November 9, 2023 Minutes

November 9, 2023

President Gary Fitzpatrick opened the meeting at 10 am. There were no corrections or additions to the October Minutes as printed in the newsletter. Ken Seitz made a motion to accept, and Tom Politzer seconded. Minutes were approved.

Treasurer Bill Gates gave the good news on our money. We currently have $3987 in checking and $6361 in our reserve funds.

Pres. Gary thanked Lisa Seitz for stepping up and getting the coffee and goodies ready. Lisa mentioned several others that helped her to do this. As always, we thank the group for making our delicious treats.

October birthdays were recognized. Happy Birthday to all!

Linda Ash of the We Care group of one, announced she did not send out any cards this month. Good job for staying healthy, everyone!

Larrayne Zygmunt of Membership announced we had several visitors and four new members. The new members are:
• Eileen Rowland, Colorado Springs
• Jane Lloyd, Lakewood
• Janie Nakkache, Wilkes Barre, PA
• Steve Driessen, Littleton
Welcome all!

Sue Slaughter had several new things to add for our upcoming Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 6. Social hour starts at 5:45 and dinner will be at 6:30. There will be some music for your listening pleasure. The cost is $25 for members and $30 for non members. She should be ok on setting up the room but asked for some help after the party to help clean up. If you do want to sit with specific friends it needs to fill a table for eight. Let Sue know. Tanya Davis is heading up the table centerpieces. You will be voting for the best centerpiece and the creator will receive $25! Then there will be a silent auction with proceeds split 50/50 between Hope West and Kids Aids. So get your groove on and make some FABULOUS centerpieces!

Joan Robinson announced her annual Salvation Army drive for gifts for children and teens. You can give her money and she will shop for you or you can shop and drop off your gift by December 15 at the latest to her or Salvation Army. Joan has the names, ages, and wish list. Do not wrap your item but put it in a gift bag along with the name of the child. Salvation Army is always in need of jackets and items to finish filling bags for older kids. Things of interest are makeup, science kits, books, etc.

Susan Norton reminded everyone of the wonderful art and craft sale at the Art Center on November 18 and 19. She also has raffle tickets for sale that have some wonderful prizes. Tickets cost $10 for 10 tickets and $5 for 3 tickets.

Douglas Grodt of the Hiking group said he has 130 people on his email list. If you want to be added, let Douglas know. This week they will be hiking to Skinner cabin in McGinnis Canyon and also to Fruita Paleontological area. Douglas will be bringing a dinosaur bone for viewing.
Linda Ash said their annual craft sale is November 18 in Parachute. Linda and Wayne carve beautiful gourds that they grow. Stop by and say hello!

Nile Leach of Armchair Traveler has a presentation by Ken Mayberry signed up for a presentation on the country of Georgia on December 7. It will be at the main library; the room holds about 60 folks. It starts at 6:30 pm and doors open at 6.

The next Tour and Lunch event will be a tour of the new Clifton Library and their reference center which is focused on entrepreneurs. It is located at 3270 D 1/2 Rd. This will be on November 15 at 10:30 am. This is the last tour for this year.

Nile has three volunteers to help out with Tour and Lunch for next year but he needs a LEADER to be the liaison for the newsletter and take pictures. January through April is already lined up. Let Nile know if you can help with this fun task!

Susan Harper was unable to be at the meeting but Pres. Gary announced she is starting up a birding club. She has a few members so far, but if you’re interested, let her know.

Pres. Gary introduced our speaker, Chris Thomas, CEO of Community Hospital. Chris gave us the highlights of what they have accomplished in the past year: new daycare center, expanded oncology, Palisade clinic building, and several new doctors brought in. Community Hospital’s biggest challenge is in collections. With all their contracts and systems in place they still have to fight for reimbursement after a patient is taken care of. They have spent $100,000,000 on construction this year.

There were a lot of questions for Chris and he also stayed over to answer questions.
Mollie Fitzpatrick and Stacie Hawkins ran the raffle which had a lot of great gifts donated.

Meeting adjourned at 11:10.
-Suzan Fournier, Secretary

October 11, 2023

Reminder – You don’t have to wait for the next month’s newsletter to read the minutes. They’re posted on our website shortly after each meeting.

President Gary Fitzpatrick opened the meeting at 10 am.

Bill Gates, Treasurer, made a correction to last month’s notes. He said the money market and checking account numbers were switched. Motion was made by Ken Seitz to approve the correction and Tom Politzer concurred. The motion was approved unanimously.

