Behind the Screens June 2024

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Behind the Screens

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By Nicki Wilson

June 2024

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Hello Members, Supporters and Moviegoers,

Many people thought that when the grassroots group “Save the Triplex” bought the Triplex Cinema with the community’s donations last year that the purchase was complete, Unfortunately, as a brand-new entity, we were only able to get a five-year short term mortgage with the plan that once we had been in operation for more than a year, we could go back to the banks and negotiate a long-term mortgage. As we will have owned the building for a year in July, we are having to meet our first mortgage payment shortly. We have saved $121k for the mortgage, but we need $125k more to pay the $246k due in July. Consequently, we’ve decided to make this June, Mortgage Push Month. 

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There will be some who will ask, what happened to all the money that was raised to support the Triplex in 2023? We want to be transparent and give you the straight facts. In addition to our $200k down payment for the purchase of the theater, we paid closing costs associated with the purchase. There were also immediate repairs needed before we could open in November that included major mold remediation and professional duct work cleaning for the health and safety of our patrons. Additional urgent repairs were needed to our roof, interior and exterior stairs, fire safety/sprinkler systems, and mechanical equipment. New flooring, lighting, painting, and lobby furniture allowed us to open two of our four theaters in November and the third followed in December. A new point of sale system was also necessary prior to opening. We hired a Managing Director, Operations Director, staff to operate the projectors and concessions area, an independent bookkeeper, an accounting firm to ensure accurate accounting of all donated funds as well as earned income from the theater operations for the annual nonprofit audit that is required.

I could go on about all the additional expenses, but you get the gist. It takes a lot of money to open a building that was greatly in need of repair and to get it into operation from scratch. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of the donors and the thousands of hours of volunteer work that the board and the various committees put in this past year to ensure that we are making the Triplex Cinema the absolute best it can be. That is why I am asking everyone now to pitch in during Mortgage Push Month.  If you donated to “Save the Triplex” before, I am asking you to please donate the same amount that you did last year and if you’re new to the Triplex community and have not yet donated, please help us with our mortgage payment now.  The Triplex is the “heartspace” of the community.  Let’s make sure it stays that way! All donations are tax deductible.

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