I hope you are having an incredible holiday season!

We begin the week aboard IOWA in drenching rain.  With the rain comes deck puddles and the inevitable leak(s) on board the ship.  Even though the crew has been focused on drainage the past couple of months, leaks still pop up and the water continues to flow across the decks.  Our amazing crew will continue their work to preserve and maintain the ship with passion and commitment.

Operation American Spirit

Joleen alerted me over the weekend that we had exceeded the $68,000 goal with the recent generous match opportunity.  I was deeply touched that the IOWA and Surface Navy Museum community came out in force to support our crew and organization.  This morning I spent time going through correspondence and reviewing the lists of donors to the campaign.  I continue to be dumbfounded by the amount of support and love that you have shown for the ship, our crew, and our mission throughout 2020.  The list of names includes family, friends, board members, crew, local community members, veterans, veteran’s families, visitors, vendors, and the list goes on.  I am in awe by the support from people throughout the world that have been touched over the years by the Battleship IOWA and ultimately the Surface Navy.

Heading into the New Year

As we go into 2021, the challenges will remain as long as shutdowns continue.  Los Angeles appears to be the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic and we suspect that this will continue throughout January. Each of us must remain vigilant to protect our safety and well-being.  Our crew continues to do so aboard ship by following the outdoor museum and exhibition protocol.   We must not forget the lives of those affected by this pandemic both personally, health wise, and financially.

Relief Bill and Next Steps

Last night, the President signed the newest relief bill.  Our CFO has been reading through the 5,000+ page bill over the past several days to determine what programs may be available to us.  We are currently tracking the second round of PPP and the Save Our Stages Act.  I was happy to see that our legislators realized the true effect on museums with a specific program in this bill.  We are under the impression that this program will be administered by the SBA, but are awaiting more information to determine if and when we can file for it.  We are concerned about the potential that we are unable to file for both programs, which may put us in a quandary if we are faced with choosing one over another.  Our only hopes are that we are able to see some relief from this package.

It is difficult to see much of the rest of the country is well on the way to recovery, while California continues to be shuttered.  With this said, I suspect that by May 2021 we may return to 65% of our normal visitor traffic.  This will be dependent on vaccine distribution, area lockdowns, and the comfort of people to travel to Los Angeles.  Until the area returns to some level of normalcy with the economy open (restaurants, attractions, etc.), we will continue to experience the severe drop in revenue with resulting expense reductions.

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