Making A Historic Difference - Part Two

So last week I warned you I was going to ask you for money. Well, this is it--brace yourselves.

We would really appreciate it if you donated money to our Making A Historic Difference campaign.

(That wasn't so bad, was it?)

Thanks to our many generous supporters, we currently have $230,000 secured towards our $300,000 goal. The Jeffris Foundation granted us $100,000 for interior paint restoration, with the caveat that we must double-match that amount--that is, we need to raise $200,000 on our own to match their grant. Because we are owned by the City of Crawfordsville, the city has agreed to provide $30,000 for our efforts. Many private donors have given us $1,000 or more and will be honored with an engraved brick to be placed in front of the Carriage House. Lots of smaller donations have added up.

We're getting close to reaching our goal--but the last few milestones always seem to be the hardest to reach.

If you are able to give and want to be a part of this exciting effort to restore and preserve Lew's ornate interior decorations, won't you consider donating to the Making A Historic Difference campaign?

We've done our best to make the donation process as easy and painless as possible. You can donate from this blog post using your credit card. Our secure payments are processed through PayPal.

You can also donate by calling us at 765-362-5769 and providing your credit card information over the telephone.

Board Member Jerry Spillane was instrumental in helping us have a video created so you can learn more about the campaign. If you have four minutes, join me, Director Larry Paarlberg, and Jerry for a look around the Study.




It's exciting to be so close to reaching our goal. We hope you're excited too, and that you'll be with us through the whole process of restoring the Study interior to Lew's original vision. 

New! Online Donations & Memberships at our Website

Have you been planning to join the Lew Wallace Study Preservation Society, but just can't seem to find a stamp to mail us your check? Have you thought about doing it, but decided it was too much work? Are you looking for last-minute donations to write off on your taxes?

Here at the Study, we're operating on a small budget, and we're always looking for ways to make it easier for you to give us money. After all, it's your support that allows us to provide great programming such as this year's Civil War Lectures, the Civil War Encampment, the Lew Wallace Academy, and more. We're also trying to raise money to match a grant that will allow us to restore the interior paint of the Study to how Lew had it.

So this week we are unveiling online donations and purchases of memberships via Paypal. Just visit the Join and Support page of our website and choose either to donate online or to purchase a membership for yourself or someone you love.

Keep in mind that, while we have done some testing with this, it is still in early stages. If you experience any difficulty, please email us or comment here. If you are purchasing a gift membership, we need to know the recipient's name and address. Hopefully you'll see an "Instructions to Seller" box where you can enter that information. If that isn't the case, please email us at study@ben-hur.com to give us that information, and to alert us that the instructions box isn't showing up.

We are always interested in finding new ways to keep you informed about what's going on here and to get you engaged in our mission. Hopefully this addition to our offerings will benefit you as well as us!