Summer Breeze!

“Sweet days of summer, the jasmine’s in bloom. July is dressed up and playing her tune…!”    by Seals and Crofts

I am literally watching summer move along with me chasing it without much success. I have so many things I need to get done but most days I am constantly just trying to keep up. This is not Gerswin’s “Summertime…when the living is easy…fish are jumpin…!” kind of summer.

For many of us in the great Northwest, the weather has been close to picture perfect with
high temperatures (90’s and 100″s) and clear blue skies for more than 30 days non-stop. Gorgeous weather but the downside is the growing threat of wild fires. I hear the weather in Copey has had much less rain lately.

The Copey Challenge

In other news of great interest, “Friends of Copey” provided assistance again by helping the Learning Center obtain a much-needed volunteer teacher. The volunteer, Jane Rutledge from North Carolina, has been interviewed and offered the opportunity to join the Copey Learning Center’s team starting in late August. Jane is very eager to get to Copey and we are  also happy Jane decided to meet the Copey Challenge. She will provide the Learning Center a lot of experience since she is a retired educator having seen a lot of classrooms in her career. We look forward to keeping you informed as she journeys through this experience. I will provide more information on Jane in next week’s Post since I have known her for about 50 years.

Power Point Presentation

We have a presentation that is nearly completed which provides a short photo journey of the recent “Pathway Project 2017” featuring Learning Center students, Fatima and Ariana. I am looking at reasonable/practical ways to share the presentation with you. I thank my dear friend Monica Hoel (E&H College staff) for the work she has done to produce this photo journey. It will be our very first quality production documenting this project. Will keep you informed on our efforts.

 Recap 2017 (Mid-Year)

Having read and re-read my draft of this week’s Post, I sense I am whining some about not getting much done lately. Perhaps, this is my mind and body suggesting I could use a needed mental vacation.

Looking back over the past six months, you and I have achieved several significant goals. We have completed three key fundraisers;  financial support for the Anne G. Broady Scholarship Fund, the funding for the Executive Director’s position, and the funding for the “Pathway Project 2017”. We have successfully planned for and hosted four guests from the Learning Center by coordinating travel, housing, meals, recreation, and education.

We have also experienced a 28% increase in readership on the Blog over the past six months which will result in a significant year-end growth increase compared to the three previous years if we maintain this pace.

In addition, there has been many hours spent doing background work necessary for making presentations to interested groups and supporters along with the ongoing preparations for launching the “new Learning Center” building initiative. Bottom line: “Friends” has been busy!  Where is my fishing pole?

There are about 4 months left in this current school year at the Learning Center and our plate remains full. The evidence indicates we are stronger than ever and continually making differences with our support. One of the very memorable experiences I had during my visit on the E&HCollege campus during the “Pathway Project 2017” was to see assembled in one place at the same time, many “Friends”. My joy was seeing them (Friends) see the students and chaperones for the first-hand in living color. Unfortunately, about 95% of the “Friends” population are missing this “first-hand experience”. But…maybe one day even this will change.  Stay connected!