Brooke County Arts Council gets Wal-Mart grant

WELLSBURG -- The Brooke County Arts Council, the parent organization for the Brooke Hills Playhouse, has been awarded $2,000 under the Wal-Mart Community Grants program.

A check for the grant amount was presented to arts council President Julia Barnhart of Wellsburg during a ceremony Tuesday at the Weirton Wal-Mart by store manager Jerry Farkasovsky.

Speaking for Walmart and the company's associates, Farkasovsky told the Brooke County Arts Council board members, "You can be proud to be a Wal-Mart grantee because we use our strengths and collaborate with organizations like yours to transform the systems on which we all rely."

Farkasovsky said that Wal-Mart Community Grants are awarded in the three priority areas of "opportunity, sustainability and community."

At the event, Barnhart said, "The Brooke County Arts Council and the Brooke Hills Playhouse are pleased to be recognized by Wal-Mart for our 48 years of providing area actors and technicians with opportunities to develop their talent, helping to sustain the historical pre-Civil War apple barn that is the playhouse, and serving our community by providing affordable entertainment for area residents and their families."

Also on hand to accept the check were arts council board member Emily Hores, who wrote the grant application, and Diana Mendel, council treasurer. Both are Wellsburg residents.

Barnhart noted that the grant is especially appreciated this year. "We're still recovering from the damage done to the playhouse by the spring storms that forced us to postpone the opening of our season, and this grant will be put to good use on the barn," Barnhart said.

According to Barnhart, the Brooke County Arts Council continues to accept donations for the playhouse's "Save the Barn" campaign to repair and update the facility, and can be sent to P.O. Box 186, Wellsburg, WV 26070, writing "Save the Barn" on the memo line of a check or money order.

Wal-Mart's Community Grants are part of a long company tradition, In his letter to the arts council announcing the grant award, Kabir Kumar, Wal-Mart's senior director for community giving, stated, "By receiving this grant, you are part of a long history of Walmart's commitment to giving back to the communities where we operate."

Kumar quoted one of the company's founders. "Mrs. Helen Walton used to say, 'It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived,'" he said.