Hands-on House Children’s Museum of Lancaster is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, dependent on revenues from membership, admission and other programs to fund our operations. Like so many small businesses and nonprofits, Hands-on House is experiencing the profound financial impact of extended closure due to COVID-19. We appreciate your donations, membership renewals, admission pass purchases and program registrations to help us weather this storm.
We recognize that it is an uncertain time for families, too. You may have questions related to closure and cancellations. We have attempted to answer many of these questions below with the information we have at this time. We will update our FAQ as new questions arise or new information becomes available.
We want to ensure our members get the value they expect from their membership. We intend to extend membership equal to the length of closure for all members who retain membership during COVID-19 closure. In addition, memberships renewed early will be extended for the months equal to the length of closure.
Membership that was kept current during the COVID-19 closure will be extended based on the duration of closure. No refunds will be issued.
We would love for you to renew now, if you are able, as your financial support can help sustain Hands-on House through the long-term closure. We will restart your membership for its 12-month term from the time we reopen at the Membership rate effective upon your renewal. When we do, we’ll have several exciting Museum updates awaiting our members, including extended hours and new STEM features throughout the exhibit area, including a designated STEM Lab space with tabletop activities.
Admission passes are available through several sources including Groupon. We only control policy regarding admission passes purchased directly through Hands-on House. For these passes, we will extend the expiration date based on the duration of the closure.
For information regarding third party admission sales, such as Groupon, please consult the seller’s website. Some of these institutions have extended their expiration for up to a year.
As of now, we are still planning to hold our summer camp. As we get closer to the first weeks of camp (in mid-June), we will make decisions in accordance with the guidelines of government and health officials.
If we are able to hold summer camp, we will not be issuing refunds. If we must cancel, we would ask you to consider accepting your refund in the form of an equivalent amount of admission passes, credit for a birthday party or towards your membership/renewal or as a donation. Refunds, if absolutely necessary, will not be processed until 30 days after we reopen or a decision is made to cancel, whichever is later.
We will work with you to reschedule these programs for next year, or provide an equivalent number of admission passes for your school. Refunds will be addressed on a case by case basis.