Behind any great nonprofit is a great board and we don’t want to brag, but we feel like we’ve got a pretty stellar one! This week we thought we’d take a minute to introduce you to these intrepid volunteers and thank them for all that they do!
Karlene Addison-Stout, a retired teacher with Waterville schools and grandmother of 8, has been with the museum for “4 enjoyable years.” Karlene is always ready to lend a hand to any task from setting up events to hanging up flyers and so much more!
She says, The Children's Discovery Museum is important to me because I believe that communities that invest in children are great places to live. Parents want opportunities their children can explore. The Museum jump starts preschool-elementary learning. When kids are engaged, the community prospers.
Danielle Bragg, a third party billing specialist who helps connect families to funding and supports at Alfond Youth and Community Center, joined the board last year and has dove right in! As a vital part of our Communications Committee, Danielle has done a great job in helping promote our programming and events. She, her husband, son, and two dogs have made Waterville home for the past 15 years and she’s an active part of the Educare Central Maine community, an important partner of the museum.
Why is the Children’s Discovery Museum so important to her? The museum is important for so many different reasons. The most important is the growth and development of the minds of the youth in our community. Having a place for immersive play to excite these growing minds, especially for my own son, is amazing! Even better, it's being constructed right here in Waterville. Cannot wait to see it all come together!
Rick Bryant, a project manager at Change Healthcare, lives with his family in Waterville and
has been on the board since 2017. As head of the Kringleville Committee, Rick is in charge of all things Christmas! He’s even recruited his family in a total makeover of the Kringleville cabin, and done an amazing job coordinating the event, taking on everything from organizing and scheduling to painting and interior decorating.
You may recognize Jackie Dalton, the board’s secretary, from her countless hours of work with a variety of Waterville area nonprofits, including REM, KMTrails, Friends of Maine Children’s Home and many others. She is a tireless volunteer, always at the ready to help, and we at the museum especially appreciate her eagle eye for editing! She’s been with us since 2017 when her and her husbanded lent their knowledge of Waterville to our search for a new location.
Jackie feels The CDM would be a much needed addition to the central Maine area for families with young children to have something fun and educational to do together. Selfishly, I look forward to the day I can take my grandchildren to it, where we will have fun exploring all it will have to offer.
Nash Davies, an accountant at Wipfli LLP, and his wife just welcomed a baby girl into their lives. This new dad joined the board this summer and jumped right in, helping out with events set-up.
He’s excited to someday take his daughter to the new museum and feels that children’s museums are important to give children a place to learn and play.
James LaLiberty, a practicing attorney since 2019, works at Jabar LaLiberty, LLC and lives in
Waterville with his wife and two children, who participate in most of the museum’s programming and especially love our summer camp! James joined the board in 2018 during our move from our Augusta location to Waterville, and is our board president. He’s been instrumental in fundraising efforts and says he’s proud that the museum has been able to move the project forward during the pandemic.
He says, CDM is important to me because it provides a wonderful resource for young kids and families in the area. CDM is important to the community because it has excellent programming for kids of all ages, provides a place for kids to learn through play, and attracts families from all over Maine.
Kristin Grant, executive administration manager of Kennebec Savings Bank, lives in Waterville with her husband and two young children who, she says, are big fans of all things related to CDM! Kennebec Savings has been an active longtime supporter of the museum, and Kristin jumped at the opportunity to represent the bank on the board five years ago since her family enjoyed the museum at our Augusta location, and, as a Waterville resident, appreciated the opportunity to support and help the museum navigate its move to Waterville.
Kristin says, The museum was an important part of my childhood, allowing me the freedom to learn through play and imagination. Now more than ever, it is so important for our kids to have a safe place to play and explore. There have been so many great additions of businesses to the Waterville community, but not as many new places for kids, so the Children’s Discovery Museum is the perfect fit.
Joel Lockwood, has been in the insurance industry for more than 14 years and lives in Waterville with his wife and two children. Joel has been involved with our journey to find a new place to play since the idea was just a tiny spark in 2014, and has been key in helping us envision a bigger, bolder future as our Capital Campaign chair. This relocation and expansion project is so important to the Central Maine area and beyond, Joel says. The museum will be a state-of-the-art facility for children and families to play and learn together. It is the icing on the cake to the Waterville downtown revitalization. It will provide another reason why young families will choose to live, work and stay here when raising their children. The vision is that you will no longer have to spend hours in the car traveling to other locations for the best restaurants, arts, music and family activities. It will all be right here in our backyard and the Children’s Discovery Museum is an imperative piece to complete that puzzle.
Meg Loubier, a commercial lender for Bangor Savings who lives in Winslow with her husband and three kids, served on the board for many years beginning in 2010 and re-joined to help us transition to our new location in 2018, stepping up to fill the role of president from 2018-2021, during which time her leadership was key to our transition to owning our own building in Waterville.
I am most excited about the opportunity for families to adventure, play, learn, and gather together in a beautiful and thoughtful space, Meg says. The exhibits are going to be amazing and I can’t wait to see families enjoy them. I am also super excited about the wellness theme that will be present throughout the museum which focuses on mind and body – reflection, movement, rest, practice, expression, connection, curiosity, and gratitude.
Lucy Pelsma, a Vice President of Strategic Marketing for a money management firm that helps people prepare financially for retirement and mom of two who is actively involved in PTA, co-leading a Girl Scout Troup and volunteering as a softball and soccer coach, has been with us for a year. Before that, her husband was on the board. Lucy, our Treasurer, was instrumental in developing our Capital Campaign kick-off and promoting our events and programming.
She says of the importance of children’s museums: When our oldest was younger we lived in Boston and she would go to the Boston Children’s Museum almost every day. I experienced firsthand how important a museum can be for a child’s growth and development. I believe in the power of play, providing hands-on learning experiences to children, and the importance of socialization (for both kids and their parents!). I look back fondly at our time spent at the Boston Children’s Museum and can’t wait for other parents to have the same happy memories from times spent at our Museum in Waterville!
Jamie Plourde, Associate Broker and second-generation member of the family-run Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate in Waterville, joined the board in 2020 when she moved back to the area and was looking for ways to get involved in the community. Jamie is our board Vice President and an amazing resource as the chair of the Building & Facilities Committee.
She thinks the Children’s Discovery Museum will be a great addition to this community. We have so many young families in this community looking for education opportunities for their children and this provides an opportunity to play and learn in an engaging new way. It will be another destination point to add to the revitalization of Waterville currently underway.
Serena Sanborn, Education and Outreach Manager for Waterville Creates, has been a board member since 2018, and has been a critical part of our new museum’s design plans from the beginning. Serena loves collaborative work and has been great at helping the museum forge strong partnerships with local nonprofits and is always a great addition to brainstorming sessions on programming, events, communications, and more! An artist and Maine Master Naturalist, Serena has lent her knowledge of play in nature and process art to recent blogs.
Serena says, The Children’s Museum is important to me as it is a part of the vision of the complete Waterville community! The museum offers experiences for younger ages and focused on play. I love that Waterville will have such well-rounded learning and play experiences for all age groups.
Each of our board members deserves a heartfelt round of applause for the precious time and resources they devote to their community and our museum family! Thank you!
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