News from the Board of Directors         

 

It has been said that, "All improvement is change. Not all change is improvement".  Your Board of Directors' goal is for all our changes to be improvements.  Recently changes have been initiated in a number of areas. We would like to bring you up to date.

 

NEWSLETTER - Offering the newsletter via email as well as the printed copy provides the benefit of fast distribution as well as reduced cost.  This change has reduced the number of printed copies from over 1000 to 750 - saving the community over $140 on every issue - while getting The Heartland to you a couple of weeks earlier. An added benefit of having your email address is to update the community on current news between issues of the Heartland. Unfortunately, quite a few members with email capability have not shared their email address with us. Doing so would further reduce newsletter printing and distribution costs - possibly an additional $250 per issue. 

 

The email service we use also provides feedback when emails are opened.  That feedback reports only about one third of email messages sent are opened.  We do our best to keep you informed but cannot be effective if those notes are not read. If you change your email address, please log on to the IHEC website (link below)  and complete a membership form. 

 

WALK LOCATION - This summer, Walks #65 (Men) and #66 (Women) will be held at the Old School Center in Farmington.  Reasons for this change are scheduling conflicts at the Cursillo Center and a need to reach out more effectively to those outside Peoria.  If you would like to see what the Old School is all about, join us for a tour Sunday, February 21 at 3 PM. Directions above.

EXPENSES - The expense for a Walk has gone up about 25% due to the combination of increased costs of food, Cursillo Center rental and incidental expenses.  These increases have been covered by drawing on surpluses provided by generous support of the community through offerings and contributions from sponsors. Expenses of the last few Walks, however, have drained about half the available funds.  In order to reduce these deficits the Board, at the February meeting, voted to raise the registration fee from $75 to $100. - effective with the Walks in the fall of 2010.  This increase will cover most, but not all, the increased expenses. 

 

The appeal in the December 2009 newsletter was needed due to this shortfall. It was suggested each member contribute an additional $10.  This had the potential to provide up to $10,000. Contributions to date total $1100.  If you have not contributed and can do so it would be much appreciated.  A basic tenet of our community is to not let finances stand in the way of Pilgrims attending a Walk.  Additional contributions will allow us to continue those important scholarships.