Directors Letter
July 2020 – COVID update
We recently got a lovely surprise. Pam Siegfried put the Sno-Valley Senior Center into her will. This lovely lady passed away at only age 59 of cancer. She asked that $77,686 of her estate be given to the Sno-Valley Senior Center! I didn’t know Pam so I was curious as to how she knew the Sno-Valley Senior Center. It turns out she was friends with a former board member, Julia Arp-Ruud and with Sally Sutherland. Sally’s mother had attended our Adult Day Health program for many years. Pam wanted to leave her money to her best friend Sally, but Sally refused. So Pam asked her who she had in her will. Sally has named the Sno-Valley Senior Center in her will so Pam donated to us in honor of her best friend Sally. Isn’t that lovely?
Legacy gifts like this go into our savings account to help with building maintenance and repairs plus to cover budget deficits. Never has a gift been more needed. I am so touched by her life and legacy. Her gift helps ensure that this wonderful place continues for many, many generations! A legacy gift is a bequest – a gift included in your last will and testament. A bequest can be for a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, and/or a specific piece of property. Here’s a sample: “I bequeath to Sno-Valley Senior Center, a Washington State 501(c)3, tax ID 91-1156586, the sum of $____ (or the description of the asset or ___ % of my estate) for general support purposes.” You can also leave a legacy gift by naming the Senior Center as a beneficiary on your life insurance.
Covid 19 is challenging us but I am so very proud of our Sno-Valley Senior Center staff. As you can see in this newsletter, Kira Avery has been very busy making sure that we still have many, many program offerings for you even when we can’t get together. She has also been working hard at helping me to put our annual auction on-line to be a virtual event done live on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 7:00 – 8:00 pm. I feel so fortunate that we have a Program Coordinator who is so tech
savvy, organized and creative!
All of our staff have really stepped up. Jennifer Berg is cooking more meals than ever before ranging from 40 to 100 meals each day! All staff help with packing up the meals so you can come pick them up at the door or our Hyde Shuttle Drivers Kerry and Lorri can deliver. Jennifer is an amazing chef so the food coming out is consistently good but she can’t do it alone! Angie Hartung, our thrift store manager, is her sous chef, helping with chopping, cooking and the clean up! Angie is also preparing and cleaning the thrift store so it will be ready to open when we hit Phase 3!
Lorri Engbaum delivers meals but she also spends the morning as receptionist to answer phones, receipt donations and track meal reservations. Both Lorri and Kerry have gone above and beyond to make sure their former riders are doing well and have everything they need. Kerry Canady is preparing to paint our ramp and he helps out with building maintenance too! Both drivers do so much more than the job description requires.
Our social worker, Kelly Fujiwara has called every member at least once to see how everyone is doing. She is providing resources, support and counseling while also getting additional training on-line. She started a new program called Aging Mastery which you can participate in if you want a kit. She is continuing support groups and the outreach program as well. She sewed lots of masks too! I bet you didn’t know that was a social work duty!
Our bookkeeper, Mindie Ribail, has been busy processing donations and paying bills but she is also so creative and often makes gifts for your meals, finds supplies for the building and recently made sure we got lots of items and shredding to the Saturday Carnation recycle day. Plus our levy coordinator, Val Stewart, has been hard at work making sure our partnership with Mt. Si and Issaquah Senior Centers stays strong. She has been making sure we are still providing programs with our partners at GenPride, Encompass and WATAP (Washington Assistive Technology Act Program). She is doing lots of outreach so that those older adults who don’t come yet to the Senior Center will know all we offer!
My point here is that Sno-Valley Senior Center staff is singularly committed to you all, working on weekends and
evenings to make sure everything goes smoothly and that your needs are met. We are so blessed to have the best people around!
Give me a call or an e-mail with your comments. We love to hear from you!
Lisa Yeager, Director, lisay@soundgenerations.org 425-333-4152
P.S. Donations are welcome to help us with the extra costs of to-go
containers, bags, gloves, masks and sanitizer. Any amount helps! We so
appreciate how our community has supported us!