Here's how you can donate to help rebuild the Sandusky State Theatre

SANDUSKY — A local nonprofit wants to ensure the Sandusky State Theatre can make an encore performance. Board members representing the Erie County Community Foundation recently organized a fundraising campaign dedicated to covering costs for theater-related repairs. Known as the Sandusky State Theatre Rebuilding Fund, people can visit eriefoundation.org/theatre-fund to make a contribution. It's the first and only official fundraiser for this purpose, officials said. The initiative stems from a devastating weather-related incident on June 10, when a windstorm swept through Sandusky and pummeled the iconic brick building. The impact caused substantial damage to the performance, seating and backstage areas and its mural. Each day since, several crews have been on-site to remove the rubble, prepping for upcoming demolition work. Many details about the rebuild — such as "How long will the work take?" and "What's this all going to cost?" — remain unknown. Sounding off Two officials supervising this effort spoke about the fundraiser and its overall importance • Beth Maiden, Erie County Community Foundation executive director The foundation has had a close relationship with the theater for all of its 25 years (that the foundation has been in existence), providing over $283,000 in financial support and helping during the days the theater went dark. My staff and I were devastated by the damage, like everyone else, and wanted to find a way that we could help immediately. After the discussion, we offered to manage donations (for the theater). We are handling all of the accounting and gift acknowledgment to donors and using our (nonprofit) status for doing so. We hope that this helps ease the burden on (the theater's) staff so that they may focus on rebuilding. There are no fees being charged for this by the foundation, and the money is the theater's whenever they request it. No donation is too small in these efforts. This is the community's theater, and we all should be invested in helping to see that it is rebuilt. • Chris Parthemore, Sandusky State Theatre executive director Shortly after the theater was damaged, Beth reached out and offered to have the community foundation handle the intake of donations so that we could focus our efforts on the building. It was an incredibly kind gesture, and we are thankful to the community foundation for all their support. The Erie County Community Foundation has been a supporter for nonprofits, and particularly the arts, during my entire time with the theater. They are an essential partner and have been incredibly supportive of the theater. The theater has yet to begin putting together any organized fundraising at this point. Our focus has been on securing the building and making the surrounding area safe for everyone. The community foundation's help in taking in donations has allowed up to focus on this first step. The support of the community, both from individuals and organizations, has been incredible. It really shows us how much the theater means to the community and how important it is for us to do a great job in putting it back together. We appreciate everyone's support. This is an opportunity for Sandusky to continue its momentum, and we are proud to be part of its treasured past but excited to be an important piece of its future as well.