HAMBURG – The Our Town Foundation, an organization dedicated to revitalizing downtown Hamburg, was awarded $50,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development, according to Senator David G. Argall and Rep. Jerry Knowles. This grant is part of the Supporting Elm and Main (SEAM) grant program, which was created to support community revitalization organizations that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-term shutdown of our economy.
“The pandemic brought an incredible amount of uncertainty into the Our Town Foundation’s fundraising efforts to revitalize Hamburg,” said Argall. “I’m very pleased they were chosen to receive this grant funding. This organization works very diligently to improve their home, and this extra support will help them continue those efforts despite the odds stacked against them by the pandemic.”
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Our Town Foundation’s fundraising efforts have been curtailed severely,” said Rep. Jerry Knowles (R-Schuylkill/Berks/Carbon). “This grant helps to revitalize downtown Hamburg. Our goal should be to make our community attractive for business growth and job creation. Thank you to the Department of Community and Economic Development for selecting us to receive this grant.”
“The past year has been really hard financially on our organization as all of our fundraising events were canceled and the Hamburg Strand Theater, which we own, was shuttered,” said Deena Kershner, the Executive Director of the Our Town Foundation. “The Theater still remains closed so we lost a year’s worth of ticket and concession sales income. Our largest fundraising event, the Taste of Hamburg-er Festival, was canceled in 2020 and at this time we are uncertain if we will be able to host the event in 2021. Funds we are receiving from the SEAM program will assist with paying our ongoing expenses allowing us to continue serving our community and the local businesses.”
Contact: Jim Brugger
717.787.2637