President Ben called the off-site meeting to order at the Coastal Discovery Museum. VLR provided monies to start the Discovery Lab on the Museum property and will have a tour of the facilities after the breakfast and meeting.
Otto Ferrene offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag
Announcements:
Tim Ridge circulated sign up sheets for Founder's Night which will be held Saturday June 23 at Shipyard.
There will be a joint board meeting (outgoing board and incoming board) on June 19th
Thank you Lynn King for arranging the food for this meeting and Jennifer Stupica for arranging the room
Sergeant at Arms, Chuck Wiseman collected Happy $
Speaker:
Rex Garniewicz, President and CEO of the Coastal Discovery Museum was introduced by Jennifer Stupica who is an employee of the Museum. Rex gave a history of the museum which was founded in 1985 and was located at two separate locations prior to its move to Honey Horn in 2007. Honey Horn, a historical property was purchased by the town in 1990. Pictures from long ago show that there were not many trees, but much has grown up over the years. The property contained several historical buildings which have been restored. The new mission and vision of the museum is: The Coastal Discovery Museum inspires people to care for the Lowcountry. When Rex came to the museum, the "Supervisor's House" was in very bad shape. In January 2015 he provided a program to VLR which made the club aware of the needs and the desire to renovate the house, which led to VLR making a donation to help make the Discovery Lab a realization. The Discovery Lab opened September 29, 2016 right before Hurricane Matthew hit. The Lab made it through the hurricane, but Rex's house was destroyed. Access to the lab was limited for quite a while because the Honey Horn property was used to grind up the island's fallen trees and was full of large equipment. Since that time, more and more programs have been added, with the lab providing a multitude of learning experiences. The museum, in spite of being a small museum, has been named a Smithsonian Affliliate because of the unique programs that are offered, based on our island location. Rex named many of the popular programs and some of the exciting up coming summer programs. There are currently forty programs per week!!
Rex gave a tour of the Discovery Lab and provided many fascinating facts. For more information about the Coastal Discovery Museum and all the wonderful features and programs that it offers, visit: www.coastaldiscovery.org