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Letter from The 2008 Board of Directors
Dear Fellow Alumnus,
Thank you for continuing to belong to and support this
very worthwhile and productive organization! Through
your contributions and involvement, we were again able to
award $6,000 in Scholarships. Click 2008 Scholarship Winners to see this
year's award winners!
There have been many new developments this past year
and the continuance of other projects from the board that
have really led to revolutionizing our organization.
The Eden Athletics Hall of Fame is a great success story.
Through a sub-committee under the Alumni umbrella, the
Hall of Fame was resurrected and at last year's dinner, there
were 7 individual athletes inducted along with the 1958
cross country team. The athletes and their family and friends
accounted for approximately 100 additional guests attending
the dinner. Not only was their presence important, but their
generosity to the Scholarship and Memorial Funds had a
large impact. To see the full story about the Hall of Fame, click here Eden Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame.
Our Class Agent program has really taken off and is
producing results beyond our expectations. The agents were
largely responsible for organizing anniversary class reunions
which resulted in 95 attending the Saturday dinner. The 50
year reunion group added another 67 for the dinner. Click Class Agents to find a complete list of class agents and a list of
years that are missing class agents. Please find your class year
and get in touch with your agent. These people are key to
organizing reunions for your class year! If your class doesn't
already have an agent and you have time, please contact us.
In 2010, due to repeated requests from our members, we
are moving Alumni Weekend to the week before the Corn
Festival. This will give out-of-towners the chance to do
more with their vacation and a good reason to come home!
Our website, www.edenalumni.org is outstanding! Take a few minutes and go through the pages. It is always changing and being updated, so check it out from time to time. You will be able to use
the site to see upcoming events, membership information
and current news. Log on to see what's there for you!
Our new accounting system is installed and in use. It is
much more sophisticated and detailed than what we have
been using in the past.
Through our web site you are now able to pay dues, donate to the Alumni Scholarship Fund, The Memorial Fund, the Endowment Fund, pay for Alumni Weekend events or buy memorabilia. Click on Alumni Store to browse through the pages and see what is available.
For information on how to join our organization, Click on Membership and you will be able to find out when your dues are due, pay dues or purchase a new membership .
This years Friday Night Party was very successful and very
enjoyable. Next year it will be even better as we move our
event back to the Eden Legion Barn - Details to follow in the Alumni Spring Newsletter.
The Saturday night dinner was a huge success. Where we
normally have around 200 in attendance, this year we had
345. This is due, in large part to the Hall of Fame inductions
and class reunions organized through the joint efforts of the
Class Agents and their classmates.
Even though Saturday night was successful, we did
recognize some problems. The first was the long line
waiting to get in the door to register. Once registered and in
the hall, most of the people wanted something from the bar.
Unfortunately there was only one bartender so we had
another long line. If you gave up on the bartender and went
to your table there weren't any water pitchers set out.
We certainly are aware of the problems. Even though
there was little that could be done to alleviate them at that
moment, we have spent a lot of time and thought in an
effort to make sure they are corrected for next year!
From all of us on the Eden Alumni's Board of Directors
Thank You for your Continued Support!
We look forward to hearing from you and
seeing you at any of our events!
Letter from Past President, 10/2007
Dear fellow Alumnus,
This is my first report to the members and friends of
the Eden Alumni Association. Let me begin by telling you
that in 2007 we awarded $1500 scholarships to four very worthy graduates of
our alma mater. We also contributed toward the replacement of
commemorative banners that hang in the
high school gymnasium and we made
arrangements to repair several of the
granite benches that were damaged last winter.
In July, we sponsored the annual alumni reunion
weekend which featured an informal party at the VFW on
Friday night, a more formal recognition dinner at Duffy
Hall on Saturday and a special breakfast gathering at Don
Stuhr's Four Corners Cafe on Sunday. Attendance at all
these events exceeded our expectations. We are very
grateful for the support.
The roster of association officers has changed a bit since
last year. I succeeded Debbie (Sherman) Sargent (1956) as
your President. Leann (Rockwood) Guzzetta (1976)
became Vice President and Assistant Treasurer and Jeanne
(Johnson) Thompson (1967) has taken on the task of
Recording Secretary.
Thanks to long-time board member Gary Eye (1965) our
application to the Internal Revenue Service for the very
vital #501(c)3 designation has been filed. We expect to
receive a positive determination in the near future which
will mean that all your contributions to our scholarship and
endowment funds will be fully deductible on your state
and federal income tax returns.
Our finance committee has made arrangements to place
our checking account, a money market account and a
certificate of deposit under the roof of one bank. This
makes it much easier to transfer funds into the checking
account as the need arises and it means that we can easily
keep virtually all of our funds in an interest-bearing
instrument at all times.
Last summer Ed Martin (1957) stepped forward and
volunteered to establish and maintain a class agent program
for our association. Ed is in the process of identifying an
agent for every class. These people will help arrange class
reunions in coordination with our association. They will also
help with fundraising for our scholarship and endowment
funds and with recruiting new members. This is an extremely
important project and we are very fortunate to have Ed
working on it. We are very confident that the class agent
program will help our association grow in size and strength
so that we can continue, and hopefully expand, our
scholarship program.
We appreciate your generous support for our scholarship
program and for our social activities. Our annual Christmas
party on December 11th was a blast. Join us next year!
We'll see you at our 2008 Reunion Weekend in July.
It's easy to contact me.
My e-mail address is mguill1224@aol.com
My telephone number is 716-839-5570
Thank you,
Hugh T. Guillaume, 1959
Ex-Officio 2007-2008
Letter from Past President, 10/2007 
Dear Fellow Alumnus,
I feel that the Alumni Association has come a long way in the past 25 years.
When the Association was started, there were only a handful of dedicated people.
We have grown to where we are, closing in on 900 members in our database.
Our brick wall and benches are becoming very popular. All
money received from the sale of the bricks, blocks and benches; above cost is placed in the
Eden Alumni endowment fund. The interest from this will
provide scholarships for Eden students long after we've gone.
The real bottom line is getting more scholarships to more
students.
I have worked hard with the people that make up our
Board of Directors. They are a motivated, ambitious and
talented group of people. We plan the events, we work the
events, and enjoy our work.
Always looking to our members for help in getting things
done. Our members are the Eden Alumni Association.
Respectfully,
Debra (Sherman) Sargent, 1956
Ex-Officio 2006-2007
Letter from Past President, 1993
I must thank the officers and committee of the Eden Alumni Association for their help in making my first year as President run so smoothly. We had a very successful weekend... Good food... good friends... and Good Cheer!
We have another great weekend planned for next year when we will be honoring the Class of '44. The banquet will be at the Eden Legion Hall on June 18th with dancing to the oldies. On Sunday June 19th, we'll have Brunch at The Dock At The Bay (the old Bayview Hotel) in their beautiful new banquet room overlooking Lake Erie. I hope you will join us!!
Thanks to all of you who so generously donated to the scholarship fund, so we may continue to honor those deserving students.
We are always looking for new ideas for the alumni weekend and fund raising. This year we introduced the "eden Forever" tee shirt which is selling quite well. If you would like to share your ideas with us, please attend a meeting. The committee meets several times a year in the Elementary School Library. Just call one of the committee members for the date and time. See you all next year!
Peggy (Sherman) Frantz, 1952
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