IOWA and Surface Navy Museum Family:
I hope that you and your family are safe and healthy during the current Covid-19 surge. Los Angeles continues to endure higher positivity rates with numerous lives affected and countless businesses shut down. We are hopeful that this trend tapers down in the near future and vaccines provide the needed relief.
Our crew remains hyper-vigilant in our efforts to combat the spread of the virus. I am proud of our entire crew for their dedication, commitment, and responsibility to ensure that the ship remains safe. The leadership team remains focused on a safe environment while ensuring that we continue planning for the future. This dream team will be one to remember!
Of course, we wouldn’t be able to continue doing our work without the moral and financial support of you and countless others! It is important that no one overlooks the importance of the support by the entire family of both the IOWA and Surface Navy Museum. It has been absolutely critical and essential.
A program of support for many organizations is membership. We have been recently asked about our membership programs and new member availability. A simple answer is that we no longer offer traditional membership programs BUT in 2021 we will begin to provide membership-like benefits to all supporters based upon their level of contribution. While this may sound confusing, we are creating a standardized points-based system in which all supporters will be recognized for their contributions. Points will be accrued for all contributions and will be redeemable for tickets, experiences, events, merchandise, and other opportunities.
We believe that all contributors to our organization deserve recognition for their support and this new system will make it possible. We expect the system to be ready in Q2 of 2021 under the planned program name of “Haze Grey” and don’t worry – your contributions currently are being counted. We truly appreciate your support and feel that this change will finally provide you tangible benefits for it.
The team is working on several initiatives including programs, grants, and sponsorships for the Surface Navy Museum effort. As we move to transition to this exciting museum by 2025, the efforts behind the scenes remain focused on growing the community and necessary support to bring it alive. There are multiple layers of this initiative requiring seen and unseen efforts in operations, technology, development, accounting, board development, and marketing. We have made tremendous progress over the past two years and we are excited for 2021 and beyond!
Stay tuned for the coming silent auction in late January. Thank you to those who have already contributed items and experiences. If you are interested in donating an item or experience for the silent auction, please send Joleen an email at development@labattleship.com.
As I mentioned in my note in December, I promised to not press for donations until mid-January. I will continue to honor by commitment, but if you are interested in donating please go to https://www.pacificbattleship.
My best wishes to you and your family for a safe and blessed week!
Jonathan Williams