By Sally Gracie
As members enjoyed a gourmet soup and bread supper, Methow Valley Community Center Association (MVCCA) President Bob Elk Belgard called the annual membership meeting to order on Monday evening (Nov. 4).
Then, board secretary Donna Schulz, who attended high school in the building, warmed up the audience with a Twisp School trivia quiz. “Who was ‘Oscar’?” (the skeleton in the science classroom) stumped the crowd.
The purpose of the evening event was to inform the community about the center’s finances, the board’s accomplishments during the past year, and its visions for the future. Bob also hoped to recruit additional board members and volunteers.
Bob noted the improvements made to the gym in 2013. New windows have been installed on the west wall, and new draperies have been hung on all the gym windows. Walls have been painted.
These improvements were made possible by the $50,000 bequest from Red McComb’s estate, the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Larry Smith’s Christmas tree sales, donations and MVCCA membership.
Remodeling the lobby for the Visitors Information Center (VIC) has also been completed. Howard Betty built two additional display cases, and a video kiosk was donated to feature slide shows photographed by directors Kay Lee and Ted Willhite and Linda Heaton, a VIC volunteer. Director Carolyn Sullivan created a tribute to members in the lobby. Check to see if your name is there.
While the center treasury is in the black, according to director Doreen McHugh’s financial report, finding additional sources of income is on the board’s list of goals to be met. Rents paid by various tenants of the building do not cover staff wages, utilities, and maintenance, so the community’s financial support is vitally needed.
Manager Kirsten Ostlie thanked all the MVCCA members for being “the heartbeat of the valley.” Membership comes with its rewards, she added, including discounts on facility rental and some events as well as free admission to members who use the gym for exercise or basketball.
Board members Kathy Borgersen and Lois Caswell also helped plan the meeting and the supper.
If you missed Bo Thrasher and Morgan Tate in September, you must go to see their reprise performance of Memory House at The Merc Playhouse this Saturday (Nov. 9) at 7 p.m. The play, in this case a Readers’ Theater production, captures the intense emotional relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter.
Morgan, a senior at Liberty Bell High School, says that it has been “moving to be part of their story as an actor.”
Morgan has really “gotten into” theater in the past year or so, taking parts in The Music Man, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland, and The Laramie Project. A Running Start student in Omak, she hasn’t decided on a college major, but says she will want to continue on the stage “as a hobby.”
