12-year-old Freedom Center supporter has high hopes for new plan

CINCINNATI - The financially troubled National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is getting a new lease on life.
            
A new plan would save more than $1 million by combining some management operations with the Cincinnati Museum Center.
     
This is welcome news for the center, and community leaders as well as freedom center visitors.
       
With an estimated $1.5 million deficit wiped away, they hope to see this center continue to teach its important lessons for both young and old.

One of the Freedom Center's biggest fans, who is very excited to hear about the new plans for keeping the center open, is only 12 years old.

Maia Thompson, a seventh grader at Mason Middle School, was shocked to hear about the Freedom Center's financial woes.

"I was sitting with my mom and I heard that the freedom center might be closing and I started going crazy. I was like, 'What? I know this can't be happening," said Thompson.

Last year Maia decided to do whatever she could to help out the Freedom Center. It started with creating a YouTube video asking for help. In it she says, "Up here we have something called the Freedom Center. It's an amazing experience and it taught me a lot. I recently learned that the center might be closing down..."

Maia didn't stop there. She also decided to create a special Freedom Center T-shirt with the words "Fan the Flame" and "Be the Spark."

"I discovered a website and I found out you could make shirts on it, and you sell them for a profit," she said.

The T-shirts will be sold at the Freedom Center gift shop and at the "Taste of Mason" celebration on Wednesday night.

Maia's mom, Deborah Thompson, is especially proud.

"Maia is the kind of person who is always giving and always sharing and... that's one of the things she'll do," she said.

When asked if she'd like to work at the Freedom Center, Maia replied, "Yes. I think I'd like to be a tour guide because it would be really cool to show people around and talk to them about the exhibits."

Details of both museums' new management system will unfold during a news conference Wednesday morning.

Stay with 9 News and WCPO.com for updates.