Meals on Wheels thanked for being there

Congratulations to the Nevada Appeal on the article and picture of the great work Meals On Wheels is doing. If it wasn't for these great people and contributors who keep it going, some of us in Carson City wouldn't have a meal or see the smiling faces or hear a nice word.

I have been a recipient for the past three years, and have met all the drivers. I can only say thank you to all the drivers, the volunteers and the people who keep it all going smoothly.

I'm sure all the people receiving Meals On Wheels will agree with me on a job well done.

PAT TRUELOVE

Carson City

Dog was returned home, thanks to the kindness of others

Our dog, Slider, is an indoor dog, but during the thunder, he panicked and jumped through a glass window on Friday and got out while we were at work.

I would like to thank the kind people at Albertson's on Highway 50 who called me during the day to let me know he was loose. Unfortunately, I did not get the message until later. I would also like to thank James from the Carson City Animal Control, who picked him up and also called me a couple of times during the day. Unfortunately, those messages were not received as well, until too late.

We were upset when we arrived home to the silence of an empty house because our normally bouncing Tigger dog was not home. We are very thankful once again to James, who had dropped Slider off and put him in our back yard. Slider was home thanks to the kindness of the people of Carson City. Thank you so much to everyone who kept an eye on our shaken doggie-dog.

KYMBER ESTES

Carson City

Children's Museum offers fun and educational exhibits

As a long-time member of the board of directors at the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada, I was disturbed and unhappy to read the letter from Barbara Myers. I would love to spend some time with her at the museum to go over our exhibits, how they work, what we do to keep them up to the best of our ability, and how she might be able to help us in the future.

Mrs. Myers probably does not know that our museum is a private nonprofit organization, and it receives no local, state or federal funding. Income from admissions, memberships, gift shop sales, birthday parties and classes only account for about 46 percent of our tight budget. The rest comes from fund-raisers, grants, special events and donations. Due to our tight budget, we are understaffed with only one full-time employee and three part-time employees. We rely on volunteers to fill in the gaps where possible. Everyone on our board of directors volunteers their time to benefit the museum. During the past fiscal year, our board of 13 members volunteered over 1,500 hours. Everyone on the board also supports the museum financially to the best of their ability.

Every year, over 25,000 children and adults come to the museum to interact with our hands-on exhibits. Our museum is designed to be family interactive - in other words, our goal is for parents and grandparents to explore and have fun along with their children. From time to time, our museum does not meet the expectations of one of our patrons - we certainly realize that we are not the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Lied Museum in Las Vegas or the Discovery Museum of San Jose. I have been to those museums, as well as at least a dozen other smaller children's museums. Many of us on the board visit other museums regularly and bring back ideas, pictures and videos. This spring, we opened a new bank exhibit which was inspired by similar exhibits in other museums. This exhibit has been a big hit with our visitors. We are a small museum and are constantly striving to do better.

For every patron who is disappointed in our children's museum, there are countless others who have memberships and come back week after week, and many who have to carry their crying child out the door because he or she does not want to leave. We have some members of the community who have belonged to the museum for over 10 years.

The museum is always looking for new volunteers as well as new sources of funding to continue to develop the museum, expand our programs, and continue in our role of "The best place to bring kids in Carson City." as voted in the Nevada Appeal Readers' Poll.

FRIEDA FORD

Carson City

DMV rebate won't be going to UNR

UNR's audacious request for DMV rebate donations would suggest it wants taxpayers to forget the money was excessive taxation in the first place, and we should ignore the way they spend. As examples, let us not forget John Lilley's $90,000 raise, and the current $300,000 being spent to remodel his office. Meanwhile, they nickel and dime their employees with such things as $320 parking permits.

Sorry, John, but my rebate check won't be finding its way into your fancy new office. I've got food to put on the table.

D.J. MEREDITH

Reno