03/11/2026
Did you know that there are 340 non-profits involved with Raise the Region and all are hoping for donations and support over the next 24 hours? It’s grueling and a bit stressful as it feels like you are competing for the same dollars from donors that don’t necessarily all have a lot of extra cash to spend supporting programs and initiatives. You do your best to try to stand out a bit and you try to plead your case as to why you are worthy of their hard earned money. MHRA always struggles a bit because I am not always sure people know who we are and what we do. OR they know us as the Oktoberfest people and just assume that we don’t need that much financial support because we must make a ton of cash in October. It’s true, that is a great event and it does help to run operational expenses each year but that is where it stops. Operational expenses include taxes, insurance, salary, utilities and maintenance upkeep, etc…. There is not enough to pay for all of that let alone for what we need to do community outreach (like Fourth of July, Halloween and Downtown Shopping) and programming. So, each year, we reach out to our friends, community members and colleagues and hope that they can help support our popular children’s programs at the Elias Center. We love bringing stuff into our historic church that kids may not normally get to see and they can get hands on experience with a host of animals and activities. For just $10, an adult can bring a Partridge sized family to the Center and they can enjoy learning about native species without it breaking their budget. We are very proud of this. MHRA used to get a lot of program support from the Woodcock Foundation and from a few area banks but that support has dried up and now we solely rely on what we get from Raise the Region each year and from a few generous members that help to fund a little of what we need. This year we hope to bring in our popular snake program again and we found a really fun raptor program we’d like to add. We also have a few theater opportunities for kids and possibly a STEM unit as well. We also focus on adult programs like our popular Listening Room series that showcases great live music in a beautiful acoustic friendly environment and workshops like our next Paint and Sip being held in a few weeks. The Elias itself is in desperate need of financial support and we are in the infancy stages of organizing a much-needed capital campaign to fund replacement of a rotting floor and possible bad foundation spot. This doesn’t include drainage issues and dangerous electrical concerns that have been brought to our attention. A bad wind storm at Christkindl has damaged two of our heavy entrance doors and both will have to be removed and restored before summer. It seemingly never ends. MHRA is not supported with any type of federal or state funding and we are not a leg of the borough. The borough assists us with newsletter expenses and we are very grateful for that support but that is all they can do. Please consider a donation tonight or tomorrow to help us sustain programs. Monies raised can be increased through stretch funds based on what we raise. That is why it’s a great opportunity to donate now! MHRA provides a lot of outreach and fun opportunities for our community to have great affordable things to do – Fourth of July, the Red, White and Blueberry Festival, our Community Picnic, Oktoberfest, Halloween, Shop Mifflinburg, Winterfest during Christkindl, downtown landscaping, Hometown Heroes, Elias workshops and more. This year we hope to add a fun community evening after the Memorial Day parade to our list of events as well. So thank you in advance for reading this long post and for your consideration of support for our programs! Donations open at 6 p.m. and continue through the time tomorrow night.
As part of MHRA's focus on our rich heritage, we own and operate the town's first church - the historic 1806 Elias Church, which is now a performing arts center. Today, the Center presents a variety of programming and is also available for rental or tours.Each December,...
