News & Announcements

Directors Letter – October 2023

Sno-Valley Senior Center is excited to welcome Kate Barrere as the new Manager at Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store!
To give you all a little background on Kate, she started and ran a thrift shop for Habitat for Humanity in Espanola, New Mexico for several years, where she learned the thrift business. She worked for 10 years for Nordstrom and ran a small gift shop in a Nature Center for about 4 years also, doing purchasing merchandising and sales. Her most recent job was running a Gift Shop in a hospital in Santa Fe, NM where she handled purchasing, inventory, bookkeeping, merchandising, promotions and sales supervision.

At both the hospital and nature center Kate also was the Volunteer Coordinator and worked on scheduling, training, supervising and appreciating 20-40 volunteers. She learned from that about the astounding contribution volunteers make in the successful every day operations of so many organizations and how important they are for building community ties and creating a sense of shared purpose. On a side note, she spent around 20 years as a self-employed artist which included running her own gallery, doing custom digital collages for corporate and individual clients, traveling coast to coast doing art festivals and anything else she could think of to pay the rent with art.

Kate recently moved back to the Pacific NW from New Mexico where she had moved to become an artist and where she lived since 1997. She came back to take care of my 96 yr. old father who just lost his beloved wife of 30 years and was needing help. She is thrilled to have found and been offered this position as it will make good use her skills and experience, be fun and interesting, and allow her time to take care of her dad.

Ticket purchases for the 2023 Harvest Festival Dinner & Auction close on October 1, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come away with some great items! Many of the items are available for bid online between Monday, October 9 and Saturday, October 13. Learn more at the link https://svscauction23.givesmart.com/

You’ll notice in the newsletter that we are bringing back the Annual Steak Dinner & Pie Auction after a four-year hiatus. We’ll be serving Steak or Salmon, with all the fixings, at two seatings (4:30 & 6:30pm) on Saturday, November 18. At this event you’ll also have the chance to bid on delicious Pies baked by senior center members. If you’re interested in volunteering for this event, or would like to bake and bring a pie, please email me, kiraa@soundgenerations.org!

Thank you to everyone who signed the condolences card for me. I was very lucky to have 32 years with my grandma Mary, a Master Gardner, who attended several Tea & Fashion show’s here at the senior center.

As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns please call me at 425-333-4152 ext 1 or email kiraa@soundgenerations.org.

Director’s Letter- September 2023

Happy National Senior Center Month! This is our opportunity to promote a positive image of aging, highlight how the Sno-Valley Senior Center improves the lives of older adults, showcase our importance to the Snoqualmie Valley community, and reach out to possible new participants and partners. All of this can be done at our 2nd Annual Festival of Fun! This event, on Wednesday, September 27 from 4-6pm, will feature refreshments, class demonstrations, program booths, and door prizes!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Affordable Housing Groundbreaking project on Wednesday, August 23. Once construction starts (currently estimated for September) our parking lot will no longer be available. The construction team has been instructed to start by creating pull-in parking along Stephens Avenue in order to offset some of the loss in parking numbers.

Construction is scheduled to last about 1 year, and we know that it will impact those coming into the senior center and Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store. We will provide more information as we have it about what changes will be happening and when.
You may have noticed that we are in the process of hiring a new Thrift Store Manager. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Colleen James has left the position. We appreciate the new ideas she brought to the role and wish her the best of luck (we know she will continue to be a loyal shopper)!

As we head into the last 1/3 of year, the senior center is currently forecasted to have a small deficit to end 2023. We are hoping that with the addition of the Pie Auction and an extra Rainbow Bingo later this year, we will end the year in the black! We accept donations year-round however, which you can make online at www.snovalleysenior.org or by using the envelope in this newsletter!

I hope you’ll join us for our Annual Dinner & Auction, hosted at Remlinger Farms on Friday, October 13. There will be a delicious dinner, silent and live auction items, fun raffle games, and a dessert dash featuring local bakeries and restaurants.
Tickets for this event are on sale now, $50 per person, $350 for a table of 8. You can start the party early by purchasing VIP tickets for $75 each, $550 per table of 8 and attend a pre-funk party, bid first in the super silent auction, and enjoy more fun benefits.

