Brigid Guertin, Levi Newsome, To Return to Museum As Paid Staff

“The mayor has agreed that we will be able to get our full years allocation up front rather than quarterly, which gives us the ability to meet payroll and gives us time to do the additional fund raising,” said Robert Young, Museum Board Member.

 “It is obvious that the museum cannot operate on volunteers alone, and we have to bring Brigid and Levi back. The stuff that each can do, the other cannot. I was not looking at the option of bringing one or the other back, it had to be both. Both are their skills are needed.”

 There was a museum Board of Directors meeting last night, and Young had been concerned that the museum would only be able to get half of their funding right away. “Our initial target date was to get them back by July 15, but they will be returning the 19^th.”

 The last few months have been challenging for the museum. Diane Hassan and Joretta Kilcourse contributed by answering phones and emails, and a student from Western Connecticut State University came in to volunteer as well.

 “Brigid has been stopping in, she has been very accessible to me for bouncing ideas and it kept her informed, which was also helpful so that she doesn't walk back into a big mess,” said Young. “I always knew what a blessing it was having Brigid, but what I thought doesn't hold a candle to what she did here. If she had gone somewhere else, it would have been disastrous. This is her legacy. She came here fresh out of school with her masters about twelve years ago, and she has worked her way up to Director. This has been all under her tenure. Brigid is the face of the museum.”

 “We were optimistic this would happen, but with fund raising for a nonprofit in this economy, it would be foolish to say I was confident. We are hoping they are anxious to get things moving along,” said Young.

 Guertin was not available for comment, but Newsome spoke for them both when he said, “Brigid and I are thrilled to be back. Danbury has been my home for all of my life, and I am sure I speak for Brigid in that regard. I am very excited.”

 Newsome added, “Brigid is coming back for 32 hours, and I will have my same hours, 15 hours, the perfect retirement hours. We will be back on Tuesday, and we will open on Tuesday through Saturday.”