Nonprofit looks to get a lot of help from the Lompoc Rotary Club in 2022

By Laurie Jervis

for Lompoc Theatre Project

Well on the way to restoring and reopening Lompoc’s landmark theater, the Lompoc Theatre Project’s board of directors has announced that fundraising efforts in 2021 were the most successful to date, and that 2022 holds even more promise.

“The year just past has been our biggest year ever, with more than $125,000 in cash raised, mostly from local donors, plus the donation by Lorraine Cox of the lot adjacent to our property,” said Mark Herrier, LTP executive director.

During the summer, Cox, a Lompoc resident, donated her vacant lot on the corner of North H Street and Walnut Avenue in memory of her husband, former Superior Court judge and community activist Terrill F. Cox, who died in 2016.

Looking ahead, Herrier said he is “in negotiations with a Santa Barbara-based foundation with the goal of a major donation that would help us to hire a professional fundraiser.”

In addition, the Lompoc Rotary Club will make LTP the focus of its fundraising efforts for 2022.

“The Rotary Club of Lompoc seeks to invest in the Lompoc community and its future,” said Alan Grant, Rotary president. “We have chosen to make the Lompoc Theatre Project the major recipient of our fundraising efforts in 2022 because we believe that the renovation of the Calvert Theatre will breathe new life into the heart of the city, and provide a venue for artistic expression for residents and visitors of all ages for generations to come.”

The LTP will be the recipient of the annual Lompoc Rotary Wine Tasting to be held Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Lompoc Veterans Memorial Building.

Among the LTP’s other significant 2021 fundraisers were:

The March telethon, called “The Show Must Go On,” which raised more than $50,000 — LTP’s largest fundraiser to date.
Food Truck Friday, which took place from May to October on the LTP parking lot, with families urged to buy food from a selection of locally based food trucks.
A volunteer with LTP discovered a secret room on the back side of the adjacent “Why?” building — Lompoc’s historical “Land Office” — with a number of historical treasures tucked away inside. Among the rediscovered finds were a 1960s-era Wolf stove, a white Kelvinator Foodarama refrigerator, six floor-mounted swivel chairs, and dishes for serving ice cream sundaes. The equipment had been used in the theater’s Snack Shop, open from 1927 until the early 1970s.
In November, a raffle offering wines sourced from local wineries sold 96 tickets and netted $4,800.
A year-end campaign that began Nov. 20 and encompassed #GivingTuesday, personal donations, the Honky Tonk Christmas by KTNK, the Mi Amore restaurant fundraiser on Dec. 13, and several personal fundraisers via Facebook raised more than $27,000 toward LTP’s goal of $30,000 to pay for lighting for the parking lot.
Some of the monies raised were used to fix damage from rains, and all rental units are now fully occupied, Herrier said.

The Lompoc Theater Project is a registered nonprofit for the community effort to restore the historic Lompoc Theater, to reopen as a performing arts and film center, educational and community hub, and focal point of a revitalized downtown Lompoc.