January Message

Dear Members,

It’s hard to believe we are already starting a new year. 2009 flew by and I hope you had a chance to celebrate the holidays with your family and friends.
I am looking forward to serving the community as the 2010 SBA President. I have some high hopes for the year as I am sure all incoming presidents of the past have had. Some of my goals for the year are to increase attendance at meetings, get more members involved in our activities, and better market Sugarcreek as a great place to live, work and bring your family.
I would like to have guest speakers at our meetings on a regular basis. We have many knowledgeable people in our community that could pass along very interesting and helpful information. If you know of anyone who would be a possibility for this, please get me the contact information.
I have been speaking to some of our very long time members and another thing they used to do to increase attendance at meetings was drawings in addition to the free lunch. We have over 140 members and only 50 meetings per year. It should be pretty easy for us to have a give away at every meeting. It does not need to be a big ticket item, just something for fun. If you would like to donate something, please give me a call and I would be happy to pick it up.
I would like to form a committee, or maybe the membership committee could take this on, to call to invite people who have not been to a meeting recently. If we can get more people attending meetings, maybe they will be become more involved in our activities, allowing us to do more for our community.
We need to market our community as a “small town with a big heart” and then live up to it. We have a great organization, we just need to get everyone working together with the village and the people to make Sugarcreek the best it can be.
We also need to get the young people involved in the history and tourism side of the village. This is mostly covered by the 50+ crowd. We need to get the younger generations involved to carry the torch into the future.
I would like to meet with the past presidents on Jan. 13, after the regular meeting, to pick their brains on what has worked well in the past.
I am looking forward to an exciting year. Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions you may have to make us more successful.
Happy New Year!
Cheryll Shireman
SBA President
cheryll.shireman@gmail.com