Director's Message - January 2025

Executive Director's Message

Lisa Blair
Executive Director

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful beginning of 2025. The Director’s Message this month will be a little different than usual. I left for a river cruise through Switzerland and Germany with a group from the senior center on Dec. 9, and this is going to print while I am away. So, I leave with you my thoughts as we go into the New Year. Lydia and Russ will add to the message, so enjoy the little variation.  
​
I have several things on my mind as we enter 2025, and one of them is our Walk of Fame. I am sure you’ve looked down at your feet as you are walking in our doors. All the names you see below engraved into the marble are the “famous” members who have chosen and purchased their own private tile. We are now down to two available tiles and I wanted to share the opportunity with everyone to claim one of these remaining spaces. The tiles available range from $200 to $300, depending on the number of lines you wish to have engraved. The fee for this purchase goes into our operating fund and serves to keep our doors open and our services at full throttle. Please consider this opportunity while you still have time. More information is available in our office. [Update: We sold our final tile on January 2!]

---

I also wanted to ask for a little help with our lunch program, specifically our reservations system. I know it has been a little bit of a challenge for some of you as we have transitioned into online reservations as well as phone reservations. There will always be hiccups, but we work constantly to keep them to a minimum. Barbara, our wonderful receptionist, has been overwhelmed with voicemails for lunch reservations that request a return phone call to confirm the reservation. Rest assured that if you leave a voicemail, Barbara is listening to it and adding your name to the lunch list. She will no longer be calling to respond to these messages as it has become an extremely time-consuming task for her. Just remember to be specific on the DATE that you will be joining us for a meal. Thank you for your patience with this and thank you for continuing to support our lunch program. You are all appreciated.

I hope and pray that the coming year is good to each of you and your families. I look forward to another exciting year full of new friends and new adventures. 

~Lisa

Program Director's Message

Lydia Agidius
Program Director

Hello… Lydia here! I’m sure most of you have heard my name circulating at some point and I have been lucky enough to meet many. I started my position as the new Program Director on Sept. 1. I came from a background in architecture and transitioned to this position at the end of my maternity leave. The position fit perfectly with me being a new mother of two. You may be wondering: “Why would someone in architecture be a good fit for a Program Director?” Great question and now would be the perfect time to give you my full background and a glimpse of my story:

Before architecture, I worked as a wedding coordinator for Sun Mountain Lodge and then branched off and started my own business. I love the high-stakes pressure of making an intricate day beautifully executed in a timely manner. After many, many successful weddings, I “retired” from nuptials when my daughter was born – but that’s not to say I don’t know how to throw a good event, though! My daughter’s first birthday was affectionately deemed as “ridiculous.” You only have a first birthday once, right? I am so excited to bring my coordinating skills to the benefit of the center. Let’s throw some memorable events and as my girl Marie Antoinette once said, “Let them eat cake!”

Speaking of Marie Antoinette of France, I have been travelling heavily both domestically and internationally since the age of 17. I am well-travelled in Europe and lived a short time in Italy working with a renowned architect. I am versed in the Italian and French languages and am relaxed amongst the medieval cobblestone streets. In addition to architecture, I have an art history education from Seattle Pacific University and led a group through the Borghese Gallery in Rome and The Uffizi in Florence. I have walked miles through the Louvre and gone on archaeological visits through Pompeii and the catacombs of Rome and the Vatican. Some of my best stories come from the time when my baggage was infested with ants, or when I was accused of pick-pocketing a man on a Roman bus (Spoiler alert: it was actually the man next to me pick-pocketing). I could either entertain or bore you for hours with my stories from abroad. So, either stop by my office or join me on one of our upcoming trips (Vienna, anyone?!) if you want to hear more. You can look forward to more travel stories and information in upcoming issues of The Livewire as I will permanently have my own travel section.

Additionally, I will be assisting in the new building design and drafting, as well as the renovations and modernization for the current building. I will host a Modernization Forum in the Social Hall on Friday, Jan. 17 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. This will be a great opportunity for members to voice their needs for their groups so I can consider them when drafting the plans. As a friendly reminder, I will be limited on funds, space and current codes for the modernization. As much as I’d love to implement all requests, some may not be feasible. Think of this as a “blue sky” event to dream big!

Lastly, as Program Director I also oversee the volunteers at the center. In my short time in this position, I have been blown away by the generosity of time given by volunteers. Time is the most finite resource we have as people and as many of you know, the center relies on our volunteers to function. So, I want to take this moment to thank every single volunteer for helping to make WVSAC a vibrant and functional facility. I appreciate every one of you more than I could ever express!

So, until next time, ciao for now!

~ Lydia

---

Communication Director's Message

Russ Alman
Communications Director

Hello everyone! I want to first thank Lisa for giving me the opportunity to update you on programs and processes I’ve been working on as Communications & Development Director. I had previously worked for the Senior Center as a contractor for 8 years, but now that I’ve been working here full time for 18 months, there are some key issues I’m involved with that are finally coming to fruition.

Livewire 2.0 -- I’m excited to announce that after months of planning, we have released a brand new version of The Livewire!

Over the past few months, I’ve been working with our previous publication format to improve legibility with easier to read typefaces and clearer sections and organization.

However, the big change has begun with this issue. To kick off 2025, I’ve rebuilt The Livewire from scratch. This has included the most obvious change — moving from a bound 8 1/2” x 11” format to unbound, 10 1/2” x 14”. This increases the physical size of the publication by 30 percent while significantly lowering our printing costs.

Our goal is to make The Livewire look and feel more like a newspaper for the Wenatchee Valley senior community at large. This will allow us to increase our audience beyond our existing membership and also attract more advertisers. The Livewire is one of the few places businesses can still reach the local 50+ population in print and we believe we can turn our publication into a community asset.

Since The Livewire has been completely rebuilt, I expect we’ll have a few things to tweak over the next couple of issues. I encourage you to contact me with your feedback and suggestions.

Business Partnership Program -- In addition, we have rebuilt our corporate membership program to better support the needs of our business community.

This is now called our Business Partnership Program. We have partnership levels for businesses of all sizes — from home-based businesses and nonprofits all the way to up to large corporations. I’m excited to reach out to local businesses and work with them to promote and support the senior center while also providing them opportunities to engage with our members and better utilize our facilities.

Donations and Membership Payments — I’ve also been working behind the scenes to make it easier to maintain your memberships and donate to our programs. While you are still welcome to write us checks or pay with cash, I have also set us up with an online platform called Zeffy.

Zeffy allows us to create online forms to collect membership dues, sell event tickets, hold online fundraisers and accept donations by credit or debit card. What makes Zeffy unique is how they collect their transaction and system fees.

Credit card transaction fees typically cost us about 3 percent of every sale. However, by using Zeffy, we pay no fees. Instead, Zeffy will ask you if you would like to make a contribution to support our use of their service. It’s based entirely on the honor system. You can choose the additional amount you’d like to contribute.

This has the potential to save us thousands of dollars a year in credit card processing fees. In addition, you can set your membership to auto-renew and Zeffy will automatically bill your method of payment when it comes due. This saves us the cost of sending reminders in the mail. To pay for your membership online, visit wvsac.link/membership.

If you have any questions about these programs, or if you know of any local businesses who would be a good fit for Livewire advertising and/or a Business Partnership, please connect them with me at (509) 433-7824 or [email protected].

~ Russ

---