, with Tammy and I running it. Previously, we scheduled service project day for just one day, and we found that that didn’t always work out,” Tenney said. “So, as you see, we have three days scheduled instead of one. I think it’s definitely made an impact.”
This year’s class of Leadership Upshur will also have its graduation ceremony during the Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner in March.
“The last thing we’ll do is graduate at Tammy’s chamber dinner; this will be the first class to do that. So we’re excited, and Tammy is excited,” Tenney said. “We’ve got some things lined up to be able to make that a special moment, and it will be special just being the first class to graduate at the chamber dinner.”
