In the final days the donations came, from $25,000 given by one person to a container of spare change from a man who could afford little.

Those contributions helped the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend meet a crucial March 31 fundraising deadline. The stakes were huge: the center had 10 days at the end of March to raise $130,000 or it would lose $1.1 million in grants that would bring its decade-long building campaign to a close.

As the last days of the campaign ticked by the donations rolled in, enabling the center to not just meet its fundraising target, but surpass it by $28,000.

“We’re all kind of in shock that we really did it,” capital campaign manager Lenore Goldstein said yesterday. “There were times in the campaign when we weren’t sure we’d make it.”

Reaching the finish line for the center’s $12.8-million building campaign has been a rollercoaster ride for its staff and board. As of December, there was still $750,000 to raise and only three months left. Then an unexpected gift from a foundation bumped the figure down to $545,000, and staff started the new year optimistic about meeting the goal. But by February they’d fallen short of their target, and people were worried.

“You go to bed at night thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, how are we going to do this?’” said Stan Cummings, the center’s executive director. “We had certain prospects that we had been talking with that we thought had the capacity. Some came through and others didn’t. And then there were surprises.”

One surprise was the young man who collected his spare change—a total of $8.78—and brought it to the center in an ice cream container. The man arrived in Port Townsend about six months ago by kayak, Cummings said, and had $30 to his name when he made his donation.

“It brought tears to your eyes,” he said. “He’s living hand to mouth.”

During the campaign’s final stretch, the center ran weekly ads in a local newspaper showing the gap still remaining and reached out to potential donors through email. Goldstein said donations in the last days of the campaign came mostly from local residents who have been able to see the value of the center firsthand.

“Because the facility is open to the public, people get a chance to come and see what’s going on,” she said. “They see the boat shop filled with people working on their boats and professional boat builders working. They see that we have events going on in the meeting rooms. They see kids in our programs.

“And they realize this is not just some big box building. Things are happening.”

The 26,000-square foot center, located on the waterfront between Port Townsend’s historic downtown and Point Hudson Marina, includes two large buildings, a public pier and outdoor public space. The first of the two buildings opened in September, and the remaining building, featuring a chandlery, a maritime library and a coffee shop and deli, opens May 1.

With the building campaign finally over, the center’s staff and board will soon turn their focus to ongoing fundraising to help pay for operational costs. But first, there would be a party.

Cummings was emailing staff, board members and about 1,000 supporters to invite them for an impromptu beer and pizza shindig at the center yesterday afternoon.

“There’s a lot ahead of us,” he said, “but I think today is a day of celebration.”

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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