Garibaldi-Meucci Museum Supports Blue Star Museum Program

This summer, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum will participate in the Blue Star Museum program. As a partner with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 700 museums across America, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum will offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from June 1 through September 5, 2010. The free admission program will apply to any bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), a DD Form 1173, or a DD Form 1173-1. Any active duty military personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard and Reserve will be admitted with up to five members of their immediate family.

Nicole Fenton, Director of the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum explained the museum's enthusiastic support of the program: "We especially want to do our part to support the families of our military personnel since the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum honors the memory of the great general of the Italian unification, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Most people don't know that in 1861 Abraham Lincoln asked him to lead the Union Army. Had he been able to accept, he might also have been a great American general."

Blue Star Families is a national, non-partisan, non-profit network of military families from all ranks and services whose mission is to support, connect and empower military families. The organization wants to raise awareness of the challenges and strengths of military family life with civilian community and leaders.

"Military families work hard for this country, and it is gratifying for us to be recognized for that," said Blue Star Families Chairman Kathy Roth-Douquet. Her husband, Marine Corps Col. Greg Douquet, is on his third deployment to Afghanistan.

For more information contact 718-442-1608. The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum is owned and operated by the Order Sons of Italy in America.

The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum was the home of Antonio Meucci, the true inventor of the telephone, and a refuge to Giuseppe Garibaldi, the legendary hero who championed the unification of Italy. For over 50 years the museum has fulfilled its mission to preserve the legacies of these great men, and to promote understanding of the Italian-American heritage through cultural, artistic and educational programs and classes.

Regular museum hours are 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $5 per person, members and children under 10 are free. Call ahead for groups of 10 or more. The first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible, but the restroom is on the second floor. At press time, program funding has been provided through the Order Sons of Italy in America; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, Richmond County Savings Foundation; Northfield Bank Foundation, and by grants allocated by New York State Senator Diane Savino and New York City Council members Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo.