Fellow Schutzites,
I’d like to be wishing you a happy new year, but we’re not quite there yet. No doubt we will all be glad to see this year of 2020 come to an end and look to a better year in 2021.
What’s new? I’ll start with what we have been missing now for over two years – our reunions every other year – the last one being our gathering in Portland, Oregon in July 2018. Our plan was to gather at the beach in North Carolina in May of this year, but then came the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns of last spring. Some 45 people registered for the week-long vacation-reunion sharing beach houses (fun!) but we of course had to cancel. We took a wait-and-watch posture on how things would develop, particularly the timing of a COVID vaccine. It now looks like we’ll have that added protection by next spring, but it will come too late to proceed with the reunion, re-register and book the needed housing. The earliest we can think of rescheduling is Fall 2021, with housing availability difficulty and costs selecting a summer timeframe for the beach, but then there is the matter of hurricane season, which typically roars into September and the early fall. So, it looks like we’ll have to wait until spring 2022 for our time at the beach, and by then hopefully we won’t have to be worrying about social distancing, masks and the rest. Insha’allah. We’ll get going on those plans as we get into the new year.
But…this summer we decided to make some lemonade of the sour circumstances we’ve been facing and held a virtual Zoom reunion. It was a great success, as you can see by watching the September event on our website. Over 40 people joined in and this gave us the idea that we should use virtual technology to stay in “live” touch on a more regular basis. We’re planning another Zoom meeting early next year, so keep an eye out for our announcement and plan to join in.
We’re also thinking beyond 2022 to future reunions. In 2024, Schutz will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of Schutz School’s founding and the School is planning a big event to celebrate the centennial. The School is hoping for a big turnout of alumni for the celebration and they want us to plan accordingly. Your Board will be working with the School administration on the means to make it logistically and financially practical for us to schedule that year’s annual reunion…in Alexandria, Egypt! I’ll be reporting to you as these discussions and plans take shape.
I’ll close for now by reminding everyone that it takes money to keep our association afloat. If you haven’t paid dues, please go to the “Pay Dues” button below and sign up to pay your $30 annual dues using the automatic payment option. We have about $3,500 in annual operating costs, including accounting and tax filings, website hosting fees and support and communications and mailing costs. If we can get at least 100 people to pay on a regular basis, we’re good to go. Right now, we’re only about halfway there. We also continue to contribute to the School’s George and Mary Lou Meloy Scholarship for a deserving Schutz student, so please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
That’s it for now. Let’s everyone stays safe in the meantime.
Paul Clark ‘68
President