A club…for skaters!

Dear Member,

During this weekend’s Eastern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships, an official visiting our Club for the first time shared her awe with the statement, “This is amazing! An actual club for skaters.” Not a hockey rink. Not a shared-use, town recreational center. But an actual skating club. Designed by skaters, built by skaters and operated by skaters for the use and enjoyment of skaters.

I took this as one of the best compliments we have received about our facility and our Club community. Sadly, many skating clubs are now a thing of the past. The communities that they once fostered, now splintered and spread across multiple towns or states scrounging for ice. (Granted that many of our members are looking for ice outside the Club while we have events, but in that regard, we are sharing the Club’s good fortune from this facility to better serve the entire sport.)

This compliment left me thinking once again about our Club, and the increasingly rare community we have the good fortune to share and to enjoy. And across its many years of presentation, the Club’s annual show, Ice Chips, is perhaps the best way to celebrate our community. It is the one time of year that every member, whether skating or enjoying every discipline, can come together as one and celebrate the sport, their discipline and the Club. Ice Chips is also the Club’s one annual fundraiser, and an important contributor to the Club’s financial well-being. This year, with Nathan Chen as the special guest star and so many other talented soloists and inspiring group numbers, Ice Chips 2023: Full Throttle has the opportunity to add $100,000 to the Club’s operating profit.

To best guarantee meeting this goal, it would be great if every member could step forward as a member of our very fortunate Club community and support the show. This could be in the form of volunteering. It could be in seeing if your employer offers matching gifts for donations. It could be in soliciting one program ad from your employer, your spouse’s employer or anyone else in your circle of influence. It could be in inviting extra friends or family to join you at the show.

I hope everyone will join us in supporting Ice Chips 2023: Full Throttle and participating in the best way they can. I think you will find it is one of the best weekends of the year at the Club. I hope too that you will also find it satisfying to be an active and present member of the Club community. We are a very rare and special group!

Sincerely,

Doug Zeghibe
Executive Director