USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc.

The USS Saratoga Museum project took another large step toward reaching its $2.5 million equity goal with today's announcment that Cambridge Offset Printing has made a major pledge of financial support. Over the next five years the privately-owned printing firm will provide $150,000 worth of printing services to the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. The Foundation seeks to develop a non-profit Air, Land & Sea Heritage and Technology Park as part of the Quonset-Davisville development.

"In life, you have to start giving back," said Cambridge Offset owner Richard Geraigery. "I'm a baseball, apple-pie, Chevrolet kind of guy who still gets a chill when the Star Spangled Banner is played.

"I've been an ardent supporter of Joe Kennedy, both personally and professionally, since he started his political career. The Kennedy family boasts a very strong naval and nautical tradition, and this is right up my alley," he continued. "The vision Frank Lennon and his volunteers are working so hard to develop deserves as much support as we can provide."

"This is great news," said Lennon, president of the foundation. "Printing is one of those major up-front expenses that can almost never be deferred. This seriously eases our working capital situation, and brings our dream that much closer to reality.

"We are especially pleased that a Massachusetts company has stepped forward in this way," Lennon added. "It shows the true regional nature of this project."

While acknowledging that a good portion of his business is in Massachusetts, Geraigery does service clients as far away as Illinois and Florida.

"My location is not an issue. Perhaps my example will encourage other area business leaders to jump on this bandwagon and make it happen,"he said.

"Besides, USS Saratoga served the entire country. The entire country should support her in return," he concluded.

This $7.5 million project is a nonprofit blend of past and future, family attraction and scientific frontier that would:

Attract over a half million visitors annually, many of whom would not otherwise come to the region;
Generate more than $30 million in annual economic impact;
Directly and indirectly, create more than 575 jobs;
Produce more than $1.6 million in direct tax revenue;
Result in a world-wide public relations boost for Rhode Island and North Kingstown;
Offer public access to and use of another part of the Quonset waterfront.

Of the estimated $7.5 million start-up costs for the project, $5 million in financing is tentatively in place. That commitment is conditioned upon state approval of an appropriate mooring, the Navy's eventual donation of the vessel as a museum, and the Foundation's ability to raise the $2.5 million balance.

"The Navy will accept firm pledges to be paid over a reasonable period of time, as well as bona fide in-kind contributions that would otherwise represent cash disbursements," Lennon said.

The proposal for the Park received a major boost in February when The Champlin Foundations committed a $500,000 grant. The Rhode Island General Assembly has also committed a total of $50,000 in legislative grant funding for the project in recent weeks.

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Last Updated:
9/29/01