We Want Mail

We have a mailbox! The Great River Children’s Museum will be receiving bills and, we hope, donations at the new location. It would bring us joy to receive your family or organization’s holiday photo card. Seeing supporters’ faces will encourage our board and community members as they work to develop a place for children and their caring adults to discover, explore, and be inspired through the extraordinary power of play. We would also welcome notes of support with ideas for activities and exhibits you would like to see in the museum.  Address all mail to:

Great River Children’s Museum
111 7th Avenue South
St. Cloud, MN 56301

Everyone at the Great River Children’s Museum hopes you and your loved ones enjoy many play-filled moments together this holiday season!

Our Busy Board

The Great River Children’s Museum Board of Directors has had an extremely busy month. From board development to moving day, it has been several weeks of milestone events. You can learn more about our board members here.

Nov. 17 – The board attended a retreat facilitated by Linda Holliday and Kathy Gaalswyk of Impact Minnesota. During the retreat they were able to learn about board member roles, review bylaws, define their mission and values, and form committees. The committees are working groups including community engagement, fund development, finance, facilities and personnel. There will be a follow-up retreat coming early next year.

Nov. 28 – Mark Bragelman, Robin Gohman and other representatives from Liberty Bank brought our group on a tour of the Great River Children’s Museum’s soon-to-be home. Museum planners Jeanne Vergeront and Jim Roe met with the board and planning group to share their ideas about how the building could be used to bring community members inside to join in the museum planning process and play together. It was exciting to dream about using this new space.

Dec. 4 – Closing day! Board members Glen Palm, Greg Reigstad and Becky Coborn were present for the signing of the documents and the handing over of the codes and keys.

Since that day, it has been fun exploring the building, discovering which key fits in which lock and which code opens which door. There has also been the work of moving in, with furniture that was donated by Coborn’s, Inc. Thanks to a Thrivent Action Team, we were able to purchase paper products and other supplies needed to host our volunteer board and committees for work in our new space. After a tour with the fire marshall, the facilities committee has a list of initial work that needs to take place in the building in order to safely host family friendly events.

Dec. 10 – The Great River Children’s Museum Board of Directors held its first meeting in the new location. The results of the board retreat were voted on and made official. The board has grown over the past six months from three voting members to fourteen. Solidifying the foundational documents and board structure has been a major focus of the board’s most recent time together.

The Children Have Spoken

St. Cloud Unschooling Network recently reached out to the Great River Children’s Museum through their leader Mandy Spiczka with exciting news. They had heard about a non-profit group bringing a children’s museum to the area and voted to give their annual fundraising dollars to the Great River Children’s Museum! The group of homeschooling friends, which includes children from babies to teens as well as their parents, meets on a regular basis at the Great River Regional Library in St. Cloud, another community organization the group has elected to support in the past.

Every year the students and parents in the group use their talents to create arts and crafts which they sell to other group members, friends and family during their holiday market. They are able to help each other do their holiday shopping while learning a wide array of academic and life skills. When board members Glen Palm and Sara McKeever arrived for the presentation of the donation, the sale was wrapping up and the children were happily playing.

The parents expressed their excitement about the museum project. They wanted to support an organization that shares their values of creating space in children’s lives for learning through play and the importance of adults creating, exploring and discovering the world alongside children. We were humbled and honored by their gift of $355.25! The funds will be used to prepare space in the new building where community members can come to plan and dream about the museum we will create together.