It is on the behalf of the five Board of Directors of the Ironton Port Authorit that I write this letter.

It was discussed in our directors meeting on Sept. 8 that the IPA needed to publicly thank Steve Burton, president of the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council, and its members for their donated time, tools and labor for the work they provided on Friday Sept. 5 in the cleanup of what was one of our town’s most historic focal points, the Ro-Na Theater.

Approximately 10 of the building trade’s workers forewent their usual day off and arrived at the Ro-Na Theater about 8 a.m. and worked most of the day.

Most of these volunteers were not even from Ironton and some came from as far away as Wayne, W.Va., and West Portsmouth to participate in this civic cleanup effort.

In just one day’s worth of donated labor, the building trades council has turned the restoration of the Ro-Na from a possibility into a probability.

The Building Trades Council has shown true unselfish volunteerism in their work toward restoring our theater. We feel that we are fortunate to have friends like the Building Trades Council in our town.

Also, thanks to the Shamrock Carryout for their donation. When the management at Shamrock heard of what was being done at the Ro-Na on that Friday, Shamrock, without being asked, provided bottled water and pop for the volunteers.

We are pleased that the Building trades has seen what the restoration of this old theater could mean to the revitalization of our downtown and volunteered to lend us a hand in making it happen.

We are also proud of our community for rallying behind this monumental restoration project that could once again be the focal point of our town.

The Ironton Port Authority Board of Directors includes Chairman Mike Haas, Vice Chairman Rob Slagel and members Bill Dickens, Jodi Rowe-Collins and Joe Isaac.