Treas. Bill also mentioned that he moved $5000 out of the money market account and put it in a CD that will now reap us 4% interest. The checking account has $3759.15 in it.

Pres. Gary recognized October birthdays and Tanya Davis and her crew for the wonderful goodies we get to enjoy.

Linda Ash of the We Care group was not in attendance. Gary said she sent out a card to Nancy Glover on the passing of her mother and to Jan Frolik’s family for her passing.

Dale Gates said there was nothing new for newsletter. Mike Avery said he has some new pictures on the website from the hiking club.

Larrayne Zygmunt announced some new members: Janice Gonzalez from Littleton, Jim Martinez from Salt Lake City, Sally Raduenzel from Tucson and Paul and Nancy Hillbrecht from Bellevue, Co. Welcome all! We now have 329 members! Wow!!

Sue Slaughter is heading up the Holiday Party again this year. It will be Wednesday, December 6, 6:30 pm at the Masonic Event Center, the building where our meetings are held. We will have a table decorating contest again. Get with Tanya Davis if you’d like more information about that. We will be voting for our favorite decoration with a $25 gift card for the creator and then raffle off the centerpieces with the money going to a charity. We will have the same caterers as last year. We are hoping to have a guitar player for some dinner and dance music. He plays at Las Marias if you would like to hear him. It hasn’t been decided on how much the party will cost until the final dinner quote comes in.

Stan Zygmunt of New Dimensions reminded everyone that Ken Maybry, a geologist with 43 years’ experience and now with the National Park Service, will be giving a talk on “Basic Rocks on the Plateau” tomorrow at noon at the library. This is a free program.

Ken Seitz said Happy Hour will be next Wednesday at Pour Fellows at 7th and Main St.

Ken also mentioned he and Lisa will be hosting the Wine Club this month. It will be on November 9 at the Art Center. It will be on holiday wines and will have light appetizers. The event will be at 4 pm. Let Ken or Lisa know if you will be attending.

Nile Leach of Armchair Travelers said that on November 2 at 6:30 pm at the library Marya Johnston will share experiences from her five years of living in China. This should be a very enlightening presentation by someone who has lived there. This event is free and open to the public.

Nile also mentioned he needs about four more people to help him with Armchair. He has possibly three other speakers lined up but if you have any inside information on other travelers that would share their experiences, let Nile know.

Nile also reminded us of the next Tour and Lunch on October 18 at the Art Center. Matt Jones, a Center docent and former Newcomer Club meeting speaker, will give us an inside tour of what goes on at the Art Center. Lunch at Mama Ree’s will follow. Nile needs help with this group as well! It involves finding the site to visit, helping with sign-ups, and arranging for lunch. Please consider calling Nile to find out more. He has been working this for quite a while and we need folks to step up to help so we can continue with these wonderful tours!

Jamie filled in for Doug Grodt for the hiking club. The next day they are meeting at Fruita Veterans Park to go to Thompson Springs to see petroglyphs and some unusual sites. This is a little different than the normal hiking they do. You might need a walking stick due to some of the terrain being rocky. It takes about an hour to get there. Let Doug know if you want added to the emails for the hiking group.

Les Slowik reminded everyone of the partial eclipse on Saturday morning at about 10:30 for our region. Also, the Catholic charity group is sponsoring their annual “Empty Bowls.” For $25 you can have some wonderful soup and dessert and pick out a unique handmade bowl. It is from 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday.

We also have the wonderful Air Show this coming weekend at the airport. It is a busy weekend!

Pres. Gary said we needed to get approval for the new Board terms that were mentioned last month. Ken Seitz made a motion to approve the proposal and Tom Politzer seconded. The new terms were passed by the club members.

Pres. Gary introduced Amber Creek who is involved with Community Connections. They help find volunteers to work with their clients who need transportation to doctors’ appointments, grocery shopping, or other errands. It requires very little time, perhaps two to three hours a week, and you are reimbursed for gas mileage. She will screen the clients and match them up with a volunteer. Sometimes it might just be sitting with them, watching a movie, taking walks, playing games, etc. She has 90 folks on a waitlist, so they desperately need volunteers.

Raffle was held by Mollie Fitzpatrick and Stacie Hawkins. There were a lot of nice donations this month!

Pres. Gary Fitzpatrick adjourned the meeting at 11 am.
                                                                                                                       -Suzan Fournier, Secretary