Friends,
Yesterday marked one month since the discovery of our flooded museum. Today, we want to share a progress update. Our disaster restoration company, All-Clean USA, has completed their work of removing the objects, flooring, sheetrock, etc. that received water damage. We had mentioned before that the water damage was significant, but only pictures can truly show the severity.
The next step is to renovate our beloved science center and make a few improvements while we have the opportunity. We will be removing some walls to open up galleries and to provide more space. One of the improvements we are most excited about is an expansion of our animal care room as well as a large viewing window for guests to be able to see more of our animal ambassadors as well as watch their care. This will also provide our guests with more opportunities to engage with museum animal care staff and create space for additional public programming.
We are still in the process of determining what exhibits are unable to be repaired. However, we anticipate that a majority of them will need to be replaced. With that said, we will soon begin the process of purchasing new ones. We would love to hear from you, our guests, about what types of exhibits and experiences you would like to see at Museum of Discovery.
We are still hopeful for a summer reopening. However, there are still a few questions that must be answered, such as the availability of certain materials, before we can better estimate timelines.
Summer Discovery Camps are still on, of that we are certain! Only one classroom was affected by the flooding and we will be able to complete renovations to that space before June. Signing your child up for camps is a great way to support the museum during our closure. You can register at https://museumofdiscovery.org/summer-camps/.
Financial support is still a great need of ours as our insurance will not be able to cover the financial loss we are experiencing as a result of our closure. In addition to donations to our website at https://museumofdiscovery.org/donate/ or our GoFundMe campaign at https://museumofdiscovery.org/donate/, you can support us by becoming a museum member at https://museumofdiscovery.org/membership/. You can use your membership to receive free admission to hundreds of museums across the country and discounts on museum summer camps or virtual birthday parties, another way to support the museum: https://museumofdiscovery.org/birthday-parties/.
We look forward to sharing renovation progress with you all soon so stay tuned!
