The fundraising effort kicked off mid May when the Tryon Town Council appointed D’Arbanville chair over the Save Morris Project.

“I went to a town council meeting and had brought up the fact that I had been coming here since I was a little girl and had never seen Morris in such bad shape. I said, ‘Something really needs to be done and so they all looked at me and said ‘okay,’” D’Arbanville said. “It’s been a really positive and wonderful experience being involved in this effort. It’s been a real community effort.”

D’Arbanville said the committee is a little more than halfway to its goal of $12,000. Any residual monies will be put into the Morris account and left there for maintenance of the town icon in the future, she said.

The committee hopes Morris will be able to return to his rightful post by the end of September.

Checks can be made out to the Town of Tryon with a note for the money to go specifically to the Save Morris Project.