President’s Message –  January 2020

As I write this article our household is fully engaged with preparations for the holidays. Since your copies of the Log will arrive before the year’s end, I hope it is not too late to put in a good word for the GHCC Endowment Fund which totaled $210,176 as of November 30. We are progressing towards our $500,000 goal to generate income to support operations and make us less dependent on volunteer effort.

The Fund continues to be managed by Cascade Advisors who have invested it in a diversified portfolio which is periodically adjusted to reflect global economic conditions. Your tax adviser can inform you about tax-efficient charitable donations through RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) which should be taken before December 31.As 2019 draws to a close we will be saying goodbye to two members of our Board – Cameron Clark and Shirmeen Faulx. We thank them and appreciate their contributions.  Shirmeen will stay involved by overseeing the Rummage Sale drop-offs and working on emergency preparedness. We welcome Trudy Cravens, who will be co-chairing the 2020 Rummage Sale with Chuck Strahm, who has rejoined the Board. Connie Gordon, who has managed the Rummage Sale so resourcefully for the past three years, will remain on the Board as a Director.

My heartfelt thanks to Lynn Hix for organizing the Children’s Christmas Party, to Fred and Jo Nelson for coordinating New Year’s Eve Bingo and Cynthia McCullough and Marina Dye for decorating the Center in such a beautiful fashion.

Early in 2019 we surveyed our readers to see how they felt about limiting the Log to an on-line format and offering printing copies to members upon request.  Since opinion was almost evenly split on this issue, we decided to continue to mail the Log to everyone, as long as we have the volunteer time and funding to make this possible.

I would like to thank everyone who has volunteered to staff the GHCC building when it converts to a Warming Center during a prolonged power outage. Heat, light and refreshments will be on offer at GHCC until 5 pm after the first twelve (12) hours without power.  When the Warming Center is open, a sign will be posted at the junction of Hansville and Buck Lake Roads and there will be postings on Nextdoor Hansville and the GHCC and Hansville Community Facebook pages.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Celia Grether