Blennerhassett Island effort gets boost from Chemours
Photo by Brett Dunlap Chemours Plant Manager Robert J. “Bob” Fehrenbacher, left, presents a check for $10,000 to Blennerhassett Island Foundation President Mark Lewis at the board’s meeting Wednesday at the Blennerhassett Museum in Parkersburg.
Photo by Brett Dunlap Chemours Plant Manager Robert J. “Bob” Fehrenbacher talks about the importance of Blennerhassett Island to the plant and the community as the company presents the Blennerhassett Island Foundation with a $10,000 check Wednesday.
Photo by Brett Dunlap Chemours Plant Manager Robert J. “Bob” Fehrenbacher, left, presents a check for $10,000 to Blennerhassett Island Foundation President Mark Lewis at the board’s meeting Wednesday at the Blennerhassett Museum in Parkersburg.
Photo by Brett Dunlap Chemours Plant Manager Robert J. “Bob” Fehrenbacher talks about the importance of Blennerhassett Island to the plant and the community as the company presents the Blennerhassett Island Foundation with a $10,000 check Wednesday.
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PARKERSBURG -- Chemours is helping to pay for a project on Blennerhassett Island.
Chemours presented the Blennerhassett Island Foundation with a check for $10,000 on Wednesday.
Plant Manager Robert J. "Bob" Fehrenbacher presented the check to Foundation President Mark Lewis at the board's meeting at the Blennerhassett Museum in Parkersburg.
"We recognize that the island provides a rich historical context to our community," Fehrenbacher said. "The work this foundation and the island does is not necessarily always visible to the public, but your work here is key."
DuPont acquired the island in the 1960s and established water wells that supply the Washington Works site. The company entered a lease agreement with the state in the 1970s and the state park was established as a result. Chemours took over custody of the island when it split from DuPont a couple years ago.
Fehrenbacher said the plant has been doing work on the island over the last year on the water wells to ensure Chemours can continue to operate those wells. They frequently perform well maintenance on the island.
"We are here to thank the foundation, (the island staff) and others for the continued ongoing support that the island means to our plant site," he said. "We truly see the foundation as a partnership between our companies, DuPont and Chemours.
"That is a critical relationship for us. We have a strong interest in the success of the park and the 35,000 people who visit it annually."
Lewis, who also serves as the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau president and CEO, said Blennerhassett Island is the area's largest tourist destination.
"It is the centerpiece of what we try to sell here with our history and heritage," he said.
The project that needed to be done on the island was the replacement of the island's aging septic system.
Lewis said it was an essential project, but not "showy."
"It is the kind of thing people are not going to notice, but they would notice it if it didn't get done," he said. "This (contribution) is representative of the great partnership we have had between the park staff, the foundation and Chemours over the years.
"We really appreciate the support because it helped us accomplish a much needed infrastructure project in a time period that was absolutely necessary," Lewis said.
The foundation also received a $4,000 grant from the Parkersburg Community Foundation to go toward this project.
"Success is about partnerships," Lewis said. "We have great partners, great people and we are going far here with Blennerhassett Island. The community support represented by this contribution is essential in maintaining and supporting the park."
With budget cuts at the state level and with other financial challenges, the park will be looking more to the community for financial support through donations in the future.
People can donate to Blennerhassett Island during the next Give Local MOV online event scheduled for May 2.
Lewis said the park could have gone through the regular channels at the state to have the work done, but they were not sure when it would have gotten started or completed.
"We needed to get it done last fall so it will be ready when we open up for guests next spring," he said. "The contributions allowed us to do it in a necessary time frame. It was essential for the smooth operation of the park.
"When the park opens May 2, then everything will be ready for our tourism visitors and our local people who want to get out and take advantage of Blennerhassett Island," Lewis said.