Marianela Pena, Fremont branch AAUW member, and her team of visionaries
would like to create a children’s museum for Fremont, Newark
and Union City. And they need our help.
You can learn more about it by visiting the
Kimbookai web site.
Marianela has a dream. It’s so real and palpable in her
mind she often thinks the dream has come true.
Her dream is to help create a
children’s museum for Fremont, Union City and Newark.
She can see the kids – from toddler
to age seven – engaged in all sorts of fascinating games and activities,
having an unforgettable time learning, playing and creating.
She can see the parents involved in
classes, supporting each other, having a place to go to get their
questions answered. She can see this museum becoming a cultural
gathering place for the whole community, involved and concerned with
what constitutes our future in the Tri-City area: our
young people.
Marianela isn’t alone in her dreaming.
She has gathered a group of parents who share her passion and her
commitment to making the dream a reality. They make up
the board of directors, advisory board and donors of the Kimbookai
Children’s Museum. Marianela is the group’s president and spokesperson.
And they all know that it will
take a whole lot more than dreaming to make their vision a reality.
They have been working on doing just that since 2001.
It all started with five moms.
The idea was born when a group of
five stay-at-home mothers in Fremont and Newark, tired of trudging
to children’s museums in San Jose or Berkeley or Sausalito, thought:
What about having our own museum right here in the Tri-City area?
Thought turned quickly into action
according to Marianela. “We visited museums in our area,”
she explained, “talked to directors and founders and asked how their
museums got started.”
Having a background in market analysis,
Marianela and her fellow visionaries surveyed the local schools to determine
if there was an interest, checked the demographics of our area through
the census and went to the City of Fremont for direction. And
all signs and statistics pointed to the fact that the Tri-City area
would benefit greatly from a children’s museum.
By now you’re probably wondering
how the group decided on the name of Kimbookai.
They came up with the name in a
brainstorming session. They liked the word “Kimboo”
because it sounded like the name of a village in an old-fashioned
tribal community where parents helped each other raise their children.
Once the group determined that
there is a need and a desire for a children’s museum in our area,
they set about putting together a business plan and formed a non-profit
organization with a board of directors.
They learned a lot from all
this and did some fundraising but after a time they really felt at
a loss as to what to do next.
What was needed was a vision.
To bring them to the next step,
some board members recently talked to different groups who were part
of emerging children’s museums across the nation such as:
The Children’s Museum of Naples, Florida, the Nevada Discovery
Museum in Reno, and the Valley Children’s Museum in San Ramon.
The advice the Kimbookai principals
received from these fledgling museums, along with expert advice from
local non-profit leaders and fundraisers, helped the group create a
more systematic approach to fundraising, a stronger association with
community organizations and, most importantly, a path to sharing their
vision with the three-city communities.
That’s what Kimbookai is doing now.
In order to let the community know something of the look and feel
of a children’s museum, members have put together a fundraiser called
a Children’s Museum Experience that will take place April 25 from
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Centerville Presbyterian Church, 4360 Central
Avenue, Fremont. The entrance fee is $5 per person. All
proceeds will go toward defraying costs for the museum experience and helping
develop a visionary plan for the museum.
Kimbookai is inviting all Tri-City
parents to bring their kids from toddler age to seven years old to
tumble, play with blocks, learn about a wind tunnel, shop for groceries,
pan for gems and so much more in a simulated museum environment.
AAUW is helping the group realize
its vision and get its message across. President Randy Fewel
sees a close affinity between what Kimbookai is trying to accomplish
in the community and AAUW’s mission of equity in education for girls and women.
“So many women and child caregivers
need support,” said Randy. “They need a safe and healthy
environment for their children, a place they can learn and have a good
time all at once. And they need to be able to support
each other as well. I see this museum as a good way to
unite our whole community.”
Marianela needs all our help
to bring the whole community into this project. If you would
like to help her create a children’s museum for the Tri-City area, go
to the Kimbookai web site
or call Marianela Pena at 510 742 6474. You can also email Marianela at:
marianela@kimbookai.org. |
