You can see here plaster and paint are crumbling off the walls in the performance hall inside the Jefferson Center.
It's a reminder of April 16th's heavy storms that had water flowing into the building.
Executive Director, Cyrus Pace, says they immediately knew it was no small rain shower.
“We were running around, our $110,000 Steinway Piano and moving storage for the symphony which is a tenant of the building and frankly being very afraid of the water coming in and knowing we had to do something about it,” explained Pace.
Fast forward almost six months later and a crane is set up outside loading supplies on to the roof for repair.
The project totals $215,000.
$100,000 is a grant from Roanoke City and the rest was raised in just four months.
There is positive that came out of a leaky roof.
They say they probably wouldn't have started a capital campaign right now while the economy is this bad, so they really want to keep that positive energy going and that's prompted a lot of other changes.
“We have turned what as you said was a very negative situation, water pouring in and worrying about equipment into something that has really turned in to a jumping off point for really great things here,” said David Tenzer, Board Chairman.
After the roof work is finished they'll keep up the trend and work on more upgrades, especially since the community is throwing so much support behind the Jefferson Center.
“We realized that this building is important and we need to be sure that we protect it,” Pace said.
Even protect it from Mother Nature.
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