EVERETT — One local couple has an offer they hope you won’t refuse.
Walt Gillette and Saundra Cope of Everett have offered to match any gift to the Imagine Children’s Museum from now until the end of March up to a total of $125,000.
“We are enthusiastic supporters of the Imagine Child
ren’s Museum,” Cope said. “It stands out as one of the best in the country and is a point of pride for Everett and the Northwest community.”
A $5 million expansion is planned at the Everett museum that will allow it to host traveling exhibits and serve more people.
But construction can’t get started until all the money is raised. They have about $700,000 to go and a deadline is looming. The museum can receive an extra $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation if it meets its fundraising goal by June.
That’s why museum staff members were thrilled to hear about the generous offer. They’re hoping it will inspire more people in the community to donate whatever they can.
Gillette and Cope are both retired Boeing executives.
“They love the museum and they know how important it is to children and families,” said Shawndra Johnson, director of organizational development at the museum.
The museum, a nonprofit, opened at 1502 Wall St. in 2004 after the community chipped in to raise $4.8 million. The museum has multiple floors of hands-on exhibits, including a rooftop area where kids can play a life-size game of chess or dig for dinosaur bones.
It was recently named the best in the region by Nickelodeon’s Parent Picks.
Cope called the museum a magical place “where children come to play and leave with an education.” She said a contribution to the museum is a vote for the community’s most valuable asset: children.
Others in the community have stepped up with big gifts. The all-time top individual donors to the museum are Idamae Schack and her late husband John. The Schack family asked the amount not be disclosed publicly, but the museum describes the amount as substantial.
At least three other couples have donated $100,000 or more on this fundraising campaign: Steve and Carol Klein, Clay and Hap Wertheimer and Brad and Kathy Nysether. Idamae Schack also donated at that level for this project.
The museum would like to turn a parking garage attached to its main building into an exhibit space designed to look like a Northwest lodge.
The plans call for a stage for performances, two family restrooms, storage and a new workshop to fix the things that inevitably get broken. The expansion will add about 7,500 square feet of space.
That will allow the museum to host traveling science, cultural and arts exhibits designed for kids. Plus, there will be other things like giant Lincoln-Log-like building blocks.
“We are just thrilled at their generosity,” Johnson said. “It’s such an honor.”
Find more information on how to donate to the Imagine Children Museum’s capital campaign at www.imaginecm.org or by calling 425-258-1006.
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