From the Executive Director - Margarita Suarez
Dear Friends,
This letter may be longer than in the past. Thanks for reading it.
As we end 2005, I am aware of how many things have happened this year. I want to mention two from which I have personally learned so much:
Hurricane Katrina and its destruction and the painful lessons it brought to all of us. It made me stop in my track and ask myself “Who and where are the poor in my neighborhood? If the disaster would have happened in Burien, would I have gone around helping those without a car, the poor, and the ill? What a lesson in humility for me and what a lesson for all of us.
And second, the death of several of our friends: Mabs Mango (Oct 5), Anne Nerin (Oct 14) and Lorraine Sando (Nov 25). You can read more about them in our Members Connection. For me their deaths were the re-learning of the importance of goodbyes, of preparation for that transition. I thank them for all their gifts.
So I am saying goodbye to 2005 with thanks and sadness. And then moving to 2006 with anticipation. 2006 will bring two main events. One is the ending of my job as Executive Director of Avanta. Second is the 2006 Satir Multidisciplinary Conference and Annual Meeting as a celebration of Virginia Satir’s 90th Birthday and legacy.
One of the transition in Avanta is the termination of the Executive Director’s position and therefore of my job December 31, 2006. I am not sure of all that this means to me. However I am aware of the many blessings that this job has brought for me in the way of connections and friendships.
In a selfish way I would like to see us break the record for participation at the 2006 Satir Conference and Avanta’s Annual Meeting. I am asking all of us to do the best we can to participate in some way like:
· Come to the whole conference and Annual Meeting or as many days as you can, and register early.
· Invite and encourage others to come, to the whole conference and Annual meeting or to as many days as they can, and again register early.
· Support financially in some way that fits for you, for example:
1. Money for scholarship
2. Sponsoring part of the conference, like a breakfast, or the opening banquet, or the closing banquet, or the rental of the theater
3. Find other groups and/or corporation (businesses) who can sponsor with financial support pat of the conference (Example a meal, like a breakfast or lunch, this will increase the money we will raise with the conference.)
4. Support the Auction. You can do this by sending items for the silent auction, ask friends and businesses to donate items, and then participate in the auction.
Some one suggested that our contribution in celebration of Virginia’s 90th Birthday could have the number 90 in the donation we give. That may be $90, $190, $590, $900, or $1090. What fits for you.
In Peace and Love,
Margarita M. Suarez
Executive Director