Why isn't Cumberland County funding Airborne & Special Operations Museum?

Officials with the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation in downtown Fayetteville say a decrease in county funding will prolong a hiring freeze, decrease work hours for museum shop employees and limit outreach programming.

Cumberland County Commissioners voted 5-2 last month to stop county funding for the foundation, which supports the museum.

At the June 5 meeting, Commissioner Jimmy Keefe made a motion to give the foundation $60,000, which was seconded by Commissioner Michael Boose, but the motion failed to receive support from Commissioners Veronica Jones, Marshall Faircloth, Jeannette Council, Vice Chair Toni Stewart and Chairman Glenn Adams.

Keefe said at the meeting that he was advocating not just for the museum, but for the museum's economic and educational impacts on the community.

“Those stories need to be told, not only to remember those young men and women who did those things but also to educate those who are coming over so that they remember and they acknowledge,” Keefe said. “If we remember all the significant things that happened, we would not be making the same mistakes over and over again.”

Stewart and Jones said they agreed with Keefe, but commissioners set a rule at an earlier meeting that the county would not fund nonprofits receiving other sources of funding.

“We can’t say that other people don’t have as much of an impact,” Stewart said.

Adams said he was prepared to eliminate funding last year and said that the county and city provided funding when the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of hours it was open.

Adams said he does not think the intention was to keep the funding continuous.

“This money is not to keep the museum open. The museum is going to be open regardless ... The (federal) government pays to keep this museum open,” Adams said. “This is the foundation.”

Airborne & Special Operations Museum celebrates two decades in Fayetteville

Museum and foundation

In a statement Friday, museum director Jim Bartlinski said the U.S. Army Center of Military History provides policy and oversight of the museum and its collection and maintenance of Army artifacts. It also pays for the salaries of five staff members and for office supplies and equipment.

Fort Liberty performs services to maintain the facility and utilities, Bartlinski said.

Renee Lane, director of the museum’s foundation, said that although the Army owns the museum, the foundation “assists with duties and responsibilities that the Army staff cannot manage such as account for all financial gifts, maintain the Museum’s website and social media platforms, staff and stock a full-service museum store, sell tribute pavers and monuments.”

The foundation is also responsible for the upkeep of the museum's grounds, which includes the nearly 250-year-old Liberty Tree outside and statues.

“Without adequate funding from last year’s allocation from the county, we have had a hiring freeze in place for a year, we’ve reduced hours of our retail staff, and have also cut back on community programming,” Lane said. “Our plan was to bring on an experienced museum educator who could develop and implement outreach programs for the many classrooms and schools that visit the museum each year.”

Lane estimated that about 3,500 students from 34 Cumberland County schools and 45 other schools in the region visited the museum during the past year.

“Without having someone on staff to handle the educational component for these school visits, we miss opportunities to inform and educate future generations,” she said.

What others are saying

During the commissioners’ June 5 meeting, retired Gen. Dan McNeill, a member of the foundation's board, told commissioners that the museum “is a legacy to the remembrance of those who gave their all.”

“It has anchored the revitalization of downtown Fayetteville, the largest metropolitan area in Cumberland County,” McNeill said.

Sterling McCormick, an Army veteran, Fayetteville native and museum volunteer, said the museum is an “important asset” to the region.

“The ASOM is the No. 1 tourist attraction and an important link between the Fayetteville-Cumberland County area and Fort Liberty,” McCormick said.

McCormick said that volunteers frequently welcome “busloads” of visitors daily, provide visitors with local literature and direct them to restaurants when asked for recommendations.

“From our view, the limited staff and volunteers work very hard to be good stewards of the funding received, and it is extremely vital that funding continues,” he said at the meeting.

Foundation board member Mac Healy, whose father was part of the original group that spearheaded bringing the museum off post to Fayetteville, said the museum is “very personal” to him.

Healy said the ASOM museum, other museums in Fayetteville, the Cape Fear Botanical Garden and the county’s plans for a performing arts center, are all economic drivers to the county, with visitors shopping, eating and getting gas in the area.

“A couple hundred thousand more people not coming into this town is detrimental, incredibly detrimental to us, and the other thing about losing the association is this — we put on events,” Healy said.

Healy said the foundation has hosted the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and educational and veteran organizations.

“Without us, (the museum) doesn’t exist,” he said.

How to support

In her statement Friday, Lane said funds raised through the foundation's ongoing capital funding campaign are restricted to renovating the museum’s permanent gallery project that will have history from World War I to date.

“These funds are not available to support daily operations of the Foundation, fund temporary exhibits, or use for community programming,” she said.

Lane said the museum provides free admission and has hosted over 3 million visitors since its first opening in 2000.

“We encourage local residents to visit with friends and family,” she said. “With 50,000 veterans in Cumberland County, visitors learn how the Soldiers who served and those who continue to serve our country have shaped history. Younger generations can learn from them and what it takes to preserve freedom.”

Those wanting to provide financial support can make cash donations at boxes inside the museum at 100 Bragg Blvd.; donate online at ASOMF.org ; or provide endowments through the Cumberland Community Foundation.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Why isn't Cumberland County funding Airborne & Special Operations Museum?