FOUNDATION WELCOME MOLLY SNOW

MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS DIRECTOR

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation is delighted to announce our new Membership & Events Director, Molly Snow! We are thrilled to have Molly on board to manage the Foundation’s events, seek new members and steward our donors. You may have seen Molly giving tours for the museum, helping with museum virtual programs and in-person events, or seen her signage in the store windows. For the last four years, Molly was part of the education team and the last two years on the store team for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Molly grew up in Cedar Rapids, IA and graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Michigan University. For graduate school, she went overseas to England and earned her Master of Arts degree in Museum Studies from Newcastle University. Her military connection comes from her father as he served in the Marine Corps and two grandfathers who served in the U.S. Navy.

Feel free to introduce yourself to Molly to welcome her aboard or if you have any questions on your membership. Her email is molly.snow@wvmfoundation.com or call 608-261-0536. Welcome to the Foundation, Molly!

Why?

The question I am asked when soliciting donations for the new Wisconsin Veterans Museum is to explain why we should support an investment to fund a new building to house a collection of veterans’ artifacts. In these reports I have tried to offer a picture of the museum and the extraordinary content housed in our displays and storage facility. The foundation members believe the new museum campaign is important as an educational resource to give Wisconsinites and our children an appreciation of the cost we have paid to keep and expand our freedoms.

As we on the Foundation Board attempt to engage our donors, we constantly return to the children. Let me share with you how this concern reveals itself.

Last month I was invited to tour the storage facility with a donor and his friend. One was one of the last of the WWII veterans still with us. The other was a Vietnam veteran. Both saw combat and both had vivid memories of their time in military service. As the Vietnam vet tried to tell of his experiences during the Tet offensive, he struggled to keep his composure. He was unable, at one point in the fighting, to come to the aid of his brother Marines as they fought and died in the struggle. He told us he thinks about his lost brothers and his experiences from that war every day since it happened. He could not hold back his emotions as he told his story.

One week later I was visiting some friends with two of my nephews. The children were playing the video game “Call of Duty.” I watched as they reenacted battles from the Second World War. Battles that one of our lunch guests had participated in! There was no emotion, no feeling of remorse, no understanding of the sacrifices involved. The scenes, sounds, and horror of the battles were graphically displayed on the screen, but the children playing felt nothing. To them, war was a competitive game. They could have been playing football or hockey with the same detachment.

The differences between the two experiences were profound and telling. We have an obligation to ensure that the sacrifices and scars left on our veterans are understood by the generations that inherit the freedoms we take for granted – freedoms they gave to us. Our members and donors understand the mission of this museum. The legislators who voted to release the funds to buy the building at 30 West Mifflin understand the mission. James Bond, the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, Kathy Blumenfeld, the Secretary of Administration, and our Governor understand.

We on the Veterans Museum Board ask all who read The Bugle to help us spread the answer to the question ‘Why?' Help us realize the vision of a new museum to teach our children about the sacrifices our Wisconsin veterans have made to ensure they have the freedoms they take for granted.

In gratitude,

Daniel Checki Foundation Board President