GILLETTE, Wyo. — First Interstate Bank of Gillette has sponsored admission fees for all Museums for All participants for the remainder of 2023, the Rockpile Museum announced today.
People who receive food assistance, or SNAP, benefits can visit the Rockpile Museum for free, up to four people, if they present their SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, card. The museum has also extended this benefit to people in the Women, Infants and Children program who present their card.
The Rockpile Museum joined the Association of Children’s Museums and the Institute of Museum and Library Services‘ nationwide Museums for All program in 2021.
“[The program] encourages people of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum-going habits,” the Rockpile Museum’s announcement said.
More than 1,000 museums across the country, including three in Wyoming, offer free or reduced admission to eligible members of the public.
Rockpile Museum participates in the Museums for All program as part of its commitment to seek, include and welcome all.
“We are very grateful for First Interstate Bank, their board of directors, and their employees for sponsoring Museums for All admission at the Rockpile Museum,” Museum Director Robert Henning said. “Their support will allow our community’s most vulnerable residents to continue to utilize the museum and its programs.”
Henning said at the museum board’s Feb. 21 meeting that the bank wasn’t, at that time, ready to release its name publicly and that prior to today’s announcement, admission fees were reduced for the people who participated in the WIC or food benefits programs, as the museum didn’t want admission fees to be a barrier for needy families.
“We want them to come and learn,” he said.
The Campbell County Rockpile Museum focuses on local and regional history. Exhibits showcase fossils, Native American artifacts, rifles, saddles, horse-drawn vehicles and energy industry equipment. Learn more at rockpilemuseum.com.
