South City museum needs cash

Time to raise money: Members of the South San Francisco Historical Society will be holding a fundraiser July 26. (Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt/Special to The Examiner)

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — When the South San Francisco Historical Society moved its museum from its Grand Avenue location to a new building on Chestnut Street, volunteers were looking forward to the extra space. One thing they didn’t anticipate was an additional expense.

Now six months later the historical society’s board of directors is realizing they may not be able to pay for the electricity and maintenance costs that were included in its previous residence.

Electricity runs roughly $100 each month, but when the museum was in the basement of the South San Francisco senior center, the city footed the utility bill.

“We didn’t expect it,” said Ray Yoschak, president of the historical society. “Our best bet now is to fundraise.”

Historical society member Valerie Sommer said the board of directors is looking at a variety of ways to pay the most basic bills.

The society’s first fundraiser on Sunday, July 26, is a Pedro Tournament, a card game similar to 63 involving four players on a total of two teams. The event will be held at the Joseph A. Fernekes Building in Orange Memorial Park.

Yoschak said the nonprofit agency has been able to cover its bills for the last few months through a savings account, but that savings will not last long.

“We’re OK now,” he said. “But down the road we may not be.”

Yoschak said though he’s never played Pedro, he has heard other nonprofits hosting such tournaments and raising as much as $5,000.

“I’m trying not to get ahead of myself,” he said. “But we could use that much.”