Reasons for Thanksgiving
As the Museum of the American Family all-volunteer board sits back and reflects on the past few months, it is apparent that we have a lot to be thankful for.
Our biggest news is that the Rivera family, of Robert Rivera Construction in Santa Rosa, NM, have generously donated seven 1947 military family housing units for our museum. While they are structurally sound, they will need to be moved to our building site, gutted and rehabbed before we can occupy them. This will take a significant amount of money. We will continue our fundraising in order to rehab these little treasures. We would very much appreciate donations of money, building materials or labor as we move forward. To donate directly to our website, please click here:
Speaking of moving, where are we moving to?
The City of Albuquerque has suggested a site in a park near Kirtland Air Force Base, the New Mexico Veteran’s Memorial and the VA Hospital. An architect has provided a preliminary drawing and is in the process of refining it. The various City departments are meeting to see if our museum will be a good fit in this location. We are confident that all parties will come to an agreement very soon, and we can begin to apply for permits and begin the building’s physical move to their permanent “home”.
We are also thankful for our excellent relationship with the National Nuclear Museum of Science and History. We are collaborating with them to create our exhibit. We have decided on the exhibit name: Sacrifice & Service: The American Military Family and the dates for the exhibit are Memorial Day to Labor Day 2014. We will have an option to extend the exhibit if it is well received. Our Public Affairs Office, Ole, our Writer-in-Residence, Caroline and I have been meeting regularly with the Nuclear Museum staff to take our concept drawing and turn it into a wonderful, interactive exhibit.
Here’s the concept drawing from the initial planning meeting several years ago—we will keep you posted as we create our exhibit. This is such an exciting and creative process!
Our latest project…
We have also launched our Postcard Project, and we would really like to receive a postcard from you. Please send us a postcard from where you live, with a memory from your life or family. Please read the flyer below for more information.
Who Are our Military Families?
If you would like to send us a photograph of your military family to include in the “Who are Military Families” part of our exhibit, you can email digital photos to us (Please write a caption of who is in the photo, when and where it was taken.) Please make the file big enough to print, as we hope to display them for the exhibit and then place them in a photo album for inclusion in our permanent archive. If you send actual photographs, please know that they will become permanent property of the museum of the American Military Family.
Emailed photos can be sent to:
militaryfamilymuseum@comcast.net
If you prefer to send postcards or actual photos and/or donation checks by mail, here is our address:
MAMF
PO Box 5085
Albuquerque, NM 87185
We are a 501c3 non-profit and none of our board members are paid for by any funds coming into the museum. This is a labor of love from all of us and we very much appreciate your support!
This Thanksgiving is especially meaningful to us here at the museum because of the love and support we feel from everyone we’ve worked with since our inception. Who would have thought that an Army wife and mom with a handful of volunteers could have come so far so fast?
It’s because of you.
Thank you for your support.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Circe Olson Woessner, Executive Director, MAMF