Full Steam Ahead Capital Campaign

Three years ago, our CSRA community made something very special happen right here in Augusta, Georgia! When a group of local parents decided they wanted to create a welcoming space for young children to play and learn together with their families, the idea for Imagination Station Children’s Museum was born. One of the first steps in our adventure was securing the rental of an unused recreational facility from Richmond County for $1 a year. The next step was running a successful online fundraiser for the original $8,000 that allowed us to create the museum space. Now, we are fast-approaching our third “birthday” and we certainly have a lot to celebrate!

We are thrilled to tell you what Imagination Station has accomplished since we first opened our doors to the public on August 16, 2014. Our two main goals for the museum have always been to provide an educational indoor play space for young children and their parents to enjoy together, and to provide outreach events and programming to underserved and/or at-risk children in the CSRA. Today, we are happy to report that both of our goals have been accomplished, and we are constantly seeking to increase our services to the community. Here are just a few of the accomplishments met in the last three years, by the numbers:

•4,000+: the number of visits made to the museum by children coming to learn and play with their parents and guardians
•800+: number of people who have enjoyed one of our free annual Family Fun Day events
•52: number of CSRA families that currently hold museum memberships and volunteer to staff during open hours
•100+: number of special programs that have been offered by the museum, including regular story times, Baby Bunch, music time, parent-child yoga, baby sign language, and more!
•118: number of Valentines that children created and delivered to local veterans as part of our 2017 initiative to provide school-age children with community service opportunities
•$21,000: donation dollars received for museum opening and improvements
•$1,100: donation dollars received for Hickman Park improvements planned and implemented by the Imagination Station board of directors together with the Summerville Neighborhood Association
•$760: grant monies received by Imagination Station to go toward the Hickman Park improvements

Of course, there are many other things happening at Imagination Station that cannot be measured in numbers alone. Our relationship with Hope House in Augusta is now in its third year. In addition to the mothers bringing their children for free visits to our museum, we also held a successful coat drive for these families in winter 2016.

This past year, we initiated a relationship with a preschool class of 18 children at the Floyd Head Start in downtown Augusta. The teachers and children enjoy monthly visits to the museum and we have also had a donor provide new books for each child in the class.

Three years ago, a group of parents looked at an empty community building in the middle of a city park and saw something more. We could have never imagined then what those next three years would bring… and none of it would be possible without the incredible support and generosity we have received from Day 1. To this day, we are still 100% volunteer-run. Families join our museum and give of their time in staffing and participating on the board committees because they believe in our mission: to provide low-cost, high-impact educational play and programming for families with children ages 0 to 6 and to their parents.

Looking to the future, we are excited about continuing to provide this much-needed resource to young families in the CSRA. Over the next year, we plan on overhauling existing exhibits and rotating in some new exhibits as well. To that end, we have set a fundraising goal of $8,000 for 2017.

We hope that you will be able to help us reach our goal! Please donate in person or online by visiting our website at imagineaugusta.org. By contributing to our capital campaign, you’ll be recognized as a donor in upcoming issues of our newsletter, and have the satisfaction of knowing that your generosity has helped Imagination Station continue to bring important resources to the families and children of the CSRA.

Every donation, no matter what size, is greatly appreciated and will be put to excellent use! Thank you in advance for your willingness to support the efforts of Imagination Station and make a difference to countless families in our community.

Sincerely,

Valerie Mirshak, Capital Campaign Chair

On behalf of Imagination Station Board of Directors