You Are Invited To Ten Years Of Making History Happen
Monday, September 10th, 2018, 6:00 P.M.
the Dorcheat Historical Museum will be hosting its 10th fundraising event since
the 2008 opening of the parish museum. Last year the fundraiser was a huge
success, and raised over $30,000. Many
locals attend this event each year, knowing how important the preservation of
our history is to Webster Parish and the state of Louisiana.
Louise Baird Snook, Dorcheat Museum
President, complimented the following board members; Becky Marvin, Janice
Mourad, Cora Lou Robinson, Kay Elzen, Janet LaBruyere, Ann Harlan, Charlotte
Martin, Dianne McGuire, Jo McCullough, Charlotte Jones, Mary Ann Hamilton, Lucy
Adkins, and Rachel Miller. All these
ladies are museum board members and the female driving force behind the gala as
well as the museum. Not to be forgotten, for all their hard word to make
everything run smoothly and the man power behind the museum are fellow board
members; Marcel Vandenoord, Richard Campbell, John Agan, Dr. Roy Phillips, and
Ben Baldwin. These event organizers
report that the 2018 fundraiser promises to be as exceptional as the past
museum events, with the "TEN YEAR CELEBRATION" theme set for this
year.
Museum
board members commented, “We can’t have a successful event or a successful
museum without the help from local businesses and individuals.” If you would like to donate an item or a gift
certificate to highlight your business as well as help the museum please
contact Schelley Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit at 116 Pearl Street. Items will be taken until September 5th,
2018. In the past a wide variety of items
were on hand to place bids on. Original artwork from local artists, cakes from
area cooks, diamond rings, dinners from area restaurants as well as some very
special one of a kind items are just a few of the things we hope to have. "We
are so fortunate to have the support of so many people from far and wide. We
are pleased with our progress and we know we couldn't do any of it without so
many generous friends and supporters of the museum." stated museum
director; Schelley Brown Francis.
Cost to attend is $25 per person before
September 10th and $30 at the door.
Please mail in your response by September 1st, 2018 or drop
off before the 10th. If you are unable
to attend and would still like to donate please do so. Every little bit helps this 501c3 nonprofit
organization to continue the works that they do. The museum now has a stock donation option
available through Ty Pendergrass’s Argent Financial office. You can
contact them at 318-377-4262 with questions about this option.
Museum director Schelley Francis and museum
archivist Mrs. Eddie Hammontree have worked hard this year to catalog and
create a few new exhibits as well as John Agan’s continuous work on creating
books that highlight history of our area.
Schelley commented, “The museum has had hundreds of visitors this past
year from all over the country and overseas as well. The Dorcheat Historical Museum
is a showplace for our area and especially our school children, church groups,
senior adults and visitors to our area. The
museum has even been a place for other museum officials to gather advice and
knowledge for their own museums. Preserving
and remembering the past is so important to a community. I hope the people of our area never lose
sight of this.”
Holding
on to what we have built up since 2007 is the most important thing. We have many
people to be thankful for in this process. A museum is a living thing. There will always be new and better ways to
improve what we have now. There will
always be new items and history to unveil.
Every day more and more people are finding out about us. Social media has opened up the world to us
and we try to take advantage of those resources.
We still have many dreams for the
future. We are confident that our
expansion project is something that will take place one day. Money was
raised to purchase the building in 2013. A new roof and front were completed,
as well as some items on the inside of this newest building. We will treat this project as we did our
original building project. “We pay as we
go” has always been our motto. Plans for
any renovations and upgrading of this building will take place as money is specifically
raised for this long-term project.
The Media/Theater room gives the museum
an extra advantage of being able to offer the facility to others. We can now
rent this part of the museum out for meetings, reunions and parties, plus we
have the added benefit of the theater system for Power Point or video
presentations."
To sign up for updates visit the website at www.museuminminden.blogspot.com you can also find us on our Facebook group and
page.