The New York Metropolitan area is working hard at recovering from significant damage suffered during Hurricane Sandy, and while Intrepid remains temporarily closed, we wanted to send you an update on Museum activities that are taking place while we work daily on recovery efforts to reopen as soon as possible. Our goal is to be able to welcome visitors again in time for the upcoming Holiday Season.

Below are a few highlights of the activities and programs taking place during this period:

- The recovery team is in the process of repairing and/or replacing all power sources damaged by the flood of corrosive salt water, which feed power to the ship and throughout the Pier.

- Our administrative staff is continuing to book and confirm events, overnight sleepovers, visits, tours, birthday parties, memberships, school groups and more, out of make-shift offices on our Pier to ensure progress continues around the clock, and that we don’t skip a beat once we reopen.

- While we were unable to host our annual Veterans Day Ceremony, we proudly launched our Veterans Video Project on Veterans Day. This unique storytelling project consists of a collection of short videos from Veterans with a personal connection to the Intrepid. Staff members, volunteers, and most notably, former crew members of the USS Intrepid herself, have come together to tell their service stories.

- We will soon be erecting scaffolding around the space shuttle Enterprise. Our exhibits team will then repair the minor damage to Enterprise's vertical stabilizer. We will then place a protective fabric over the scaffolding for the winter months, to further protect the shuttle, as we continue to rebuild the Space Shuttle Pavilion.

- Our exhibits team is developing a temporary exhibit for the Hangar Deck highlighting Enterprise so that our visitors can continue to learn about her incredible story while the Space Shuttle Pavilion is being developed. Plans also continue for our next exhibition, The Art of Camouflage, which will open in 2013.

- Our education team continues to make an impact in the community by reaching out to locations affected by the storm. We have already visited schools, hospitals, homeless shelters and more in Staten Island and Brooklyn and will be visiting schools, libraries, and assisted living facilities throughout the five boroughs and beyond in the coming weeks. Plans are also underway to incorporate the effects of Hurricane Sandy (salt water corrosion, storm surges, and weather patterns) into our STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education programming going forward.

- Our Tour Guides, replete with knowledge of world history, are also making themselves available to the community, and we will be launching an online video, "Tour Guide Talks", in early December featuring the Concorde, Growler, Blackbird and the Captain's Bridge of Intrepid.

Most importantly, the Museum is on track to reopen in the coming weeks! Until then, the most recent updates can continue to be found on the Museum's website and on Facebook or Twitter.

We ask that you consider supporting our programming and efforts by making a donation online.

We sincerely appreciate your support and well wishes, and we look forward to seeing you when we reopen. In the meantime, we hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,



Susan Marenoff-Zausner
President