The Trumbull Historical Society wants to let the sunshine in, and they’re looking for help from the community to achieve their goal.
For the first time, the society will be participating in Fairfield County’s Giving Day on Thursday, March 10.
Organized by the Fairfield County Community Foundation with the support of Bank of America, the 24-hour online giving competition is a coordinated effort to raise funds for hundreds of nonprofits serving Fairfield County.
The Trumbull Historical Society is hoping to raise enough money to install museum-grade UV filters on the windows of the building’s main room.
“The windows were covered as part of the building’s transformation to a museum many years ago,” explained Brian LaVoie, the society’s treasurer.
“With advances in the technology of UV filtering glass, many museums are turning to a more natural light model,” he added.
LaVoie said that, as an experiment, the society uncovered the windows during the past few events and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
“We’d like to make that a permanent change,” he said. “The room is used for lectures and events and the combination of natural light and the fireplace would make it a more welcome, usable space.”
The room is often rented out to other groups and organizations. “In addition,” he said, “if the windows were open, it would be more apparent to passersby when activities are taking place. We’d love to have more people join us.”
The cost is estimated at $600 for each of the four covered windows.
In an effort to raise the $2,400, donations will be accepted at fcgives.org betweenmidnight and 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. The Trumbull Historical Society will be listed under the tab for “Education.”
Donations can be made with credit or debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover. The minimum donation is $10.
“Every donation counts, no matter how large or small,” said coordinator Patti Woods. “We would particularly love to see people donate from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., during the ‘Rise and Shine Power Hour,’ when a prize of $1,000 will be donated to the newbie non-profit that raises the most money in that timeframe.”
To celebrate and keep tabs on the progress, there will be photos, trivia and ephemera posted on the historical society’s Facebook page (facebook.com/trumbull-historical-society) and Twitter account twitter.com/trumbullhistory) throughout the entire 24 hour event.
“We’re taking this opportunity to show off some of the really fun things in our collections that people have never seen before,” said Woods.
Donations may be made from midnight until 11:59 p.m. at fcgives.org Thursday, March 10.