Mill Creek Receives $1M for Ford Nature Center Renovation
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A $1 million gift from the Sand Hill Foundation will support the renovation of the Ford Nature Center at Mill Creek Park.
The challenge grant will match new donations to Mill Creek MetroParks’ fundraising campaign to update the center. The campaign’s goal is $3 million, a third of which has already been raised.
“On behalf of the staff of the MetroParks and the board of directors of the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation, I would like to express my gratitude to Susan Ford Dorsey for this generous gift,” said MetroParks director of development Chris Litton in a release. “This gift will allow us to not only extend the mission of educating the park’s visitors about the natural wonders of the world for generations to come, but it also extends the wonderful legacy of the Ford Family here at Mill Creek.”
The estate was donated to Mill Creek MetroParks in 1968 by Tom and Susan Ford, the children of the late Judge John W. Ford. The building, designed by architect Charles F. Owsley, briefly served as the park’s administrative office before being converted to Ford Nature Center in 1972.
Each year, more than 14,000 students visit the center, Litton said, to take part in its exhibits, programs, walking trails and special events.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
