Vanderbilt Museum receives COVID-relief grant

Vanderbilt Museum receives COVID-relief grant

Eagle’s Nest, the Mansion of William K. Vanderbilt II. Vanderbilt Museum photo

The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has received assistance from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation – a grant of $2,000 from its Reimbursement Operating Support (ROS) program.

Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, executive director of the Vanderbilt, said the Gardiner grant helped with the cost of the Museum’s service contract for website and IT support.

“The pandemic created an immediate need for increased technical support for our Education Department,” Wayland-Morgan said. “Our educators needed to transition quickly from on-site educational programs to virtual learning. Their expertise in instruction and program creation allowed them to produce new videos and collections-based projects for learning in school and at home.”

“We were able to creatively increase our capacity to serve schoolchildren, families, and other constituents throughout Long Island and well beyond. The Gardiner grant gave us necessary support to make that happen,” she added.

Kathryn Curran, executive director of the Gardiner Foundation, said it created the ROS program to counter the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on “Long Island’s historic stewards.” The awards were for reimbursement for institutional expenses incurred in 2020.

The Gardiner Foundation, established in 1987 in Hampton Bays, supports the study of Long Island history, with an emphasis on Suffolk County.