December 2016
View from the Oval Office
My term as President of RIFCA is almost at an end and I am sad. I arrived in River Forest three years ago a few days before the Rummage Sale and knew this is where I wanted to be. New members, new ideas. That was the basic philosophy I considered when I signed up as Vice-President. When I became President, two visions I had was to document River Forest’s 50 year history and putting in a new floor. As it turned out, the new tile floor was put in thanks to the great effort of Bill Ott and as for the history, that is work in process. What I would like to do is take all of the documents provided to me last year including post cards, road maps, brochures, pictures, and other accounts and create a place where future members can see how our membership started, grew, and changed over time. Likewise for the clubhouse, I would like to present a pictorial history of how its footprint changed over time along with major changes that have taken place.
What is in the future for me? I will continue to contribute to RIFCA and the clubhouse any way I can. I will of course support the new President and Vice-President, making suggestions to handle RIFCA and clubhouse issues. Around the clubhouse I would like to see new windows in the lanai, a fix-up of the donna rooms, revamping the design of the storage room, and a new kitchen (counters and cupboards). I know that sounds unlikely, but I am patient and expect to be in River Forest for many years.
In addition, I will continue to work to bring more River Forest residents to RIFCA. It may be difficult to bring new members in when over 25% of the River Forest homes are rentals. What we need are new ideas to appeal to owner/landlords of the benefits of RIFCA. I can see that special communications with those owners is so important to the potential growth of RIFCA and the River Forest community. We may learn a lot from those communications. We prepare a directory every year for River Forest members. The phone numbers and email addresses are a vital part of the directory. However, over 25% of the owners have not provided email addresses for the directory. Many have not provided phone numbers. We as a membership are challenged to change this situation. Next year I would like to be the street director for Ox Bow. I will do what I can to get to know the residents on that street.
To bring the community together, I bring myself back to my original mantra….new members, new ideas. At Halloween a small group of neighbors on Island Rd got together and passed out candy from a single location. It was a great idea, fun for us parents, and much easier for the children. Shortly thereafter it was suggested to me to have all River Forest members get together at the entrance, bring some food and drinks, and pass out candy as a community. I love this idea, it is really a wonderful way to bring the community together. Another idea presented to me involves the community garage sales. The suggestion was that the Saturday sale take place outside the Clubhouse where residents set up their own garage sale. It is an interesting idea with some logistical challenges, but I am intrigued.
RIFCA’s future is so bright and I look forward to many more years of fun working with our members.
Bruce Squillante
What is in the future for me? I will continue to contribute to RIFCA and the clubhouse any way I can. I will of course support the new President and Vice-President, making suggestions to handle RIFCA and clubhouse issues. Around the clubhouse I would like to see new windows in the lanai, a fix-up of the donna rooms, revamping the design of the storage room, and a new kitchen (counters and cupboards). I know that sounds unlikely, but I am patient and expect to be in River Forest for many years.
In addition, I will continue to work to bring more River Forest residents to RIFCA. It may be difficult to bring new members in when over 25% of the River Forest homes are rentals. What we need are new ideas to appeal to owner/landlords of the benefits of RIFCA. I can see that special communications with those owners is so important to the potential growth of RIFCA and the River Forest community. We may learn a lot from those communications. We prepare a directory every year for River Forest members. The phone numbers and email addresses are a vital part of the directory. However, over 25% of the owners have not provided email addresses for the directory. Many have not provided phone numbers. We as a membership are challenged to change this situation. Next year I would like to be the street director for Ox Bow. I will do what I can to get to know the residents on that street.
To bring the community together, I bring myself back to my original mantra….new members, new ideas. At Halloween a small group of neighbors on Island Rd got together and passed out candy from a single location. It was a great idea, fun for us parents, and much easier for the children. Shortly thereafter it was suggested to me to have all River Forest members get together at the entrance, bring some food and drinks, and pass out candy as a community. I love this idea, it is really a wonderful way to bring the community together. Another idea presented to me involves the community garage sales. The suggestion was that the Saturday sale take place outside the Clubhouse where residents set up their own garage sale. It is an interesting idea with some logistical challenges, but I am intrigued.
RIFCA’s future is so bright and I look forward to many more years of fun working with our members.
Bruce Squillante
A Letter to Santa from Mom
Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground and figured out how to attach nine patches onto my daughter's girl scout sash with staples and a glue gun.
I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.
Here are my Christmas wishes:
I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache after a day of chasing kids (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't flap in the breeze but are strong enough to carry a screaming toddler out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like a car with fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
On the practical side, I could use a talking daughter doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with one potty-trained toddler, two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, "Don't eat in the living room" and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. And please don't forget the Playdoh Travel Pack, the hottest stocking stuffer this year for mothers of preschoolers. It comes in three fluorescent colors and is guaranteed to crumble on any carpet making the in-laws' house seem just like mine. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family; or if my toddler didn't look so cute sneaking downstairs to eat contraband ice cream in his pajamas at midnight.
Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the chimney and come in and dry off by the fire so you don't catch a cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always...Mom.
P.S. - One more thing... you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground and figured out how to attach nine patches onto my daughter's girl scout sash with staples and a glue gun.
I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.
Here are my Christmas wishes:
I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache after a day of chasing kids (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't flap in the breeze but are strong enough to carry a screaming toddler out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like a car with fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
On the practical side, I could use a talking daughter doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with one potty-trained toddler, two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, "Don't eat in the living room" and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. And please don't forget the Playdoh Travel Pack, the hottest stocking stuffer this year for mothers of preschoolers. It comes in three fluorescent colors and is guaranteed to crumble on any carpet making the in-laws' house seem just like mine. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family; or if my toddler didn't look so cute sneaking downstairs to eat contraband ice cream in his pajamas at midnight.
Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the chimney and come in and dry off by the fire so you don't catch a cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always...Mom.
P.S. - One more thing... you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.
RIFCA 2017 Board
The following persons are tentatively running for positions on the RIFCA Board for 2017. We need your help in filling the vacant positions and would appreciate your input if yu or someone you know would be interested in being on the RIFCA Board. If you would like to run for any of the current positions or know of anybody that would be interested in running for any of the current positions, please let us know. It would be nice to have more than one candidate for any position. You can call Bruce Squillante at 616-460-1614, Bill Ott at 573-860-2225, Bob Croson at 690-0770, or any board memeber.
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The current salte is:
President Open Vice President Bob Wilgosz Treasurer Bob Croson Secretary Robin Evans |
Street Directors:
Island Road Jan Croson Island Road Backup Lynn Hill The Island Julie Squillante The Island Backup Otto Bazak Oxbow Bruce Squillante Oxbow Backup Julie Borden Sleepy Hollow Gail Beals Sleepy Hollow Backup Shirley Bland Lazy Lane/RF Peninsula Babe Bez Lazy Lane/RF Backup Dee Whelan |
RIFCA Rummage Sale
The team did it again. We hit a record in sales this year even we thought we couldn't come close to last year. We had fantastic merchandise and as usual. After the Snowbirds Dinner everyone pitched and cleaned the clubhouse and set tables and boxes. It was like a well-oiled machine - all the gears worked in harmony and the job got done. Art and Syndee graciously let us use their trailer to house and sell furniture out of the back. The donations were outstanding in quality thanks to Lynn Hill from June Miller, Pam Meeks, and a few others. To date the total sales is $8,326.50. There are too many names to list everyone but you can see at the dinner all the help to make this happen. Give yourself a big hand for all the work you contributed to help keep the clubhouse active. Teamwork and pride - that's all it takes. See you next year. ~ Gail and Jan
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Butch and Bob handled the Cafe all day Friday and Saturday selling 153 hot dogs. They continued to fix our celebratory dinner with pasta salad, garlic parmesan bread and wine and the Zita was donated from River Forest Peninsula and Lazy Lane.
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The clothing is always so organized and attractively displayed. A great line of clothing helped contribute. More men shopped than normal.
Everything sparkles. All the merchandise is so well displayed, checked for working order, and our donations to the community for bakery all contributed to the success of our sales.
Everything sparkles. All the merchandise is so well displayed, checked for working order, and our donations to the community for bakery all contributed to the success of our sales.
Monitoring Your Portfolio
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You probably already know you need to monitor your portfolio and update it periodically. Even if you've chosen an asset allocation, market forces may quickly begin to tweak it. For example, if stock prices go up, you may eventually find yourself with a greater percentage of stocks in your portfolio than you want. If stock prices go down,...
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February Tripleshot Band, February 4
Tripleshot Band will be back by popular demand. They performed for us for last party and were so well received we wanted them back again. Bill Wiemer (from River Forest) will be on bass and vocals, Mike Schankman on drums and vocals, and Bil Caloyer on keys. Tripleshot focuses on harmonies, excellent musicianship and songs everyone know. You will be both enteratined and compelled to dance. The style of music include rock, blues, country, disco, dance and oldies. You don't want to miss coming to hear them perform. Be sure to get your reservations in early. February dinner - watch the board at the rock for further information.
Tripleshot Band will be back by popular demand. They performed for us for last party and were so well received we wanted them back again. Bill Wiemer (from River Forest) will be on bass and vocals, Mike Schankman on drums and vocals, and Bil Caloyer on keys. Tripleshot focuses on harmonies, excellent musicianship and songs everyone know. You will be both enteratined and compelled to dance. The style of music include rock, blues, country, disco, dance and oldies. You don't want to miss coming to hear them perform. Be sure to get your reservations in early. February dinner - watch the board at the rock for further information.
February Community Garage Sale, February 11
More information will follow in January issue.
More information will follow in January issue.
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