Welcome, welcome, welcome. I hope everyone is feeling the positive atmosphere at the Centre!
Of course, it is still members only and double vaccinations are required to attend activities or enjoy lunch in the dining room, but – wow! The place is rocking again.
So, what should we focus on this month?
Let’s start with a couple of amazing events. First and foremost is the SSAC Ukrainian fundraiser lunch organized by Cathy Kiss, Emily and their crew of awesome volunteers. The fundraiser will take place on Wednesday April 27th starting at noon. The cost per ticket is $25 and there will be entertainment, silent auction items and, of course, a wonderful Emily lunch. Community businesses, like Claytons and IGA Wilson Creek, have already generously donated to our luncheon. Many auction items are already collected, including a gorgeous quilt from our quilter’s group.
And, there is a Volunteer Fair on the weekend of April 23 & 24 organized in partnership with the Rotary Club, with support by the Sunshine Coast Credit Union. Our community is very talented and this will be an opportunity for people to come out and find a non-profit group (or two, or three) that they want to volunteer with,
apart from the SSAC of course.
At the Centre, your new Board has been working hard to keep everything running smoothly as they learn about the day to day functioning of the Centre. Members have been offering their help and we welcome everyone to keep volunteering! If you offered to volunteer on your membership form, but haven’t heard from us yet, rest up, we’ll be reaching out to you in April.
Your board has met numerous times and are working on how to staff the office and what committees need to be re-established. Some examples are Legislation and Policy and the Communication committees.
And speaking of communication . . .
Communication is vital to the Centre. In addition to the website and Echo, we need to make sure members feel comfortable asking questions, making suggestions and know what’s going on.
There is a suggestion box in the foyer for your comments and ideas. We want to organize a regular Town Hall style meeting where members can ask questions. Hopefully, the first one will take place in May.
Board member Fred Baines is heading up the job description process for our future Office Manager. The Board will be meeting again the first week of April to get the process rolling for finding someone (hopefully already on the Coast) who would be interested in working for the Centre who is great with members, can organize the activities, rentals, communications, administration and loves keeping the place running smoothly. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.
Board member Viktor Kiss has been working on the membership system, with a view to streamlining the process for renewing memberships and ensuring accuracy and privacy of membership data.
Maintenance Director, Ken Legge, has been working on a number of projects for the Centre, including the bus situation. We are reaching out to the bus driver volunteers to see if they are willing to remain our bus drivers for possible trips this summer. This will depend on the bus being repaired and the cost of fuel making bus trips viable.
We will definitely keep you up to date on this issue as members are missing their social bus trips.
Bob Maveety is continuing to do the day to day maintenance of the Centre and is now changing the sign at the front of the building once a week for us. There is still a “funny side” as well as more information about what’s going on at the Centre.
And that’s just some of what’s happening. Stay tuned.
Gillian Smith
