President’s Message for March 2009

March is the month when we typically must say farewell to many of our snowbirds. I hope you have enjoyed your time with us here in the sunshine and will return again next year when the weather in your home area gets too cool for comfort! Before you head back, though, I want to invite you to stay long enough for the LCS fundraising event featuring “Spanglish Inquisition”, the local hilarious improvisation group. Everybody please circle Saturday, March 21 on your calendars and look for tickets being sold on the LCS campus. There will be a no host bar, the great show and some surprises, too! Watch for details!

The 2009 LCS Directory came in early in February and we have already distributed copies to many members. If you have not picked yours up, please come into the Services Office and ask for your copy. The beautiful cover was donated to LCS by Luis Enrique Martinez Hernandez, the current star of our Saturday morning Children’s Art Class at fifteen years of age. Think what a shining future he has before him as an artist! The Lake Chapala Society takes tremendous pride in all the young art students who are part of the legacy of Neill James dating back nearly fifty years. Before we know it, Luis Enrique may well be joining some of the other graduates of this program, like Enrique Velazquez, Jesus Lopez Vega and Antonio Cardenes by opening his own gallery in Ajijic! Whatever he chooses to do in life, Luis Enrique should go far.

Though our membership numbers are down from this time last year, as we suspected they would be, the revenues from Directory advertising are up somewhat from what we had projected. Add to this the fact that the board has implemented a very tight budget for 2009 and our financial picture is looking up from the dire situation we had faced last October. The addition of a few fundraisers has helped, too. We know that everyone who attended our first Sock-Hop on February 28 had a great time! Thanks to all who came out to enjoy the oldies music in the company of good friends! We wanted to raise enough to make major improvements to the LCS sound system, something there was not room to include in this year’s budget.

Thanks to all those who helped make the Sock-Hop happen. A special thank-you goes to Kathy Price and her able crew, many of whom were first-time volunteers. You all did a great job and we truly appreciate your help! I also want to welcome Richard Thomas, a new finance volunteer who will be the backup for our treasurer and Barbara Merchant, whose Human Resources background is being tapped for a special project.

Volunteer applications are available online at the LCS website and also inside the LCS Services Office. We will soon be losing some regular volunteers as they head back up north, so don’t be shy!

~ Nancy Creevan, President ~