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The Leadership Greater Bridgeport unveiled a skybox Sunday at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard that is decorated with artwork inspired by Bridgeport's most famous son, P.T. Barnum, and the Barnum Museum.
And 20 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the skybox suite during Bridgeport Bluefish games this summer will go to benefit the Barnum Museum.
Kathy Maher, from the Barnum Museum, said she is ecstatic about the project.
"We were thrilled when a group came together and said, 'Yea, we want to do this for the museum,'" Maher said. "It's going to be a wonderful thing, and it's going to be a longtime thing, so that is huge."
Each year, Leadership Greater Bridgeport, an affiliate of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, recruits up to 30 representatives from the business community to participate in a series of leadership development program days.
Participants in each class select community service projects from proposals submitted by nonprofit member organizations that are also members of the business council.
The Ballpark at Harbor Yard partnered with the Barnum Museum and this year's class from Leadership Greater Bridgeport, Class 26, to rejuvenate the skybox. The skybox will provide information about the museum, spark interest in the history of P.T. Barnum’s remarkable life and times, and encourage future attendance to the museum as well as the Ballpark at Harbor Yard, they said.
Eric Cushman, of the Gilbane Building Co., said nonprofits pitch their ideas to the leadership group and each class selects one of the projects. This year, they decided to partner with the Barnum Museum.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch welcomed the initiative.
"It is exciting to see a class plant a little acorn that will grow into a giant oak tree. And it will benefit lots of people in the city and it will benefit two of the most important things in the city, our professional baseball team and our museum dedicated to one of the most famous Americans ever, P.T. Barnum," he said.
The Leadership Great Bridgeport team that completed the seven-month renovation project includes: Cushman; Jason Gordon of the Greater Bridgeport Transit; Truong Khai Ho of the Bridgeport Public Education Fund Inc.; Chris McFadden of the The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Sarah Monck of United Illuminated Holdings; Erin Santa of Santa Energy; and Brian Silvestro of Brody Wilkinson, PC.
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