Happy January, and for those whose year started on January 1, Happy New Year!
Looking back on 2020, the Board session ran three months longer than expected, because we couldn’t get together for our Annual General Meeting until September. So, a big thank you to the members of the HVCA on the Board who stayed until the next session could begin.
And even though the previous Board ‘ran long’, the 2020-2021 term for the current Board means that we are trying to fit a year of planning within just nine months of Board Meetings. And we have quite a few things to do this year, so thank you to our current Board members and volunteers who are helping us as an organization, and as a community, to meet that challenge.
Firstly, we’re in the process of changing our membership database. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, you have been able to visit our site to renew your membership, and the experience has gone well for you. If we’re not up and running by the time of the newsletter, then January will be our cutover month to work out the final steps. With the new system, we’ll have a better way to stay in touch with members, residents, and partners, and HVCA members will have an easier way to find and register for the programs, sports, and events that matter most to them.
Secondly, we’ll be changing the bylaws to permit online attendance and voting at our Annual General Meeting. In 2020, as a non-profit organization, we were able to make use of Microsoft 365 Business to conduct our operations and run our Board meetings. This year, we want to expand our meetings to make it easier for residents and members to get involved in their community at a Board, volunteer, or an informed resident level.
Thirdly, as we’re planning our events and sports programs for the year, we’re making sure that we have good contingency plans in place to deal better with the unexpected. We are planning that the major source of fundraising for us, through our casino, will be moved out from the end of the year until early 2022. In the best case, this affects our budget projections by about six months. But it could mean that we would have to adjust our plans to stretch our reserves to cover twelve months without that expected income.
Fortunately, the residents of Hidden Valley and Hanson Ranch are coming forward to help our whole community. In December, one of our residents, Sharon Sivell, contacted the Board through our [email protected] email address to ask how she could help-out in the community, without necessarily joining the Board. The Board had been exploring how to organize community involvement in activities like virtual clubs or activities that could be done while following COVID-19 regulations and related best practices. We’re working with Sharon and others to try offering different experiences for our residents and members throughout 2021. In Sharon’s words, “Hi I am Sharon Sivell, who recently contacted the Hidden Valley Community association to get involved. This resonated in my spirit with the tough times many of us are experiencing. As I take my daily walks, I wondered how many other people would be suffering or living without, because we sometimes can be too proud or too unsure of what others might think of us to ask for, or to offer, help. I have spent the last year looking deep inside and found how much that various exposures in life and society had conditioned my own ways of thinking, and I plan to change this now! So, I am offering the time I can, to assist others in the best way I know, and that is showing my love and care for other human beings. I hope others will join me.”
Thanks to volunteers like Sharon and others who have been helping out, your Board is looking forward to a busy, but engaging 2021. Things may look a little a different this year, but we’re going to try to mix some new things in with our usual offerings this winter.
So, welcome back from the end of the year, and into a very new year. Our next newsletter update will be in February –and in case it doesn’t get to you before February 12, I’ll close by sending along my additional best wishes for a very happy New Year for those in the community who observe or celebrate the Lunar New Year!
