The Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert in Rancho Mirage put out a call for donations Tuesday in a bid to gather enough money to reopen once coronavirus public health restrictions subside.
The children’s museum unexpectedly announced Monday it had shuttered all its online programming and laid off 23 full- and part-time staff members, many of whom had been furloughed since March, due to financial losses sustained during the pandemic.
Davis Meyer, co-chair of the nonprofit’s Board of Directors, told City News Service that the museum, which pre-pandemic served 80,000 people annually, cannot afford to reopen unless the public steps in to help.
“At this point, we are closed for the foreseeable future,” Meyer said. “Once we’re allowed by the state to resume operations, we will need community support and donations in order to hire staff back and resume operations.”
The museum located at 71701 Gerald Ford Drive shuttered in March due the pandemic. In April, it starting offering virtual programming like activities rooted in STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — along with cooking workshops and storytime hours on its Facebook and Instagram pages.
Museum staff were busy crafting a reopening plan after Riverside County was upgraded to the red tier of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening framework last month, Meyer said.
Up until that point, the museum had been using up its reserves to pay for its virtual programming and building maintenance costs, according to a post on the museum’s website.
“I think we were all under the impression this would last a couple weeks, maybe a couple of months,” Meyer said.
But following the county’s recent backtracking to the more restrictive purple tier, and the continued depletion of money lost from admissions, camps and membership renewals, the nonprofit’s board of directors made the decision to cease all programming.
The board is now urging residents of the Coachella Valley to lend a hand to ensure the museum’s survival. To donate, visit cdmod.org/get-involved/donate/.