The Toonseum: Please Help

Above: a screen grab from the WTAE TV report. Link here.

Joe Wos, the Executive Director of Pittsburgh's Toonseum wrote me. He is asking for help.

Due to torrential rains, there has been water damage at a temporary warehouse, destroying supplies, books and comics that the Toonseum gives away to kids. Here's the press release:

Dear friends of the ToonSeum,

I am writing to you today in a personal plea. Over the past five years the ToonSeum has had a great many successes with your help and support. We have grown from a tiny space inside of another museum to a unique independent attraction in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. We have brought in some of the top cartoonist in the nation and exhibited over 40 exhibits!  This New Year brings exciting new exhibits and opportunities including our newly opened Will Eisner’s New York exhibit on loan from Denis Kitchen and our friends at MOCCA.  I know as members and fans you will enjoy our summer exhibitions, which include Care Bears 30 Years of Caring, and Pittsburgh is Gotham!  We also have a great line up of programming and workshops.

As we enter another phase of our growth we have hit a small setback. Last week during the heavy rains, our warehouse began to leak and flood. While no original artwork was stored at this site we did lose a great number of books, comics, exhibition reproductions and equipment. Much of these items were awaiting transfer to our new ToonSeum library on site. This was a temporary offsite holding storage where we kept books and equipment awaiting cataloging and transfer. We also used this space to store event and workshop supplies and equipment.

The damage and clean up will be extensive. During this time the ToonSeum’s day-to-day operations will remain unaffected however the cost of replacing what was lost and the clean up will be difficult.

We are reaching out to you, our fans, for your help.

Your tax-deductible donation will help support the ToonSeum is this tough time. Any amount is deeply appreciated and will help greatly.

There are several ways to give and links are provided below.

You can donate via Razoo at http://toonseum.org/waystogive.html

Paypal to donate@toonseum.org

Or by sending a check to:

The ToonSeum

945 Liberty Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

On behalf of the ToonSeum, our board, volunteers, staff and myself,

Thank you.

We exist because of fans like you.

Thanks,

Joe Wos

Executive Director

The ToonSeum

 Related: WTAE in Pittsburgh has a video here: Great Stories Washed Away In ToonSeum Warehouse Leak - Video - WTAE Pittsburgh