South Street Seaport Museum Gets $500,000 Check From Anonymous Donor To Rebuild After Sandy

A flooded Downtown Manhattan museum still faces $22 million in damage after Hurricane Sandy, but it's now overflowing with kindness from a mystery donor.

The South Street Seaport Museum, a maritime museum that’s home to ships and galleries, is starting to recover from the October superstorm that wreaked havoc on its heating, electrical and communications equipment. But now that an anonymous donor recently stepped up to donate $500,000 to the museum's rebuilding effort, it may have an easier time getting the job done, the New York Post reports.

Located in New York’s historic South Street Seaport district, one of the hardest hit by Sandy, the museum’s troubles came at a particularly difficult time, considering it nearly closed in 2011 due to financial and leadership woes, according to the Post.

But while many businesses in the area have yet to reopen, the South Street Seaport Museum managed to get up and running after six weeks, according to amNY. Visitors have had to use the stairs instead of the building's elevators and have been kept warm by heaters blowing from the sidewalk.

In addition to the anonymous $500,00 donation the museum recently received, it has also collected more than $750,000 in support following the storm, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gave $100,000, DNAInfo reports.

"I am so grateful to everyone who responded to our very real needs," Susan Henshaw Jones, the museum's president, said in a statement, according to DNAinfo. "Their generosity affirms that New Yorkers want the Seaport Museum to survive."