Hello Everyone!! Remember me? It seems like forever since I last posted a column. A lot has been going on since February. During 2017 we have sponsored several events – the bowl-a-thon in February, the trivia night/silent auction in March, restaurant days/nights at Los Tres Portrillos and Mariachi’s Mexican Restaurant, the first ever half marathon/5K races in June, our annual bake sale/tee shirt sale also in June, and the car show in October. We also participated in the village-wide yard sale in May, the Firemen’s Picnic in July, and the Jaycees’ swap meet in October. Almost makes me tired just thinking of everything we’ve done in 2017!!
We’re not going to let up any time soon!! We have already begun to make plans for 2018 events, which may be found on the calendar at this website.
Each time we have an event, we review what worked and what could work better. We value the participants’ and members’ opinions, and hope to build on them. We are looking forward to making 2018 a good year for the Tin Man. And, we also have some good ideas for other events. Keep an eye on this website for details.
One of our more successful fundraisers is coming to a close. We have been collecting bar codes from IGA products for a little more than two years, and we have submitted 19,500 of them to IGA, earning $1950!! However, even though we were one of the most active non-profits participating, IGA has decided to end the program. We must have everything delivered to IGA by December 1, 2017. We will be emptying the collection box at Millstadt IGA on November 27, then checking and bundling the bar codes for shipment the next day. Thank you everyone who has been helping us with this campaign. We would not have collected nearly this many without your participation.
As we enter the Christmas shopping season, more and more people are doing their shopping online. Please take a few minutes and visit http://www.smile.amazon.com, and choose Friends of the Old Millstadt Water Tower as your charity of choice. Amazon will donate, in most cases, a percentage of your purchase to the Friends. Use http://www.smile.amazon.com whenever you want to purchase something through Amazon. If you have Amazon Prime, that will work with http://www.smile.amazon.com too.
Have you accumulated a bunch of empty inkjet cartridges? We are still recycling them. Simply bring the empty cartridges to Millstadt IGA, and we’ll send them off for recycling, and earn some money for the Tin Man’s restoration.
With the end of the year rapidly approaching, it’s not too late to make your year-end charitable contributions. The Friends is a 501 (C) 3 charity. We will send you an acknowledgement that you can use for your taxes. Online donations may be made right from this website – go to the Support tab, and then to Donations. Or, please send a check, payable to Friends of the Old Millstadt Water Tower, P. O. Box 335, Millstadt, IL 62260.
Thanks, again, for your support. We’ve said this for several years that the Tower has many friends in many places, and everyone is appreciated very much. We look forward to your continued support.
Betty Keller Timmer
President, Friends of the Old Millstadt Water Tower