Thank you for being with us for another exciting month at the SSAC. The highlight this month was the completion of the renovated reception area. Thanks, and kudos to the contractor, Mike Brown of Sechelt Handyman, for completing on time and on budget. In addition, there was remarkably minimal disturbance to office workers and members with respect to dust and noise. The aim was to alleviate congestion in the main corridor. This has been achieved with much better flow when entering and exiting. Many members have remarked how open and bright the new reception area is. As well, it is a more spacious and brighter workspace for the front office staff.
When you go through the main doors, you can turn left immediately if you want to enter the reception area for membership services, including scanning in, “wallet” funding, frozen food sales or online 50/50 tickets. Otherwise just go straight ahead to scan in for lunch or activities. You do not have to wait to scan in just before your activity. You could come in earlier and, for example, scan in for lunch, yoga, volunteering etc. all at the same time. The important thing is to make sure you scan in. To clarify the process, when you scan into an activity your virtual wallet is not immediately automatically debited for the fee. It is a front desk worker that does a manual debit of the fee later.
Watch also for warnings on the screen that will appear when your wallet is in arrears. If you want to add money to your wallet you can do it at the front desk or phone in and pay by credit card.
Thank you for those who have completed and returned the Physical Activity Questionnaire already. We will be collecting them up to June 18th and will give a summary report of the findings in the August edition of the Echo. This information will be used to guide decisions moving forwards; however, scheduling of any new or old activities is always dependent on demand, room availability and the availability of qualified instructors or leaders.
In line with decisions being made moving forwards, the Bus continues to be a conundrum. A Bus committee has been active, generating ideas for bus trips. Unfortunately, we have been cancelling the scheduled trips frequently due to lack of ridership. There are considerable yearly costs associated with insurance and maintenance of the bus. Therefore, any trips need to generate some revenue to support this, by having an adequate number of riders. The bus is very well maintained and has low mileage, but the SSAC Board will have to seriously consider changes to the type of trips offered, or even whether to continue with this activity.
In the summer we have traditionally had two weeks with reduced lunch service, with only soups sandwiches and entrée salads being offered, as Emily has her well deserved vacation. We do understand how offering a hot lunch is so important to many of you. Therefore, our Sous-Chef, Jacquie, will be able to cover that absence and we will offer hot lunches throughout the summer. At Christmas we will have the usual 2-week closure for the Office staff but have more days open for hot meal service than we usually do. The Christmas schedule will be posted in a future edition of the Echo.
At this point in time we are in a strong position but are still evolving to reach a sustainable system of governance and management that will keep us prosperous in the future. There is no doubt that we are only viable because of the tremendous work of so many volunteers. I cannot express too heartily my thanks for all their work. I must especially thank the office volunteers for their tolerance with changes in work requirements with the evolution of front office operations, while still maintaining a welcoming environment for our members.
Very appropriately it is the time of year that we show our thanks to our wonderful volunteers. On Friday June 27th at 12:30pm we will be holding our annual Volunteer Appreciation Lunch in the Auditorium. If you are a regular volunteer go to the front desk, sign up and receive your complimentary ticket. It will feature a wonderful Emily buffet lunch, entertainment and door prizes. They say there is no free lunch, but there is for our volunteers, if of course you discount the fact that they worked hard all year.
Thanks to all of you!
