Welcome to part one of my Doors Open Milwaukee experience…volunteering!
As I mentioned in my original post about Doors Open, I signed up to work a 4-hour shift at one of the MANY sites open to the public for free of charge last weekend, and I was placed at The Milwaukee Public Museum. I’d missed participating in this amazing event in years past, so I decided to volunteer so I couldn’t miss the weekend.
And let me tell you that it was one of the most enjoyable volunteering events I’ve done. I was paired up with a wonderful woman named Peggy (who also volunteers at the Volunteer Legal Clinic), and our task was simply to greet visitors and give them the quick rundown (all movies playing at The Dome Theater were free!) and collect zip codes for data collection. Everyone we met was so happy to be there, and kids were excited to get their passports stamped.
Then I asked David, the Planetarium Educator, if the Projection Room is ever open to the public (me being “the public”). He was gracious enough to let me take a peek inside, and then Charlie the projectionist gave me a brief tour. It was awesome! The film reels are over 200lbs and are miles long. To see that enormous projector was really fascinating. I learned that it gets so hot that they have coils of cold water running around it to keep it from overheating.
But back to volunteering, it was so easy and I got to chat with lots of new people. It was such a simple way to get involved AND get a badge that let me skip to the front of the line in other Doors Open sites. More on that in the next post…
Oh and I wanted to mention two events coming up at the Public Museum: The Sci-Fi Film Fest starts October 23 and has some great films to see in preparation for the Alien Worlds and Androids exhibit. Check out the schedule and head on over to have your mind blown by the Dome Theater, and get details on the new exhibit.
Thanks to everyone at the museum and my fellow volunteer Peggy for making it such an enjoyable Saturday morning!
A. Storm
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