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General News: Residents Show Support for NYMA
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| Joanne Incognoli (l), seen here talking with NYMA alumna Lana Melendez, worked with volunteers who brought in more than 500 signatures on Tuesday. |
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| Rachel Skigen collected all of the signature petitions that volunteers had compiled. |
May 20, 2010
In just 36 hours this week, nearly 2,000 Cornwall area residents stepped up to show their support for the New York Military Academy, a move designed to endorse a novel fundraising effort by a group of NYMA alumni and parents.
On Thursday morning, the fundraisers, armed with documents that included the Cornwall petitions, met with Donald Trump, the real estate magnate who graduated from NYMA, in order to gauge his interest in saving the academy. According to two of the participants, they left empty-handed.
Donald Trump Declines to Donate to NYMA 2.0
Alumni Rich Pezzullo said Thursday that Trump is not interested in donating any of the $7 million needed to keep the school operating next year. “We know for sure that Donald Trump is not in the deal,” Pezzullo said after leaving the meeting. “But we still have a lot more people to contact who are potential large donors.”
The alumni and parents have formed a subcommittee of the NYMA board of trustees and it is their intention to raise two million dollars by June 15th that would lead to the implementation of a revitalization plan dubbed NYMA 2.0 The board is currently setting up a foundation to support the NYMA 2.0 fundraising goal while at the same time dealing with its financial obligations to creditors that could result in the closing of the school at the end of June, according to board spokesperson Michael Lopes.
The Community Wants to Keep NYMA Alive
After meeting with alumni who are promoting NYMA 2.0 last Saturday, a group of Cornwall residents began gathering signatures Tuesday morning to show local support for the continued operation of the military academy that has been part of the landscape for 121 years. On Wednesday, Rachel Skigen collected all the petitions that had been circulated by a band of volunteers – a total of 1,850 signatures – and sent them off to the meeting with Trump.
Asked what the next step is, Skigen said the group doesn’t have an official structure yet, but that for her, she is not giving up. “I don’t think anyone is going to throw their hands up,” she said Thursday afternoon. “It’s clearly indicated by the level of response we received in a 36-hour period that there is a desire in the community to move forward and keep it alive.”
The NYMA 2.0 group has a lot of suggestions about how people can help its fundraising efforts. They have created a Facebook page that is regularly updated at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124768384208405&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=124768384208405&v=info&ref=ts
Comments:
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This is so awesome!! 1850 people? I didn't even know there were that many people that lived in Cornwall.
By the way, I turned off Main Street for the first time in 20 years last weekend, and got to see how beautiful this town really is. I'll be honored to be considered part of the community if we are able to keep NYMA open and I can donate myself full time to the school.
We were able to get the www.nymafoundation.org website up, please go there for information and to see what our goals are, both in saving NYMA and the cooperative effort with the town.
We can do this together, you guys showed that you are more than just NYMA's address on an envelope.
Lana Melendez
NYMA 89
posted by Lana Melendez on 05/21/10 at 2:15 PM
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Pledge NYMA only through Nymafoundation.org. Donations directly to NYMA will go toward paying of debt or current operations, but won't guarantee that NYMA will stay open. NYMA Foundation is asking for PLEDGES ONLY. $5 million dollars in pledges/donations can ensure NYMA opening. 6/15 deadline! $$ will be transferred only AFTER a controlling number of the trustees resign and Foundation board members are seated.
posted by Rachael Skigen on 05/24/10 at 8:23 AM
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