5 Reasons to Give

5 Reasons to Give

5 Reasons to Support the Valdez Museum, Drum Roll Please…

 Valdez, Alaska, November 16, 2016 – This holiday season the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive will join nonprofit organizations and community foundations around the country to encourage individuals to give local by launching its 2016 Annual Holiday Appeal, 5 Reasons to Support the Valdez Museum.  Our goal is to raise $5,000 to support mission driven programs and projects her at the Valdez Museum and throughout the community.

 “Top Five” reasons to support our wonderful Museum. Drum roll please…

  1. To give kids the opportunity to learn and have fun as they learn about our regional heritage and culture.

    Our Museum’s Educator served 947 public, private and home-schooled children! Visiting Elementary, Middle, and High School classrooms as well as home school groups that come to the Museum, the Museum’s education program played an important role in the community.

  2. To provide access to and a lens for understanding the world around us through collections and exhibits.

    Our exhibits offer visitors an engaging way to learn about our region’s rich history and culture in a safe, dynamic and welcoming environment.

  3. To stimulate curiosity and cultivate creative minds through presentations and workshops.

    Public programs at the Museum served 848, with stimulating events such as Tuesday Nite History Talks, History and Art Camp in the summer, Drawing Upon the Collection and artist workshops.

  4. To invest in the museum’s future.

    As a repository for nearly 75,000 objects, artifacts and archival material, the museum is entrusted with caring for the collection that will touch visitors for many generations to come. Your support ensures proper care for those collections.

  5. To keep us moving forward.

    Igniting and sustaining a lifelong love of learning, we don’t rest on our laurels. We are always exploring new ways to engage and connect with visitors and the local community. Your support helps present exhibits like “Treasure Trove­­­­­­­­”, a culmination of ten years of delving into the archives, this exciting exhibit offers a behind the scenes look at the museum collection. This exhibit will highlight the many discoveries and rediscoveries hidden among the shelves, and offers visitors a look at the how’s and whys of historic preservation.

 

Today cultural organizations are much more than a place to view relics and artifacts. Museums serve as vital community resources and provide gathering places where beauty and educational opportunities co-exist, bringing communities together to learn, to play, to delight in. Folks from around the world comment on what a great Museum we have.  In addition to comments such as awesome, excellent, wonderful, fascinating, interesting, informative, super, and great museum, here are a few that elaborate a little further:

“Thank you for allowing us to learn much about Valdez and the surrounding area while we were there. We especially enjoyed the lighthouse light along with the scavenger hunt that you had for the children along with the cameras to capture their attention. What was a dreary, rainy day turned into a great day inside your museum!”
The Bray Family

From a local teacher to the Valdez Museum’s Educator:

I just returned from a National Social Studies Convention in New Orleans.  I thought of you so many times and wished we could be brainstorming side by side!  I was also reminded how fortunate we are in Valdez, and in my partnership with you, to have our local museum available for help and support.  Thank you!  Your recent lesson with my students using artifacts and primary sources was such a wonderful example of what we heard at the conference as stellar teaching. 

Sheri Beck, 4th grade teacher

From a summer intern:

Over the course of the internship I researched and cataloged hundreds of artifacts from the museum. Through this work, I learned about the fascinating history of Valdez, the Klondike Gold Rush, and Alaska in general. I also gained love and admiration for all things Alaska. This feeling never left me, and I made the permanent move to Alaska in August 2011. My first job when I moved to Alaska was at the Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage. I got my current position as historian for the State of Alaska Office of History and Archaeology in April 2012. One of my responsibilities in this position is managing over 120 archaeological collections collected by my office over the past 30 years and overseeing their preparation for permanent curation by the Museum of the North. Additionally, I began a term on the Museums Alaska Board of Directors in September 2013. When I look back, I know that my internship at the Valdez Museum started me on the trajectory I am now on. I am extremely grateful for the experience.

Molly Conley, Summer Intern

As a non-profit organization, we rely on loyal donors to help us meet our operating and programming expenses. We need you to continue this important work!  Together we can make a difference.  Please send in your tax-deductible cash donation today to help us keep the stories alive for generations to come.

To donate online please visit  https://app.mobilecause.com/form/5SaQNw Better yet, we have made it even easier – just TEXT 5Reasons to 41444 on you mobile device to make your most generous donation today!

About the Valdez Museum:

The Valdez Museum & Historical Archive is an active place. We bring the stories of our community’s history alive through our programs and activities. Please come visit us at our two locations: The Valdez Museum in the heart of downtown at 217 Egan Drive and the Remembering Old Valdez Exhibit on the waterfront at 436 S. Hazelet Avenue.

Contact: Patricia Relay – Tel: 907 835 2764 Email: prelay@valdezmuseum.org