If you would like to be a table captain, committing to filling a table of 8 (you’re not required to purchase the table), please email kiraa@soundgenerations.org. We are also looking for item donations such as, Restaurant Gift Cards, Experiences (wine tours, tasting parties), tickets to Seattle sporting events, passes to local attractions, week or weekend away at a rental home or timeshare, or a cash donation to help us purchase items!

Learn more about the event and purchase tickets at https://svscauction23.givesmart.com. If you have an item to donate or would like to volunteer you can email kiraa@soundgenerations.org!

As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns please call me at 425-333-4152 ext 1 or email kiraa@soundgenerations.org.

August Directors Letter

It’s hard for me to believe that we are over halfway through the year! We’ve had a busy summer so far, and that busy pace is sure to continue into the fall.

I want to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our 4th of July Event! We hosted our first sit-down Spaghetti Dinner since 2019 and raised $2,902.91! Thank you to Daniel Enciso and Jim Ribail for being the chefs at this event as well as to our volunteers who helped in the kitchen, dining room, and with checking people in and selling raffle tickets. We also had great support from local businesses and donors, including Duvall Family Grocer, Duvall Safeway, IGA, Susan & JJ Schmoll, and Black Clover Coffee.

Our Annual Strawberry Shortcake event raised $3,679.42 and our quilt raffle raised $606.80! Thank you to Delores Ulrich, Diane Amos, and Charles, Leslie, & Joe Day for coming to the senior center early in the morning to get the shortcake ready, as well as all of the volunteers who served shortcake, cleared tables, and cashiered in the lobby. Thank you to Rochelle Downs for donating the beautiful quilt we raffled off.

Remlinger Farms provided the delicious strawberries and our event had support from generous sponsors as well, Du-vall Civic Club, Tolt Historical Society, and Hauglie Insurance!

I hope to see you on Wednesday, August 23 at 1pm for the construction groundbreaking of our 15 affordable senior apartments. This project would not have been possible without your support and we are so excited to see construction start on this project, that will allow older adults to stay in the community they love! You can RSVP at the link igfn.us/form/rDn87w or email kiraa@soundgenerations.org.

Planning is fully underway for our Annual Dinner and Auction event, and I hope you’ll join us! This is our most successful event of the year, and we are excited to be hosting it at Remlinger Farms on Friday, October 13. There will be a delicious dinner, silent and live auction items, fun raffle games, and a dessert dash featuring local bakeries and restaurants.

Tickets for this event are on sale now, $50 per person, $350 for a table of 8. If you would like to start the party early you can purchase VIP tickets for $75 each, $550 per table of 8 and attend a pre-funk party, bid first in the super silent auction, and enjoy more fun benefits.

If you would like to be a table captain, committing to filling a table of 8 (you’re not required to purchase the table), please email kiraa@soundgenerations.org.

We are also looking for item donations such as, Restaurant Gift Cards, Experiences (wine tours, tasting parties), tickets to Seattle sporting events, passes to local attractions, week or weekend away at a rental home or timeshare, or a cash donation to help us purchase items!

Learn more about the event and purchase tickets at https://svscauction23.givesmart.com. If you have an item to donate or would like to volunteer you can email kiraa@soundgenerations.org!

As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns please call me at 425-333-4152 ext 1 or email kiraa@soundgenerations.org.

Kira Avery, Executive Director

First, I want to say Thank You to Angie for her hard work as the Thrift Store Manager in the last 5 years. Angie became the Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store manager in July of 2018 and had been a Thrift Store volunteer since 2015 before that. When the small white house couldn’t be used as a location for the Thrift Store, she worked on creating the most available space in the program rooms downstairs. During COVID-19, while the Thrift Store was closed, she worked in the kitchen helping to serve meals.

As we came out of COVID-19, Angie was very flexible in the store hours in order to bring in the most customers while also keeping our participants safe. Currently the Thrift Store is on track to have one of its most successful years ever, and that is due in large part to Angie’s creativity, when looking at the new dollar section, the increase in social media presence, and new sales.

We are sad to be losing Angie as the Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store manager, but are excited to see where life takes her (in her new travel trailer). We are excited to welcome Colleen James as our new Thrift Store Manager, who will be starting with us, the first week of July.

