August 2021 Newsletter

Excerpt from the President’s Column:

COVID-19 is still a challenge, but I am optimistic the future will be better. I hope everyone is
healthy. Due to the COVID-19 impact, the board decided to keep the dues at $5 for another year.
When we get back to regular meetings, we expect dues to go back to $15.

The Scottsdale Senior Center does not have a formal opening date but optimistically expects it
will be open for meetings in January 2022. We are upbeat that our next meeting will be on January 5, 2022. Our Vice President is planning for interesting speakers.

The good news is that our Events Manager Diane Bennett is planning two events for this year.
The first is an October Fest on October 6 at the Kiwanis Park Fiesta Ramada in Tempe. The Club
will be providing all the food: brats, sauerkraut, homemade German potato salad, and more. We
have a beer permit. Please drink responsibly. There will be an accordion player for our entertainment.

In addition, Diane also started planning our December Holiday Charity Luncheon. The tentative plan
is to do the one we put together last year but had to cancel. It will be held at the Scottsdale Plaza
Resort at the northwest corner of Indian Bend and Scottsdale Road.

The Club needs two to three volunteers for three functions:

  • Treasurer
  • Membership Chair
  • Newsletter Editor

In addition, Gary Kains our Fix-It Guy coordinator would like to retire, and his replacement can
be from our Club or one of the two other local Clubs.

The Club needs volunteers for these jobs otherwise the Club will be gone. We need members in
their 60’s and early 70’s to become active in running the Club. Please contact us to volunteer.

As of July 31st, our treasury has a balance of $6,981.68. We have not sent any charitable contributions out as yet for this year. The Club will continue with our charity program. Each year we donate $100 to eight local non-profit groups. All recent new members can submit their favorite local non-profit.

The Scholarship Foundation has awarded 8 scholarships this year. STEM students received
$2500 and non-STEM received $1875. These are the highest awards that I am aware of. Our
HGRC members donated the majority of the funds, $8295. All of our contributors should be
proud of giving to a worthwhile cause.

May 2021 Newsletter

Excerpt from the President’s Column:

COVID-19 is still causing havoc with our Club’s plans. I hope everyone has gotten or will get
vaccinated. My wife and I got ours.

The Scottsdale Senior Center does not have a reopening date. Therefore we will not have a
meeting in September and probably not for the balance of the year. That’s the bad news. When
the Senior Center does reopen, we have many interesting speakers/presentations lined up.

The good news is that our Events Manager Diane Bennett is planning two events for this year.
The first is an October Fest on October 6 at the Kiwanis Park Fiesta Ramada in Tempe. The Club
will be providing all the food: brats, sauerkraut, homemade German potato salad, and more. We
have a beer permit. There will be an accordion player for our entertainment. Additional information will be provided with time, directions, and how to sign up.

In addition, Diane also started planning our December Holiday Charity Luncheon. The tentative plan
is to do the one we put together last year but had to cancel. It will be held at the Scottsdale Plaza
Resort at the northwest corner of Indian Bend and Scottsdale Road.

The Club has done more updates to our website www.garrettretireesaz.com. We have added a
Contact Us and a New Member Application. It appears that we got two new members from the
website. That’s great.

March 2021 Newsletter

Excerpt from the President’s Column:

COVID-19 is still causing havoc with our Club’s plans. I hope everyone has gotten or will get vaccinated. My wife and I got ours. The Scottsdale Senior Center does not have a reopening date. When the Center does open, we have many interesting speakers/presentations lined up. We
also had to cancel our Holiday Charity Luncheon.

The Club needs two to three volunteers for three roles. We are seeking volunteers for the following roles:

Treasurer

Joan has done a great job including changing banks and managing our account to avoid extra bank charges. Joan’s current Treasurer’s report shows that Scholarship Donations since October totaled $7,070 and our current bank balance is $6,919.24.

Membership Chair

Stu has done an outstanding job of maintaining the Club Roster, preparing
dues notices with dues due, providing email lists and paper mail lists for the newsletter, and notice distribution.

Newsletter Editor

Stu also attended meetings and documented business, presentations and other news for incorporation into the newsletter plus other tasks. One person can do both jobs like Stu has or could be two people.

The good news is that we have 7 new members since 2020. The bad news is we had 31 passing since 2020. If you’re interested in volunteering for a position, please contact us.