IOWA Family:
Our board and leadership team hope that you and your family are staying safe in your respective communities these coming weeks. I decided to send via text this week, as I am working safe at home and frankly my hair is a bit overgrown at the moment.
We have been blessed with tremendous support across the Nation through well wishes and financial contributions. Our crew continues their efforts maintaining critical functions aboard the ship including maintenance, administration, security, development, education, veterans outreach, technology, and disaster assistance.
Specific efforts currently underway include:
-Our finance team of Nui and Ross have been hard at work on the SBA EIDL and PPP loans. Assembling the applications and support paperwork is no small task. We are incredibly blessed to have a great banking relationship with the team at F&M Bank during (and outside of) this crisis. Nui has also been working on the regular run of financial reports, mail pickup, and preparing our insurance claim information. We are hopeful that one or more of these opportunities in addition to contributions come through to permit us to retain critical staffing levels to plan for a strong reopening. In the interim, we have placed some of the remaining critical staff on reduced hours until one or more of these funding sources comes in.
-David Canfield has been working on ensuring our critical technology infrastructure stays operational in preparation for reopening. Specifically they have been working on server transition to the cloud and Salesforce automation.-The Volunteer Security Team has been out in force to ensure safety of the ship. Thank you team for your commitment during this critical time. Please maintain social distance and stay safe!
-Joleen Deatherage in partnership with Education Manager Ro Moser and Veterans Manager Janice Bowman have been working on grants and fundraising activities to support and continue our programming. They have been working long hours to track down every opportunity and file accordingly.
-Dave Moser, Mary Ma, and the incredible Operations Volunteer Team have been busy working on the fantail while maintaining social distance and limited power usage. This was an area that required work to ensure long-term sustainability. A reminder that full power aboard ship is available only on Saturday, The remainder of the time, we are on critical power to sustain cathodic protection systems and technology systems.
-Ro Moser has been working with our partners to engage students during home study with Education Programming. Marathon Petroleum supports this programming and I expect will see more introduced in the coming week(s).
-Janice Bowman sent out an email last week on Veterans Services and Programs available. She has been doing outreach to build relationships and is preparing our long-term plan for the program. This program is generously supported by Phillips 66 and Johnny Carson Foundation.
-Craig Post has been hard at work on social distancing reopening plans, which appears to not be until mid-May at the earliest at this point. We have a plan in place for a slow ramp up of operations and are prepared to adjust as needed.
-A reminder that virtual tour programming is available for free through our mobile app, which is available through the Apple or Android store.
In closing, we ask each of you to please stay safe and send your prayers and blessings to our first responders, health care workers, and the families affected by this crisis.
Jonathan Williams
President & CEO
Battleship IOWA Museum / National Museum of the Surface
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