You may have noticed a new bench and planters in front of our generator. Those were built and installed by Spencer Pitt, for his Eagle Scout project! I look forward to seeing them used as we get out of the “Juneuary” we have been experiencing.

There will be a lot of construction happening around the senior center this summer. We are having our entrance ramps re-done, starting with the east ramps (flag pole side) on Monday, July 17 and then they will work on the west ramps.

Construction is also set to start on the Affordable Senior Apartments at the end of July. This means that our parking lot will no longer be available. The construction team has been instructed to start by creating pull-in parking along Stephens Avenue in order to offset some of the loss in parking numbers.

This construction is scheduled to last about 1 year, and we know that it will impact those coming into the senior center and Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store. We will provide more information as we have it about what changes will be happening and when.

If you have questions about the Affordable Senior Housing project, please call or email me, at 425-333-4152 ext. 1 or kiraa@soundgenerations.org. As we get closer to finishing construction, we’ll be able to share out information about how to apply for an apartment, which we currently do not have.

You can also call or email me if you have any comments, concerns or questions about the Sno-Valley Senior Center.

Happy Summer!

Kira Avery, Executive Director

I’m excited to introduce Carol Ladwig as our new FESH Hub coordinator! Carol Ladwig has lived in Duvall for more than 20 years and has worked throughout the community. A former Microsoft technical writer, she’s been a reporter for the Valley View, River Current News and Snoqualmie Valley Record newspapers, and editor for the RCN and SVR. She also helps with publicity for Snoqualmie Valley Transportation and Mt. Si Senior Center and does the occasional freelance article. Her interests in the community center around transportation, senior housing and community events like Duvall’s March of the Vegetables. Her hobbies include yoga, gardening, going to Kraken games and dreaming up ways to keep her cat, Ted, from waking her up at the crack of dawn every day.

I also want to say thank you to Valerie Stewart for all of her hard work with us for the past 3 years. Her ability to create relationships, with various programs, organizations, and senior centers will be missed. We wish her luck as she starts a new position on the peninsula!

We had a wonderful Plant Sale on the first weekend of May, and raised $20,000 (after expenses) for the Sno-Valley Senior Center. Our Plant Sale committee is a wonderful group, that meets and plans for months in advance to put on a great event for our organization. Darcy Dinwiddie is our Plant Sale chair, leading this successful event. Tami Agnew & Sue Bowers did a great job of ordering us a wide variety of plants, making us the largest, most comprehensive plant sale on the Eastside. Lois Goodman, Pat Beagle, and Maria Gerace worked to get donated plants (including the wonderful tomatoes), coordinating delivering, picking them up, and even taking care of them at their own houses until the sale!

John Lambert and Dan Acker oversaw the logistics of set-up and take-down, as well as getting us all the canopies and tables we need. Cecelia McCorkle coordinated close to 100 volunteers throughout the entire week of the sale and Angie Hartung worked with the Cashiers! Denise Crutchfield oversaw the First Picks Party on Thursday, May 4, working hard to get donated items and coupons to include in everyone’s gift bags.

Thank you to everyone on our committee, as well as those who volunteered, and attended!

You’ll see in the newsletter that we are having a Membership Drive this month! What does this mean for you?

If you become a member or renew (you can do this early) your membership in June, you’ll get two months free! Consider    buying a membership for a friend or for someone who can’t afford one. Membership is $60 for one person or $75 for the household, for the year.

There is also a discount on Lifetime Membership, $450 for one person, $750 for a couple, and you never have to pay dues again!

Renew or purchase a membership in June and you’ll also get entered into a drawing for fun prizes!

Why become a member or renew your membership?

¨ It’s a powerful way to show your support and commitment that the programs we offer should continue and you value what we do.

¨ Enjoy a free lunch at our monthly birthday lunch in the month of your birthday.

¨ Get voting privileges on the board slate and bylaws changes.

¨ Our monthly newsletter is mailed to you

¨ 10% off hall rentals for events like birthdays, weddings, parties

¨ 50% off your purchase at Re-in-Carnation Thrift Store on the first Wednesday of the month!

You don’t have to be a member to participate in any of our classes or activities, but members get privileges like those listed above. If you would like to become a member, but can’t afford the fee, we have scholarships available, just let me know.

If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at kiraa@soundgenerations.org or 425-333-4152.

Kira Avery, Executive Director