The Rainforest Adventures gallery — with its water play area, toddler center and observation deck — is hiding behind closed doors until the Children’s Discovery Center receives more funding to finish the new exhibit.
HOW TO HELP
Honor grandparents or children with a permanent, personalized brick that will be installed at the children’s museum through The Legacy of Dreams commemorative brick campaign.
So far 100 bricks have been sold; the goal is 1,000. A 4-inch-by-8-inch brick with three lines of text costs $100; an 8-inch-by-8-inch brick with six lines of text costs $250. The bricks will be displayed at the front entrance.
Photographs of loved ones are displayed in the museum through the “I want to be a Dream-Builder!” campaign. A photo of one child is displayed for a donation of $250; photos of four children, $1,000; for pledges of $5,000 and above, photos of four children are displayed along with recognition on a major donor wall in the center.
To donate, or to participate in the legacy of dreams or dream-builder campaigns, call 524-5437.
WHERE DOES DONATION MONEY GO?
» $25 provides art supplies for the Imagination Station for one day.
» $50 provides two books for the library.
» $100 helps to subsidize a class of 20 schoolchildren.
» $250 helps replace a piece of medical equipment in the doctor’s office exhibit.
» $500 covers postage for one newsletter mailing.
» $1,000 keeps the museum’s electricity running for a week.
Source: Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center
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“We tried to build the exhibits in-house in order to save money,” explained Loretta Yajima, president of Children’s Discovery Center. “Everything is made out of recycled materials since we have lots of construction going on around here. A lot of the material that we got donated was not specialized for its intended use, so the work has been slow and painful.”
The estimated cost to complete the exhibit is $250,000. “We can’t open the exhibit to the public until we install a water filtration system,” Yajima explained. A few groups have used the water-play area, but the water needs to be completely drained and the area sanitized after each use.
Another project in the works is a water cycle activity that will teach children about the movement of clouds, how water is attained and ways to conserve resources. Children will also learn about threats to the rain forest, animals that occupy different habitats in the rain forest, endangered species and sustainability.
According to Yajima, the center plans to continue to expand the facility as funds become available through grants and donations.
In recent years, the facility has redesigned the main entrance, added a school bus drop-off area, opened a cafe and birthday party area, created a covered walkway for use in outdoor programs and expanded lobby space to include a toddlers-only area.
“We want to continue to expand our educational opportunities for the kids. But the admission fees and school group fees only cover about one-third of the cost of operations,” Yajima said.
She said she hopes The Legacy of Dreams personalized brick campaign will help to cover the costs to finish the Rainforest Gallery. If all goes well, the rainforest exhibit will open in the spring of 2012.
For more information on the Children’s Discovery Center, visit www.discoverycenterhawaii.org.
