Dear Editor,

In February of this year, 2018, an extraordinary thing occurred to benefit our dear town. By extraordinary, I mean something that doesn’t happen every day or even every year. Michael Haight and Cathy Lee-Haight decided to make some very large gifts for the good of our community. They gave to enrich and strengthen what we already have that is vibrant and to help a new organization get up and running. To the Dayton Historic Depot Society, they contributed $20,000 toward the operations endowment that the Depot has been working to increase over the last couple years. This will insure the ongoing operations of the Depot well into the future. To the Liberty Theatre, they gave $10,000 so that the theatre can continue to provide the wide range of programing they currently offer. To our beautiful new hospital, they gave $13,000 and to the new Boys and Girls Club of Dayton they gave $10,000. This last gift will help with the renovation currently under way by paying part of the new electrical that is needed to make the Club safe and energy efficient. The next time you see Cathy or Michael, you can express your thanks. Maybe their generosity will inspire others. What is for sure is that we will all benefit from their ability to give, their foresight, and their love for our community.

Ginny Butler

Dayton