IOWA Family:
Thank you for continuing to support the Battleship IOWA Museum during this pandemic and resulting recovery. There is no doubt that the next several months will be challenging for each and every one of us. My heart weighs heavy with the impact the pandemic will have on so many individuals and family.
We start off this week with a bit more optimism, as this weekend had 139 guests or about 10% of 2019 guest count of 1,331. Our retail, overnight, and event programs will remain closed until we see our numbers build to a more sustainable level. Our goal is to reduce our current burn rate and continue a trajectory towards recovery. In order to do so, we will need to see on average about 200 guests per day. I suspect that it will take us between 9 and 15 months to reach that level. This is why your support continues to be critical to ensure that the Battleship IOWA is able to continue educating our youth, offering veterans activities, transitioning to the National Museum of the Surface Navy, and continue our efforts in supporting the community.
We are blessed to have a committed and dedicated crew that continues to come out and support our efforts! The team continues to chip away at the numerous tasks that exist with a battleship of IOWA’s size. The myriad of tasks include critical maintenance, providing a safe environment for our guests and crew, creating educational content for our audience, growing the large base of veterans resources, reaching out to foundations and donors for support, and numerous mundane tasks that are needed to ensure the organization continues to operate. Thank you to each of you for your support!
In the coming weeks, I suspect we will see some minor adjustments to our organization to ensure our long-term sustainability. In doing so, we continue to look for opportunities to streamline our operation and ensure that we are sustainable over the long-term.
Thank you to those that continue to support our organization with donations, visitation, volunteering, and simply sharing our message.