Community Participation

We could not accomplish what we do without the generous contributions of time, expertise, and “in-kind” by organizations and individuals. This year, we would especially like to acknowledge the following.

Approximately 50 volunteers from South Bay Cities Church, the Lomita/Harbor City Kiwanis, senior museum volunteers, and Museum Foundation Boardmembers worked on our Museum Collection Inventory Project, one of the Museum’s top priorities for 2014. Over 2 full days, they pulled all items out of off site storage, inspected and cleaned them, identified them by catalog number, photographed them, and reshelved them. Museum staff has conducted a parallel survey of all items on display in the museum.

Next Spring, staff & volunteers will survey all remaining items in storage at the Museum. Our high school volunteers are now working with staff to update our computer catalog entries for the Museum collection based on survey results. Already, staff has begun mounting rotating displays of items formerly in storage.

One of the greatest – and most expensive - challenges we face in putting on successful events is getting the word out to the members of the community who might be interested in attending. We would like to acknowledge the ongoing assistance we’ve received throughout the year from the Kiwanis, the Lomita Chamber of Commerce, the Lomita Historical Society, Lomita Parks & Recreation, Summer Studios Arts Academy, and Councilmember Mark Waronek in publicizing the various Museum events through their email lists and FaceBook contacts.

We also sincerely appreciate the generosity of businesses, organizations, and individuals who have provided raffle prizes, music, use of facilities, and other in-kind contributions over the past couple of years. The list is too long to include here but please see their names at www.lomita-rr.org .

Our larger public events require LOTS of volunteer help. We are grateful for the many hours of assistance provided by various local Girl Scout troops coordinated by Christine Waronek, members of the Kiwanis and Kiwanis Youth groups, the Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies and Explorer Scouts, all table coordinators/sponsors at our Annual Tea on the Lawn, and the many friends and family members of Helen Ashford, Julie Klarin, and Patrick Kalscheuer.

At our Holiday Appreciation Party for Volunteers, Donors, and Supporters, we singled out the following people for their extraordinary contributions to the Museum and Foundation over the past year.

• Bruce Waters for photography at many of the Museum events
• Patrick Kalscheuer for his extraordinary effort in updating and overseeing the Museum’s online media — website, FaceBook pages, & more
• Judy Brown for her creativity and long hours of hard work in helping the LRRM Board plan and put on events throughout the year.
• Helen Ashford and family for their donations of time, expertise, and hard work in locating and staging musical acts for Concert at the Museum, 7th Annual Afternoon Tea on the Lawn, & Community Day at the Museum
• Individual members of the Lomita Railroad Museum Board for their many many hours of devoted service

Visitors & Programs

In 2013, we focused on increasing the number of visitors to the Museum and as a result, we experienced extraordinary growth. We are very pleased to see that our 2014 visitor count projections show that we have been able to maintain or possibly even grow that number.

The Museum continues to offer a year-round calendar of events for the public. In addition to those that we scheduled early in the year, the Museum and Lomita Parks & Recreation staff organized two additional very successful events for children - Harry Potter Day in August and The Haunted Museum and Halloween Party in October.

2014 has been a most successful and rewarding year for those of us at the Lomita Railroad Museum. Thank you for your support! It is through the generosity and partnership of people like you that the Museum is able to be the educational and community resource that it is.

Sincerely,

Susan Dever, Chair — Lomita Railroad Museum Foundation