Fundraising goal for new media center, meeting room met for Friends of New Troy

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

In addition to celebrating the return of its ever-popular indoor flea market since before COVID-19 hit, members of the Friends of New Troy (FONT) Board of Directors were also celebrating the growth of what has become a thriving community gathering spot Saturday, Feb. 11.

For the past several months, FONT has been raising money and applying for grants to reach its goal of $43,550 to renovate the meeting room and convert the existing library into a future Activities & Media Center in the Friends of New Troy Community Center at 13372 California Road in New Troy.

FONT had received three grants: Frederick S. Upton Foundation, $5,000; Spectrum Health Lakeland Foundation, $6,640 and Berrien Community Foundation for Good, $5,000. There were also the contributions from the community, including the single biggest contribution made by Mark and Barb Pries of $10,000.

The library mostly had books for lending and computers in it. For the media center, Victoria Petroff, vice president of the board, said they’ve received a donation from Comcast and has 10 Chromebooks that will be loaned out to the community.

“It’ll be more of a sit-down space…Miss Ollie, who does our Wiggles and Giggles Story Hour, she’s going to have a whole corner to herself now, with age-appropriate toys that are going to be more wall mounted and interactive things,” Petroff said. Already, the meeting room has been renovated. Petroff said they’re waiting on furniture for the media center, but the architectural parts were redone.

“We were holding our meeting Dec. 15, and everything was kind of at a standstill and we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll pick it back up after the holidays’ and all the grant funding came in over the holidays… We were thinking that was going to be what we’d working on this year - but we’re done,” she said. She credits Lorraine Hanover, who wrote the grants.

Visitors to Saturday’s market in the Friends of New Troy Community Center could view the two rooms, as well as renderings of the future center. The market, which featured over 20 vendors selling everything from sweet treats for Valentine’s Day to jewelry and handcrafted items, was a part of FONT’s Gather and… series of events.

Marlene Newmiller, the board’s secretary, who was selling her eggs, soap, lotion bars, body butter, hot pepper-infused honey, laundry soap and deodorant, of Newmiller Farms said she gathered the vendors for the market while Petroff handled the promotional side.

“We wanted to keep it simple for now because it’s a lot of work,” she said, and added that volunteers are needed to put on future markets.

FONT waived the table/booth fee for vendors and asked for the donation of a non-perishable food item for its Little Free Food Pantry.

Newmiller, who, along with board member Jessica Nance and Petroff was part of implementing it, said the center has had the pantry since last October.

“The food pantry is something we’ve wanted for a long time because we do see a need in the community and we want to serve the need for our neighbors,” she said.

Already, the pantry has grown from being in a little cabinet to on big metal shelves.

After meeting with Keri Haskins, Neighbor by Neighbor’s new executive director, Petroff said that she, Nance and Newmiller learned about how food security is “a growing issue in our area.”

“They brought to our attention that funding is being cut for Meals on Wheels, that they’re not getting the grant funding they usually do, all the pandemic assistance that was being given for help with food is now being cut back – and so that’s happening at a time when inflation has increased so significantly,” she said.

Petroff added that it’s mostly affecting seniors, which makes up a large demographic in the area.

Visitors to the center are welcome to donate to or pick up items anytime the center is open.

Petroff said that surveys are available throughout the center and will soon be available online to elicit suggestions from the public on how the center can continue to be improved.

Petroff said she started volunteering at the center when Ron Schaffer, a volunteer at the library, passed away as a “tribute to Ron - and it’s kind of grown from there.”

She also attended school there when the building was a sixth grade in the early ‘90s.

“There’s something about this place…I feel it’s a throwback to that small town ‘Let get together and let’s get things done,’” she said.