Stock photo – not actual client

Over the past few months, we’ve been working extra hard to raise much-needed funding to provide free admission to the disadvantaged and under-served children in our region. The +PLUS Program (Providing Learning for the Under-Served) is an initiative that we have advanced for nearly ten years and it is designed to bring children and families in to the Museum who would not otherwise be able to afford to visit. We know that a visit to the Museum can have a normalizing effect on people who are struggling.

As a part of our most recent campaign to raise money for +PLUS we have been gathering compelling stories from past visits.

Here are two exceptionally compelling stories from Shannon Cross, a caseworker at Lutheran Child & Family Services of Michigan, that demonstrate the +PLUS program’s positive impact on her client families.

The P family had never been to the Great Lakes Children’s Museum but told me that they had heard a lot about it. They live 50 miles away and between the cost of gas and the price of tickets felt that they couldn’t afford to take all three children, even though they are in Traverse City about once a month. The Museum provided the passes, I provided the transportation, and they loved it! Because the children loved it so much, they began to budget this into their budget every third month. This experience also compelled them to visit another Museum a little closer to their home. When I did a six-month follow up visit, they had also expanded their horizons a bit more and attended a matinee theatre production in their home town. The parents told me that Museum opened their eyes to fun and educational family activities around them. Instead of simply playing games while online, the children began to look for interesting places to visit and told me that they were saving their allowances to help pay for a trip somewhere in the summer.

The M family had been struggling with unemployment, medical bills, medical difficulties, and problems at school. The Museum had just provided me with some passes and I gave some to them. They talked about how they hadn’t had any fun together as a family in several months and it was starting to wear on them. They had a family friend who also wanted to take her child to the Museum and said she would provide the transportation if the M family would provide the entrance fee. I gave them two more tickets, both families went to the Museum the following weekend, and the children and parents were still talking about the experience three months later. They make trips to a specialist in Grand Rapids every other month and said they decided to check out a museum there because of their pleasant experience in Traverse City. They have explored two different places in Grand Rapids and have gone back to the Great Lakes Children’s Museum as well. They told me that their next “adventure” will be to the Dennos Museum in Traverse City.

Shannon concludes: “Sometimes we work with families that have been under such stress, they don’t realize what great opportunities for bonding and growth they are missing.”

These stories inspire us to continue to work to keep the +PLUS program fully funded. Maybe they will inspire you to make a donation. For more information or to donate, call the Museum at 932-4526 or email info@glcm.org. To give online, you can click the “Donate” button at the right and then just send us an email indicating that your gift is earmarked for +PLUS.

This year’s gala fundraiser, Farm Fête, was a great success, raising over $35,000 for programs and operations at the Great Lakes Children’s Museum. Over 130 people joined in the fun and helped support the Museum for another year.

For more information about the event, click here. To see the major business supporters, click here.