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.