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Recent News
Foundation Board Approves Plan to Help Raise Funds for National Coast Guard Museum For nearly ten years, a team of enthusiastic volunteers have wanted to build a museum and educational center celebrating Coast Guard history and missions. The Coast Guard is the only military service without a national museum.
Recently, the volunteers won approval to build a stunning, 60,000 square-foot facility on the Thames River in New London, Connecticut. The site combines historical significance with aesthetic beauty. It’s a few hundred feet from the first Coast Guard Academy at Fort Trumbull, and will include a new pier for the Barque Eagle. State and Federal governments have committed to pay half of the projected cost, structuring their $30 million commitment as matching grants. Corporations, foundations and individuals that contribute the remaining $30 million will have their gifts matched, dollar-for-dollar, by government grants.
“New London has been home to the United States Coast Guard for more than 200 years, and it’s a joy to know that the National Museum will be located in the city along the Thames River, less than 1,000 feet from the original Academy,” said James Coleman, Jr., Vice President of the Coast Guard Foundation and President of the National Coast Guard Museum Association. “We thank Governor Rell and the citizens of the State of Connecticut for their financial support, and assure one and all that we will build a state-of-the-art museum that the entire world will want to visit for the next 200 years,” he added.
Designed by celebrated architect Urs Gauchat, the museum renderings were unveiled at a recent ceremony attended by Governor Jodi Rell. Construction is expected to begin in 2009 and be completed by 2011. Mr. Gauchat is Dean of the School of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The museum will include space for interactive exhibits, a large outdoor plaza and amphitheater. A helicopter whose windows will be outfitted with virtual-reality screens will recreate storm conditions under which the Coast Guard rescues imperiled boaters. “You’ll get the sense that you’re in a category three storm,” said Dean Gauchat. The museum will also include a live feed, connecting visitors to a polar icebreaker and mobile scientific laboratory.
At the Foundation’s recent annual meeting, members of its Board of Directors approved a plan to work with the National Coast Guard Museum Association to raise the $30 million in private support necessary to begin construction. “We’re delighted to partner with the Museum Association in this important fundraising effort,” said CGF Chairman Ross Roeder. “This is an exciting project that will play a critical role in educating the public about the Coast Guard’s vital service to our nation,” he added.
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