"We would have done it eventually, but it was still a big help," Ms. Isaacs said of the renovation funds.

The Legislature provided renovation funds and the Department of Administration supervised the improvements.

Nearly 20 years later, another parent anonymously donated renovation funds.

One tenth of the renovation funds (£45,000) were at this time given away to build a secondary school in Juba in the Southern Sudan.

Administrators of the renovation fund refused to say how much had been contributed.

Without McKinney money - $575,000 in renovation funds and $354,000 a year toward operations - administrators said the program could not exist.

The renovation funds had dried up even before the demolition had been completed.

The nonprofit Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980, and began a successful campaign to raise renovation funds.

The Keegans then received $14,000 in renovation funds to make alterations that would cut energy costs and correct problems found in an engineer's inspection.

The renovation funds are the first appropriation by the state and city to the society in its 190 years.