President’s Message
Hello happy Humanists! We’ve made it to June after a relatively quiet month, but we do have a bit of news. Our community elected a new Program Director, we got our roof fixed up, and we’ve made some improvements to our communications.
New Program Director
We begin with a mix of bad and good news. Our Program Director, James Fuchs, has decided to take his life in a new direction and has moved all the way to Pennsylvania. James has served as our Program Director with meticulousness and professionalism. He is a good friend and admirable Humanist. We wish him well on his journey in life. He’ll always have a home here in Arizona among friends.
Andre Salais
Speaking of friends, it is my pleasure to announce that Andre Salais has been nominated by the board and the membership voted to approve him as the new Program Director. Please join me in welcoming Andre to the board! His experience booking guests on his podcast will translate well with booking our Sunday Speakers and managing our other activities. We look forward to the educational and entertaining ideas and discussions he’ll bring to our community.
Say hello to him and, if you have any speakers you’d like to hear from, share your lead!
Our roof is fixed
With the advent of summer, the season heralds the seasonal Monsoon rain storms. Our roof was in sorry shape, but I have wonderful news. By your generous donations, we were able to raise enough funds to pay for most of the roof repairs. Please join me in thanking our Vice President, Alex Zygmunt, for putting in the time and effort of finding contractors and supervising the work.
Please be sure to thank Alex for his efforts to preserve our community center.
New newsletters
Have you noticed our new Newsletter and Meeting Announcement formats? We’re hoping that this new format makes it easier for everyone to learn about and enjoy the events and activities we have going on all the time.
New Newsletters
Let us know what you think or if you have any suggestions for improvements.
Message from the Membership Director
This month’s column is an encore of January’s column. The message cannot be conveyed too strongly. At the June 4 meeting, a lot of people showed up and we ran out of food before the meeting began. 
Napoleon Bonaparte said that “An army marches on its stomach”. A wise phrase indicating that it takes fuel to run an organization. Every 501c3 organization is fueled by volunteerism. HSGP is no exception.
As is announced near the end of this newsletter article every month; posted on the website’s home page, hsgp.org; and is included in the President’s pre-meeting email, there is a link to the Sign-Up Genius volunteer site. Lately, there has been a glaring lull in people volunteering for help to set up, clean up, bring casseroles, etc. to the Sunday meetings. Thank you to the people who help with these requests without signing up. But, the Sign-Up Genius is an extremely helpful tool communicating to everyone what will be provided and what is still needed to make each meeting and event run smoothly.
Volunteering involves commitment. Before you volunteer to perform a task, please be prepared to follow through with that commitment. Unforeseen events happen; when you find that you can’t make a particular volunteer commitment, please extend the courtesy of letting us know so we can find someone else to fill that position.
As with every other organization I’ve volunteered with, a small handful of people almost always end up doing the bulk of planning and work. This is so unfair to the dedicated people who are determined to make every event successful. With more people who are willing to help, burnout can be held to a minimum or become nonexistent. This year we’ve lost a few key people who do a bulk of the work and planning. The rest of us are already too overburdened to take on any more responsibilities.
We do want to extend our appreciation to the people who consistently do help. You are invaluable assets.
Additionally, we urge meeting attendee to stay and listen in on the board meetings. Board meetings are held at the second Sunday meeting of each month.
Continuing Sleeping Mats Workshop:
This workshop is held on the second Saturday of every month, except December. The next one will be held on June 10. Here’s the link to my Meetup page Sleeping Mats Workshop Any questions can be sent to my email address located beneath my name below. PLEASE DON’T BRING BAGS YET; the community center has a basement full of them. Don’t know how to crochet? No problem. You actually don’t have to crochet; you can just make “plarn” (plastic yarn). However, I would like more people to crochet so we can get more mats completed. I or some of the “old-timers” will teach anyone who wants to learn. For those who want to crochet, you’ll need to bring a 10mm (size N) crochet hook. I also have some 10mm hooks available for $5.00.
Come join us in this very worthy project. Make new friends, have fun socializing, bring snacks, learn a new craft.
A Couple of Reminders
The HSGP Community Center is owned by the members. Although we have no mortgage, it takes money to run and maintain the center just like any other home. It would be greatly appreciated if you could see your way to place a small donation in the jar at the card table by the entry door.
Prior to every meeting and event a volunteer request is emailed and/or posted on Meetup with a link to SignUp Genius where you can schedule your volunteer choice and time.
If something comes up and you can’t commit to your volunteer choice, please let us know so we will know to compensate for the gap. We so appreciate your willingness to volunteer.
If you need help accessing the link, contact Chris Wojno at president@hsgp.org
Your Participation is Welcome:
This column is for the members. I’d like it to also be about and by the members by encouraging all of you to send me announcements of life events, questions about HSGP, contribute a piece for this column or suggestions of subjects you’d like to see posted here.
Please contact me if you need any membership information or have a change of address, phone number, or email.
Anita Romanowski
Membership Director