Our Friends at SCHEELS

A wonderful year-end surprise came to our PayPal account thanks to everyone at the St. Cloud SCHEELS store. The Great River Children’s Museum received a generous donation via the museum’s website. Chris Theisen, Assistant Store Leader, shared with us that, “SCHEELS is very happy to provide this donation. Being familiar with how Liberty donated the building really caught our eye, and we just wanted to be a part of what we agree will make a great addition to our community.” 

It is touching when people take the initiative to improve their community in whatever ways they are able. We all can be inspired by this company’s focus on community involvement.

Development Timeline

The museum project began in 2012 at the dining room table of Glen Palm and Jane Ellison. It has gone through many stages in its evolution. Now, as it begins to take on physical form at the downtown location, let us take a look back at the many milestones along the way.

2012

  • Established Great River Children’s Exploratorium as a 501c3
  • Met with community leaders/groups

2014

  • Joined the Association of Children’s Museums as an emerging museum
  • Studied children’s museums in similar sized midwest communities
  • Completed a needs assessment

2016

  • Collaborated with CentraCare Health System to bring the Healthyville exhibit to the Stearns History Museum

2017

  • Created a planning team
  • Discussed a second pop-up exhibit in collaboration with early childhood programs

2018

  • Met with Minnesota Children’s Museum staff and toured $30 million expansion
  • Attended webinar with SCSU faculty/staff about collaboration between children’s museums & universities
  • Explored building sites for a future location
  • Recruited and expanded board membership to 14 members
  • Ran a successful matching campaign for a $25,000 grant
  • Formed committees and refined the mission statement during a board retreat
  • Met with museum planners Jeanne Vergeront and Jim Roe
  • Changed name to Great River Children’s Museum
  • Finalized building donation by Liberty Bank in downtown St. Cloud

2019

  • Legislation introduced for Legacy funding

Contact your representatives and ask them to support HF396 which provides funding for the Great River Children’s Museum. This bill was authored by Dan Wolgamott and Tama Theis. The companion bill in the senate is SF645 and was introduced by Senator Jerry Relph.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

At this time of year and this stage in our project, it seemed appropriate to share our board update in the form of a metaphor.

If a children’s museum were a snowman…

If a children’s museum were a snowman, we would be finished rolling the biggest of the snowballs. Our organization is being led by a strong board with a shared mission, which makes for a solid foundation. We also have a physical foundation in our solid, historic downtown building.

At this point, we are gathering snow for the midsection, the heart of the organization, which is our community. We are bringing on new people like IT experts, architects, and marketing specialists to help in creating a space where families will gather like so many snowflakes, all unique but united in play.

The snowball for the head is just beginning to come together. It is always the quickest and easiest to roll, but it is also a challenge to lift up to the top and is critical to the finished product. What’s a snowman without a head? A museum without a director? The search is beginning.

The final step of dressing up our snowman will involve many decisions. Will our snowman wear a beret or a top hat? Is it going to have buttons and if so how many? We have a board visioning session coming in February. This will be the next big step in guiding our work. We look forward to getting the community’s input on the many choices ahead.

We have a great team all pitching in together and we are having a blast. Rolling snowballs and stacking them on top of each other takes a lot of muscles all pushing and lifting in unison. Board members, consultants, volunteers, and donors in our community can all take pride in our accomplishments as the finished product takes shape.