Trinity Lutheran Church youth group members unload items from a trailer into the new storage building at Overland Trail Museum Wednesday, July 22, 2020. The youth group spent four days helping museum staff move items into the building. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)
A newly constructed building at Overland Trail Museum includes a storage area for items not on display, as well as space for the museum’s Print Shop exhibit. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)
Part of the new building at Overland Trail Museum will be used to house a Print Shop exhibit. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)
Trinity Lutheran Church youth group members move a crib from the trailer into the new storage building at Overland Trail Museum Wednesday, July 22, 2020. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)
Trinity Lutheran Church youth group members assisted Overland Trail Museum staff members in moving a number of items into the museum’s new storage building Wednesday, July 22, 2020. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)
When Trinity Lutheran Church’s youth group had to cancel a planned mission trip this summer they decided to find a way to be of service in their own hometown. For the past three days the group of about 20 students has been hard at work moving items into the new storage building/Print Shop at Overland Trail Museum.
“They have been doing an incredible job,” said museum curator Kay Rich.
The youth group had been planning since last fall to go to North Carolina to take part in hurricane relief this summer, doing construction and so on. Then COVID-19 struck. The group had held out hope through the spring that they could still go on the mission trip, but then the health crisis started picking up and it reached a point when North Carolina really didn’t want those from outside the state coming in and they knew there would be no trip.
Now with some free time on their hands, they decided to find a way to be of service locally. The group organized a free day camp for kindergarten through eighth graders, with activities such as sports, fishing, crafts and cooking and baking. But, with the Kids Camp taking place in the morning, the youth group was still looking for something to fill their afternoons.
“We decided to go back to the businesses that have helped us all these years with mission trips. We reached out and asked if there was anything they would like us to do and the city of Sterling said they had some things lined up for us,” said youth group member Jayson Frank.
The timing was perfect, as the museum was looking for some help moving items from various locations on the grounds, mainly the storage area in the Hamil Building basement, into the newly completed storage building located across from the box car.
Many of the museum’s items in storage were damaged in the 2013 South Platte River flood and have since been restored. The building, which was built by Schlenz Builders, will provide a space to keep items not being exhibited safe from any future flooding.
Along with the storage area, a section of the building will house the museum’s Print Shop equipment, which was also damaged in the flood and has been restored. The Print Shop will include several pieces of historic printing equipment, historical photographs and eventually Rich said she would like to offer some interactive displays for children, such as a typewriter, a rotary dial phone and a place for children to write their own newspaper headlines.
Old newspaper archives will be kept in the storage area near the exhibit.
The moving project has allowed the youth group members not only an opportunity to see some interesting historical items, but also provided an escape from being cooped up as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
“It’s been really, really great. We’ve moved a bunch of stuff. We’ve had a good time, we enjoy it; it’s something for us to do,” Frank said.
Thursday will be the their last day at the museum helping move items and the final day of kids camp, but the youth group will also be heading to Camp Maranatha, a Bible Camp, this weekend, where they will help out by serving dinner and doing dishes.
While the Print Shop exhibit is not yet ready for public viewing. The rest of the museum is open after being closed since March due to COVID-19. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
