YOUNGSTOWN — The Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation donated $30,000 to OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology.

The money is being used toward the museum’s recent purchase of the former McCrory building at 11 W. Federal St.

OH WOW! bought the building for $800,000 on Dec. 16. The museum has leased its space for almost a decade from First National Bank.

“While the McCrory building has been home to OH WOW! since we opened in 2011, our purchase of the building, made possible with the support of the Thomases Endowment, secures our future,” Suzanne Barbati, the museum’s president and executive director, said.

The center has 11 galleries with approximately 60 exhibits.

The Thomases Endowment has given $120,700 in total grants to the museum since it opened.

The endowment’s “distribution committee believes strongly in OH WOW!’s work and has supported the organization since the inception of the endowment,” Lisa Long, financial resource development director of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, said.

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