FOC Newsletter, Chairman's Letter, Autumn 2013

Where has this year gone? When this newsletter reaches you it will be December already! Although our organization has accomplished much, time just seems to run out before all we've planned is realized.

Our greatest triumph this year was our sixteenth annual Gala Celebration, held October 21 at Timber Point Country Club. This was our first attempt at an event away from the Preserve. Nevertheless, we are extremely pleased that it was a huge success. Our special guest was Gil Bergen, who has managed the Connetquot River State Park Preserve from its beginning. Gil's work is well regarded and appreciated, and as recipient of the first Gilbert Bergen Preservationist Award, many people came to honor him, including several who traveled from faraway locales. On behalf of the Friends, I wish to thank all who attended to support us and pay tribute to Gil.

As many of you who visit the preserve often already know, the mill restoration has been temporarily stalled by the long wait involved in processing our grant reimbursements by the State. However, some funds have begun to flow back in and we expect that the work will resume shortly.

Our internet fundraising campaign for the Mill project ended in November. Unfortunately, we did not reach our goal of $20,000 but did manage to raise almost $14,000 counting some mail-in contributions. Nevertheless, please be aware that we are continuing our efforts to raise the funds required to complete the mill restoration, and those of you who didn’t get a chance to participate in this effort will still be able to purchase shingles and beams or mail your contributions to the Friends. Forms are available at the Preserve’s Museum and on our website. The Friends thank everyone who has already come forward with contributions for this project.

This year, our $500 scholarship was awarded to Jacob Levesque for his more than forty hours of volunteer service. Jacob is a very deserving young man who has helped the Preserve with many projects over the last few years. As no scholarship candidate applied last year, the Board decided to award an additional $500 shared scholarship to Young-Jin Sohn and his sister, Jin-Mi Sohn, for their volunteer service. We wish all three dedicated students luck with their education.

As our calendar indicates in the last page of this newsletter, we have a full range of exciting events and programs already planned for the coming year. We hope to see many of you taking advantage of them. Please check our website for additional events and possible changes.

Visit the Preserve often and enjoy nature at its best .

Sincerely,
Bob Labuski

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