Since March 16, The Museum's doors have been locked and the halls and galleries have remained eerily dark and quiet. As the nationwide shutdowns and new protocols were put into place, the limited museum staff were dedicated to provide educational "distance learning" resources for the community including the distribution of take-home STEM kits.
Now there is a light at the end of the tunnel and, as we look forward to re-opening and greeting the public, your health and safety is important to us. To prepare for opening, we installed extra hand sanitizer stations, plexishields, and more frequent surface cleaning to ensure The Museum opens in the correct and safe way.
The Museum strives to educate through hands-on learning with world-class exhibitions, programming, and family events. To help continue our mission, we are turning to the community for support. The health and safety measures put into place have brought on added expenses in addition to the already devastating losses we've incurred. The shutdown, brought on a loss of revenue of more than $250,000 that includes admission sales, membership sales, cancelled events, and gift shop sales, to name a few. If you are able, please help contribute to our "Help Re-Open The Museum" fundraiser.
We understand the shutdowns not only have affected The Museum, but everyone during this time. If you are able to make a contribution to The Museum, a GoFundMe has been set up to make giving easier. If you are unable to make a financial contribution but still want to help, please leave us a review on Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, or Google. Your kind words will certainly bring a smile to those who work so hard to make the Reading Public Museum a special place for families to spend time together, learn something new, and have fun while doing so.
As a non-profit organization in the great Berks County community, we cannot thank you enough for your continued support.
Thank you to community supporters, like NeoPangea and Lone Cricket Productions for helping RPM make the fundraiser video. And thank you Eight Oaks Farm Distillery for the generous donation of hand sanitizer to help keep our building ready for visitors.
