Vandalia Lake Appreciation Day was held on Tuesday, May 6th
out at the lake as usual. But there was nothing usual about coming up with
the funds to hold the event this year. In our March district board meeting,
it was decided to cancel Vandalia Lake Day, along with most other
educational activities, because of our financial dilemma. If you recall, we
had only received 16% of our allocation from IDOA for the fiscal year, and
were feeling the pinch. But Karen was able to get two local grants (White
Foundation and Scarpaci Foundation) to cover the cost of the tee shirts and
the food for the presenters. She then talked to McDonald’s about furnishing
all the bottled water we needed, and to Sonic for all the ice for the
event. So at the April board meeting the Vandalia Lake Day was restored.
As you have probably heard, our funds have been released, but they were
still being withheld at the time we were trying to figure out how to put on
the Vandalia Lake Day. So, I guess the moral of the story is, where there’s
a will, there’s a way. Or maybe that should be, where there’s a Karen,
there’s a way. Thanks, Karen. Thanks also to: McDonald’s for the water,
Sonic for furnishing all of the ice, FS for loaning us a trough to put the
water and ice in, and the city of Vandalia and Chuck Ruot for letting us use
the area around the boat dock and for arranging picnic tables for us.
Thanks also to our presenters: Bob and Kim Hammel, Jo Stine (on very short
notice), Matt Stroud, Jamie Elmore, Margaret Fertaly, John Blythe, and Scott
Shasteen.
