Pizza Factory of Carson City to host 'Save the Children's Museum' fundraiser Wednesday
The Children's Museum of Northern Nevada in Carson City is facing a possible closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortfall of funding. The Museum is now open and ready to serve all the families from this lovely region, and there are numerous ways the community can help.
The Children's Museum is prepared and ready to get back into business; however, the Museum is in dire need of donations to stay open. With everything that has happened over the past few months, the Museum has almost hit its breaking point. When the museum closed, the staff started to focus primarily on refurbishing and revamping, but with no revenue for utilities or staff, there is little left to stay open.
"The Museum had to close its doors on March 18th due to the COVID pandemic," said Executive Director Christine Brandon. "The majority of the staff was immediately laid off, as our mission came to a complete standstill. We later received the Paycheck Protection Program Loan through our bank, City National Bank, where we were able to bring most employees back on at their pre-COVID hours. At that point, we were still unable to reopen to the public, so the entire staff went into 'Refurbish the Museum mode.' We cleaned, painted, rearranged and repaired almost every exhibit in the Museum."
Thankfully the Museum has been receiving donations, and could not be more grateful for the support. They still have a long way to go but slowly and surely, the Museum will come alive again without fear of closure.
The Museum reopened on August 1st by Reservation Only, said Brandon, for 2 hour time slots, 10:00 am to Noon, Noon to 2:00 pm, and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Each time slot is open to a maximum of 50 people. They clean and disinfect the entire Museum in between appointments. They have also just started to offer private Birthday Parties from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm everyday, limited to a party of 30 total people, they have the whole Museum to themselves!
Pizza Factory of Carson City has offered to do a fundraiser with the Museum on Wednesday, August 26. A portion of the proceeds will go to support the Museum and its staff in order to stay open. We need the community's support through this challenging time and keep this historic gem alive.
"Our fundraising goal is $50,000 to allow us to stay open through COVID for as long as it takes," said Brandon. "We are unable to function in our normal capacity and won’t be able to for sometime. We cannot hold events, large field trips and large birthday parties due to COVID, so we need to supplement our admissions and Membership funds."
They have received numerous grants from the Nevada Humanities, Carson City COVID Relief, the John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Soroptimist International of Carson City, but none of these are for operational expenses such as staff and utilities, said Brandon.
In addition to the Pizza Factory fundraiser, the community can donate in two ways:
https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/savethechildrensmuseum
"Thank you to the community, anything helps, no matter how small," said Brandon. "We want to be here for you and your family. We know these are uncertain times and we want to stay open for as long as possible. The Museum is extremely grateful to those who have supported us the past few months."
The Pizza Factory is located at 3120 Highway 50 East, Carson City.
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