Hi Everyone! We (the SWSBA) sent a letter with the below content via our SWSBA distribution list tonight. If you didn’t received it, it may be because our distribution list has also fallen victim to the madness that is 2020! We’re working hard to rebuild it. You can help us by emailing us at music@swsbandassociation.com to add your email address, or correct the information we have for you. Thanks so much, and our apologies!
To: Parents & Guardians of 2020-21 Band Students
Re: State of the SWSBA & Invitation to AGM
What a crazy ride we’ve all experienced since March! For those students who participated in the Band Program last year, it ended much sooner than we planned and now it’s not resuming in the way it has in the past. We’ve all learned to roll with the punches, and Mrs. Smith – the terrific Band and Music Specialist at SWS – has been hard at work making lemonade out of lemons! Hopefully you’ve seen her communication about the extra-curricular Band options being offered in order to continue developing our children’s band skills during the current COVID restrictions.
Even though Band is not being offered as a formal course this year, the SWSBA still needs to operate because of its bank account and other legal obligations. The work will be less involved, but the Association will still incur expenses to support the music program and the optional extra-curricular components. We are also hopeful we will be able to do some fundraising to assist with future expenses (fingers crossed!).
As such, we would like to formally invite you to attend the Annual General Meeting for the SWSBA on Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. We promise to keep it short – a necessity with a free Zoom account! The access link will be distributed to those we have email addresses for and those who request it prior to the meeting. We expect to keep a “skeleton crew” Executive through the 2020-21 year, but we NEED at least one more person to act as a signing authority to sign the occasional cheque (this could be the best volunteer position ever), and we HOPE someone will step forward to be Treasurer. If we are allowed to fundraise this year, we will also need some hands on deck to manage a couple of simple campaigns.
Sadly, since this is a scaled-back year, we will not be running the grocery gift card program. Our sincere and heartfelt thanks go out to Elaine Gidluck for administering it for – we think – the entire life of the Band Program at Samuel W. Shaw School, even after her own children had long left!! She remains our hero. If you participated in this program and still have a balance, we will contact you about your options, or you can proactively contact us.
After losing half of our Executive last year, the current Executive will be moving on within the next 1-2 years so this will be a great chance to get your feet wet in the proverbial volunteer pond. We might add there will be few other opportunities to help out at the school during COVID…
We hope to see you at the AGM!
Rebecca Gates, President (2019/2020)
Sharmaine Cameron, Vice President (2019/2020)
