MAY 2020 PRESIDENT’S REPORT


.Dear NFWFWF friends,

President Chris P'Simer

President Chris P’Simer

Spring is finally here, and I have spent the last few days finishing work in our vegetable garden, watching our perennials begin to show their colors and getting soaked as I made adjustments to our sprinkler system to be sure that water was going to appropriate spots in our front and back yards. Also the NFWFW board has been busy this month continuing our work to support our community.

We began an exercise program led by NFWFWF past president Lori Cohen. Through our HelpHer program, we also made calls and sent emails to NFWFWF members, just to say hello and offer support. Last month we made over one hundred calls and sent over one hundred emails. We will continue this month by calling over one hundred additional members.

The board met on May 2, via Zoom, to discuss future events and additional activities we could sponsor for our membership. We all know that being at home and unable to participate in social activities has been difficult for everyone, so we spent time brainstorming how to reimagine our programs and activities.

We realize that our annual PRIDE event and Labor Day auction at the Wharf House will need tremendous revisions. We do not expect that we will be able to gather for either of these events, so we are discussing alternative activities using Zoom or Facebook Live. We will have our $10,000 raffle, as we have had in recent years, and are exploring ways to hold the auction online. More information on these possibilities will come out in weekly blasts as we further develop our plans.

And, of course, we know you are all missing our First Friday Friends gatherings. During the upcoming week, we will investigate the possibility of holding an FFF event on Zoom. Obviously, we will not have a bar available for libations, but if it goes as planned, we will get to see NFWFWF friends that we have not seen since the stay at home orders began.

Our rebranding committee continues to work on new name, a logo that symbolizes who we are, and tagline that clearly defines our purpose. We are getting feedback from our Advisory Board and will be sharing this information with you as soon as our work is complete.

Before I close, thanks to everyone who have contributed to our NFWFWF Covid-19 fund. We raised $2,000 and NFWFWF made additional donations of $1,000 each to CAST and the Family Service League to help those in the community who are food insecure. If you would like to make a donation to the Covid-19 fund, simply click here. The money collected in the Covid-19 fund will only be used to support the North Fork community during this pandemic.

Be safe, stay at home and stay well.

Sincerely,

Chris P’Simer
NFWFWF President
cpsimer@nfwfwf.org