Help the Steel Yard Raise The Roof

The beginning of summer brought some bad weather to the Ocean State, especially on June 8th when an overnight storm uprooted trees, knocked out power, flattened highway signs and billboards and caused many of us to run for cover in our basements.

One victim of that storm was the Steel Yard. Their Middle Studio lost one-half of its roof along with its skylights. The corrugated metal peeled back like a sardine can and landed out in the Yard. Also damaged was the South Studio, home to tenant-sculptor Brower Hatcher's Mid Ocean Studio. There, a tree broke off at the roof line and wedged itself into the skylight system cracking most of the glass. We are very grateful that no one was hurt and that the damage was not greater. But now our already leaky roof is completely compromised and it will not last another winter.

The Middle Studio is the center of their workforce training programs and Public Projects fabrication- you know-those locally designed, sourced and built bike racks, trashcans, tree guards and fences that are found all across the state. We need this space to be fully operational to continue these critical programs that are training the next generation of skilled workers and keeping small scale manufacturing alive in Rhode Island.

While the Middle Studio is next on the site redevelopment schedule, the price tag of a whopping $280,000 is a long way from being raised. The loss of the roof changes our ability to wait until the rest of the funds are raised.

Insurance will cover replacement of the damaged portion of the roof but only to the extent of current conditions, and we are not willing to waste those funds.

SO, we have decided to raise the roof now, the right way - with insulated panels and plenty of day lighting to support our artists and fabricators working beneath.

The price to do this? $110,000

To date we have $30,000 committed to the roof-and we anticipate the insurance will cover an additional $30,000. That leaves $50,000 to raise.

A generous donor has come forward with a challenge gift.For every two dollars we raise, our donor will match $1 - up to $10,000

All we have to do is raise $40,000. Not much if we do it together!

So this is where you come in:

A gift of $20 will become $30
A gift of 50 will become $75
A gift of $100 will become $150

You get the picture.

Please help the Steel Yard RAISE THE ROOF! Visit http://www.thesteelyard.org/ for more information.