Cape Breton Miners Museum fundraising campaign launched

A man who grew up in Glace Bayhas established an online fundraising campaign to help pay for urgentrepairs to the town's Cape Breton Miners Museum.

The nearly 50-year-old museumneeds more than $1 million in repairs, including a new ventilation system, windows, air conditioning and roof.

Its board of directors will be turning to government for some help for those big-ticket items in the new year. But$265,000 is needed immediately to start on what the board deems the most urgent maintenance.

Andre Mazerolle, who grew up in Cape Breton but now lives in Toronto,said the museum is an important part of the history ofGlaceBay, as is coal mining itself. Hesaid he wants to reach outside of Nova Scotia to raise the money.

"It's really trying to find the millions of people out there and Iknow there are millions of people out there who have a connection to coal mining, Cape Breton and the Miners Museum," he said.

"The Miners Museum has meant a lot to me and a lot to thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people. Not just people who live in GlaceBay but people who've come to Cape Bretonand spent some time learning about the history of coal mining and the lives that it took and the tollthat it took on people.

"Ijust want to keep this Miners Museum alive."

Museum director Mary Pat Mombourquettesaidthe museumhas received some government money for improvements, but that's different from maintenance.

"So we're starting down in the foyer," she said. "We're doing a refresh down there. We're already doing our interactive exhibits. We're programming them so they'll be up and running momentarily."

The museum has estimated the total cost of upgrades at $1.5 million.