Happy February!  Here’s the latest news at the La Pine Activity Center!
We had a meeting on January 17 with Cheryl Puddy, Program Officer from the Oregon Community Foundation, Chaney  Coman, Grants Manager from the Roundhouse Foundation, and Jenny Green from the Oregon Arts Commission.  Over 25 people attended this meeting, which was about getting some grants to cover the costs of our much-needed kitchen upgrade.
Our two large ovens aren’t working and at this time we’ve been using alternate cooking methods.  We bought $600 worth of parts to keep us going, and we’re going to be applying for a grant for the ovens, and another for the remainder of the kitchen remodel.
We need new stoves, ovens, steam table, our walk-in cooler needs new parts, new flooring is needed so our seniors don’t trip on our mats, and we also need a new dishwasher.  That’s a big list of items, so one of our board members, Meredith Strunk, has taken the role of grant-writer and we hope to submit these soon.
We had 96 people attend our Veterans lunch, sponsored by Stu Martinez, on January 19!  We still need sponsors for April and May, so contact me if you’re interested.
We’re also having an Early Bird membership drive and right now we’re offering memberships for only $35 a year (that’s just $2.92 each month) if you sign up during February, March or April.  Your membership is important — whether you come to the Center or not — because it helps to keep this place open. For instance, our gas bill last month was $1190…it used to be $399 for a month.  We currently have about 200 members and we want to remind local businesses that they can be members, too!  
And look at what benefits our members get:  a safe, warm place with WiFi, free classes including line dancing, body groove, healthy walking and strengthening, reduced price yoga classes, card games, computer technical support, bingo twice a week, 20% off a room rental once a year, and an informative monthly newsletter emailed to each member.  And even if you’re not a member, everyone is welcome to an affordable, healthy, and delicious lunch served three days a week!  So join today!
Our upcoming Rhubarb Festival planning is in full swing. We’ve already got 25% of our vendor spaces reserved and paid for!
That’s all for now — I’m going to on vacation but will be back mid-February, so keep coming to the Center and I’ll see your smiling faces when I return!