Point Cabrillo During Lockdown
WOW, it has been an intense couple of months, and we aren’t even through with April. Despite the challenges of coping with COVID 19, we’re doing our best to stay busy and keep the Light Station running smoothly, even while we are closed to visitors.
Take a look behind the curtain into our State Historic Park, and see what we’re up to during this lockdown period. We have a dedicated but small team here at Point Cabrillo, so we’re able to stay safe while still making sure that the light keeps shining.
Vacation Rentals at Point Cabrillo
Our Site Manager Steve is working from home for the most part, but stops by the Light Station a few times a week to make sure everything is running smoothly. Steve had the great idea to utilize this time while our vacation rentals are empty to do some cleaning and maintenance.
During this downtime, we have hired local contractors to paint the inside of the Head Lightkeepers House, clean the carpets in both the Second Assistant and Head Lightkeepers Houses, and do a deep cleaning of all four of our vacation rental units before the lockdown is over. All these activities are being performed one person at a time, while using gloves and masks to keep our contractors and personnel safe.
We are also planning on painting the roofs of the two vacation rental cottages, as well as the roof of the State Parks bathrooms, like we promised in our end of 2019 letter from the president.
Point Cabrillo on Social Media
Our Outreach and Fundraising Manager Jen has been staying busy by continuing to provide content for our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. We have an incredible backlog of photos from years of sunsets, wildlife viewing and incredible ocean action, so you can expect even more photos and videos on our social media pages in the weeks to come.
The Online Lighthouse Gift Shop
Do you know that we have an online lighthouse gift shop? Remember something from your last trip that you didn’t get a chance to purchase? We’ve got it! Head on over to our gift shop webpage to place your order. We send items through USPS about once a week. Every item is wiped down with cleaning fluid, and Jen uses a generous amount of hand sanitizer before wrapping up each package.
All the money from our gift shop sales stays right here at Point Cabrillo, funding projects, maintenance and education!
The Point Cabrillo Education Team
One of the brilliant things that we’ve had a little more time to work on this month is creating online education program videos for students learning at home! Pam, Sue, Heather and Katie have been hard at work, putting together learning plans that are much like the field trips we lead local grade school children on every year. We’ve been filming at the Light Station: covering whales, North Coast history and so much more.
These videos should be all finished up and ready to go in the coming weeks. Look forward to another email about that soon. Every time we’re out at Point Cabrillo filming these videos, we use the utmost caution and care to make sure our video team and our educators are safe.
The PCLK Board
As for our board members, we’ve been holding our meetings via video conferencing from home. It’s so nice to see everyone’s faces, even if we can’t gather together like we usually would. We look forward to the day when we’ll not only be able to hug each other once again, but also be able to open our Light Station and trails back up to the public. There is a light at the end of Lighthouse Road, and we all look forward to visitors walking down to see it soon.
Enter the Raffle
And one last thing… we extended the dates of our raffle!!! Our raffle is now open until the middle of May. Don’t hesitate, send in your entry now! You can start online on our website. All the money received for the raffles goes right into our Education Program.
Thanks to everyone for doing what you can to support your community during this time. Shopping local, checking on friends and supporting small businesses during this time is so important. If you’d like to make a donation to the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association to help us make it through this rough period, we would be honored! You can do it online at pointcabrillo.org/contribute, or by sending a check in the mail to the address below. Thank you!
PCLK
PO BOX 641
Mendocino, CA 95460