On behalf of the trustees and staff of the Hicksville Gregory Museum, thank you for once more supporting the proposition to renew the museum's educational services contract with the Hicksville School District.

We appreciate that Dr. Finn and the members of the school board included the museum in their budget proposal. The outstanding endorsement by the PTA was an encouraging vote of confidence. And, of course, without the positive response of the voters, the Hicksville Gregory Museum might well cease to exist.

The $50,000 a year we will receive from the school district is only a portion of the funds needed to run the museum, but it will go a long way as we are confronted with salaries, utilities, insurance, accounting fees, program costs. And then there is the never ending maintenance of the century old and ever-ailing building. Unlike most other museums in the area, we receive no support from any branch of government, even though the Town of Oyster Bay owns the building and we are chartered and supervised by the State Education Department. This is Hicksville's museum, and its survival is entirely up to us! Our small staff and 12 Hicksville resident trustees are constantly working to keep expenses down and raise the rest of the money needed to maintain the high quality of our educational programs, and preserve our only national historic place.

What do the residents of Hicksville get in return for their positive role?

• Admission to the museum is free to all Hicksville residents, as often as they choose to visit.

• Educational programs in the sciences and local history are free to class groups from all Hicksville schools, public and parochial. Approximately 25 different programs, correlated with the school curriculum, are available on appropriate grade levels.

• Courses for teachers are available on request.

• Hicksville Scout groups can come for badge work related to the museum's collections.

• The popular senior citizen guided bus tour of Hicksville's places of interest is our historian Richard Evers' specialty, and is provided free of charge. So are other programs for seniors such as last year's STAR program application guidance, and the delightful Depression Glass program and exhibit.

• The pride of having, in our little community, not only a local history museum in an historic building, but a truly magnificent earth science collection as well. This Hicksville Gregory Museum is an outstanding educational resource. Thank you for continuing to preserve it!

For more information, schedules, and upcoming events check out our website at http://members.aol.com/HGMuseum.

Rosemary Barrow,
Trustee