The Friends sponsor and participate in a variety of events and maintain a social media presence. The Friends are always on the lookout for new members and volunteers. See the “Join” page in the Header and become a member!
In 2020 we had to change directions due to the pandemic social distancing and lockdown requirements. Many of the social fundraisers scheduled for the year had to be cancelled. The Museum was closed most of the year and Friends monthly in-person meetings were cancelled. Many of us quickly became familiar with Zoom – whether we wanted to or not. Our meetings continued every month, but attendance dwindled due to the lack of social contact and the difficulties of Zoom.
We did refocus our fundraising activities on online activities. Once the lockdown eased a bit, we held several Dining Nite’s Out, whereby restaurants donated a portion of their receipts from people stating they were supporting the Friends. The restaurants moved quickly to include takeout and delivery orders in the fundraiser. That helped make them a moderate success. We also held two socially distanced paint parties at Pinot’s Palette. While they were moderately successful, everyone had a great time and created a masterpiece to take home.
For the first time we held an online donation drive to seek funds to purchase a number of items on a “wish list” created by Museum staff. The list contained everything from hand sanitizer, to gallery lights to taxidermy animals. Friends members exceeded all expectations and donated $5,960, which, with about $2,000 from the Friends general fund, allowed us to purchase almost all items on the staff’s list.
We also held, for the first time, an online silent auction. Again, we didn’t know what to expect, but were very pleased when Friends members bid almost $2,000 to purchase items listed on the site.
In addition to purchasing items for the Museum, the Friends were also able to install WiFi on the first floor of the museum so the entire building is now covered by WiFi. We also enabled the museum to move to a cloud version of PastPerfect which allows the staff to access museum files from anywhere. This is a great option when staff has to work from home due to COVID. We also purchased a new video system so that the staff could create higher quality content for online use by students and patrons.
In 2020, we were awarded our second OAG grant by the county. This $10,000 was used to :
- create two new Black History trunks
- create three new Animals of Nevada trunks
- purchase a cleaning system and supplies to sanitize trunks after each use
- purchase a 3D printer and supplies to be used to manufacture trunk parts
Additionally we were awarded grants from DRI (Desert Research Institute) and the Kasner Foundation to fund the building of Artifacts and Fossil trunks.
All in all, the year 2020 was very challenging for the Friends, providing a lot of new roadblocks, but also some great opportunities. We look forward to a fun 2021.