Jolene notes

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01/13/24

Lil-Missy – I have promised in the past to not bring up this topic ever again… I lied!.. it really is a small issue and yet it really is pretty darn important. … in no particular order…

1. First topic has to do with DepotHill.net – on various occasions I have asked about any reason to maintain such a website – never got any response. Yet somehow it keeps getting renewed. My issue is this: quite often it is referenced in communication to various sources. Problem!.. within that website there is not one word or reference to the REAL museum website! DepotHill.net has never changed!.. Therefore anyone being directed to DepotHill.net does not have a clue that this is not the primary website for the depot – and that is to bad… maybe no one goes there anyway,.. I have no way of knowing, nor for that matter does anyone else. Enough on that subject… next….

2. Since we are on the subject of websites, you referenced such in memo, and admitted that you have not visited the current website very often. FYI – there are really two basic types of websites: one is for reference only!.. listing primary function of this particular website. This often includes primary function of the organization, lots of big pictures of images and whatever seems relevant to the organization… blah, blah, blah! The other type of website is one that does all of the above, PLUS it has products and services to sell. In other words “revenue generator” – what is normally called an “ecommerce” website. The obvious intent is to generate revenue. Now, I would never question the efforts of The Depot to solicit monies through grants and donations – that is just a normal part of any non-profit organization. However, it is often overlooked that “non-profit” does not mean that you cannot have means of generating revenues – it is just that those are not called “profit” and are used solely as a direct financial benefit to the organization, i.e., in this case - The Depot.

3. Also not mentioned in your memo, but while we are on the subject, The Red Oak Express did the story on the recent Depot Open House… during which they interviewed Lynn… not one word mentioned regarding Lynn’s book. This was a sincere disappointment to me. I began rather reluctantly on Lynn’s book because of your persistence. Boy was I wrong!.. Lynn as certainly worthy of the book, particularly with all that he has accomplished in his lifetime – a real disappointment that many local will not know of it. The closest reference to said book is the “The Time Capsule” article that Roy did a few weeks back when he actually mentioned the coming of Lynn’s book. Forget that Lynn’s book could qualify as a small revenue source – his story far exceeds most of the stories that Express does print. Not many folks ever do a fraction of what Lynn has done in his lifetime – it was a worthy book, and sort of too bad that more folks were not made aware of such.

4. The reference to Al Hays story – do you not know that you have Al’s war story in a small book in your possession?.. Actually several WWII veterans’ story books. Each and every one of those WWII stories is worthy of referencing. In case you may not be aware, it is believed that Alvin is the last WWII veteran in this area… I could stand corrected. … those WWII books are another potential small revenue generator. Maybe the folks at the nursing home would be interested in Lynn and Alvins’ books?? Even if they didn’t buy them – they should be in nursing home library – and maybe they are.

5. … check your products display cabinet – lots of items for sale that could generate sales revenue. You have a website that could have an eCommerce webpage for posting items for sales. Plus you have a Facebook presence that could post such information that would draw readers to the website. I recognize that this is not BoBo’s responsibility to support such an revenue generating effort, but there must be some way that it could be done while generating Depot revenue while also compensating BoBo for the effort. I don’t think that you should count on a high school student for such… for a number of reasons. I would be willing to meet with BoBo, you and whomever else may have such an interest – to brainstorm this topic… (…hopefully when there is not a lot of this durn white stuff on the ground!) Maybe we could produce a Windows/Word document with news, items for sale, etc. and BoBo could just post and update website?! Or something like that.

Okay!.. I’m rambling again… need to save something for the next griping memo! Having said that, this is intended to be constructive criticism – not negative criticism. You must know how much I really admire what you have done for the Depot (along with your man Pete and your other minions!) – even though most local folks probably do not know. Good job!.. Carry on!!

Signed,
your ole former geometry teacher
(geometry, not marketing!)