By Pam Creech
Contributing Writer
The Children’s Museum of Wilmington plans to raise $3 million to fund exhibits and programs, community outreach projects and building maintenance. Joan Clarke, the museum’s chief development director, said the museum conducted a feasibility study that showed they can raise $3 million in three to five years.
“We received a challenge from one of our corporate sponsors who wishes to remain anonymous right now,” Clarke said. “We’ll raise $700,000 and they’ll match it, which will bring us to $1.4 million. … We’re very excited. We’re calling the campaign Play with Purpose because one of the most valuable ways children learn is through play.”
The Play with Purpose campaign goals are divided into three initiatives: fun and learning, community connections and museum permanence.
“Fun and learning includes the renovation of existing exhibits,” Clarke said. “Literacy and foreign language programs will be ramped up.”
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities are also a part of the fun and learning initiative.
The second initiative, community connections, includes off-site exhibitions. It includes funding a bus to transport children and their family members to and from the museum.
“It’s for children who can’t get here easily — possibly children in Pender and Brunswick counties. … We believe that every child in the Cape Fear region should have access to the museum, but a lot of them don’t because of financial situations. Twenty-four percent of our memberships are through grants,” Clarke said.
Community connections also includes a plan to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project.
“That will be working with the families — the children and spouses of the Wounded Warriors — to bring them in to the museum. We’d give them free passes and do some really exciting things with them,” Clarke said.
Families of children in the hospital will also receive free passes, Hospital Healing Passes, to the museum.
“They can come and enjoy the museum without having to worry about the stress of the cost,” Clarke said. “The third part — museum permanence — is for building maintenance. We are housed in a 17,000-square-foot historic building, and so it constantly needs care and updating. … Also, it’s for paying off the mortgage,” Clarke said.
The Children’s Museum has planned a series of fundraisers to benefit the Play with Purpose campaign. One event includes the Fourth Annual Fore the Children Golf Tournament that will take place April 20 at the Cape Fear Country Club.
“We’re going to have 128 golfers,” said Kellie Furr, the Children’s Museum’s marketing and development coordinator. “Each hole will have two sponsors. … Those are good ways for people to get advertisements and connect with the museum.”
Registration and practice start at 10 a.m. and the match begins at noon. Tickets to play are $150 per person. For more information about the Children’s Museum or Fore the Children Golf Tournament, visit
www.playwilmington.org
