News Fast and Furious..Volunteers needed

It has been a very cold winter and that has caused us several problems. As there is no heat on Keewatin, so the number of days that volunteers can spend meaningful time has been limited. The engine room (Bilge Rats) have been stellar in showing up every Monday and they have made some great achievements in cleaning and adjusting our quadruple expansion steam engine. The boys have cleaned out barrels of old grease, polished brass and readied the works for the addition of an electric drive engine that will turn the pistons and demonstrate the atmosphere in the engine room. The fire pits have been cleaned and new coal beds constructed so that simulated coal fires will be seen when a visitor walks by the boiler area and into the engine room.

Up in the cargo hold, the new wood for the ballroom ceiling is stacked, then sorted by size and sanded. as boards are selected they are transferred upstairs for instillation into the ceiling. A time consuming an labour intensive project that has been planned with complete rewiring and restoration of all the lighting sconces and chandeliers. The finished product will be spectacular as the wood will be prepped, then painted the very bright white that it was originally. Over 600 hours have gone into this project alone. There is an old line that was used in typing class when I was in high school.. “NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN TO COME TO THE AID OF THE PARTY” Well, here is what we need ..BECAUSE THE TIME IS NOW! We need volunteers, men and women to get involved. As of this weekend we have 6 weeks to be ready for hundreds of thousands of visitors who will want to visit KEEWATIN and we want her ready. It is not just trades we need. We would like people to work in housekeeping as example, which is cleaning and decorating the rooms, dusting, washing walls and unpacking artifacts that were stored last fall. We need paint scrapers to get walls ready for painters, who we also need. If you have some time..We have some projects. 2013 will see a large and improved store on board the ship. Barb Benson, our Retail Chief has spent the winter finding shelves and fixtures. The closing of the ZELLERS store in Midland gave us a trove of display stands, but now we need to assemble them and place them in the new facility. Being a volunteer for Keewatin can be what you can afford for time. A few hours per week, or day. Your choice. If you volunteer for us you can achieve a free membership in “Friends of Keewatin” our volunteer group and you can become one of the fastest growing club in Simcoe County! Come and be part of our KREW and be part of Canadian History….. More...