G-town Village Turns 5
/The following are excerpts from remarks made at Georgetown Village's fifth anniversary celebration by president Gail Nordheimer and executive director Lynn Golub-Rofrano. The December 8 event was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church on O Street.
Gail Nordheimer: Let’s start with a big round of applause for Tom Meyer, CEO of Clyde’s Restaurant Group, who again provided this fantastic spread. Tom is more than generous and a true friend of the Village, Georgetown, and the entire wider community. Nancy Taylor Bubes not only contributed the wine, the poinsettias, our terrific fifth anniversary gifts, and the wait staff for our party, but made sure that Tom said “yes” to our appeal for his help again. Please help me thank these two extraordinary benefactors who make it so much more fun and delicious to be a part of Georgetown Village. [For a complete list of party and raffle donors, visit the Village website.]
Board Member Nancy Roll, realtor Nancy Taylor Bubes, and president gail nordheimer.
It’s almost amazing to think the Village is five years old. So many people have played a major role in making it happen. As you know the tiny original Board encouraged many of us to become Founding Members so the Village could become a reality. Many of you remain among our most dedicated members and supporters. It’s you the members and dedicated volunteers who are the Village. Our volunteers are delivering more than 65 services to members each month, and the activities and special programs have been better than ever this year. All this takes a group of “can do” volunteers. I hope you’ll take a minute to thank the committee chairs and consider letting them know you appreciate their efforts and will join their committee this year.
Lynn Golub-Rofrano: Wow, five years old already—look how we’ve grown! When we had our launch party on December 5, 2011, we had 134 members and about 65 guests. Today, we have about 194 members. I feel pretty confident that by December 31, with your help, we will hit our goal of 200 members!
While thinking about Georgetown Village turning five years old, I began to think about where we are and where we wanted to go. Like most parents do with their children, I wondered if our development was on the scale of other organizations and whether we were reaching the appropriate stages as we grew. Thanks to the internet, I can reassure you and myself that we seem to be following the appropriate stages of development! According to the alliance guide to nonprofits, the nonprofit life stages are:
- Stage 1—Idea—Inspire and Imagine
- Stage 2—Start Up—Found and Frame
- Stage 3—Growth—Ground and Grow
- Stage 4—Maturity—Produce and Sustain
- Stage 5—Regeneration—Review and Renew
We are appropriately and firmly placed in the third stage: Growth—Ground and Grow.
New employees Rebecca Risser and Michele Parsonnet welcome guests.
Thanks to our hard-working board, Georgetown Village has hit these milestones in the past year: we have enlarged our board, adding new board members with specific skills and community contacts, and expanded our staff, hiring two wonderful part-time administrators, who, combined, provide the office with 20 hours of administrative support. We have redesigned our logo and developed new brochures as part of our strategic plan to increase membership. We have increased our service offerings and programs with the Friendly Companion in a Medical Setting and Medical Note Taking. We now have specially trained volunteers who can accompany our members to the doctor’s office and take notes on information the doctor shares with the member. This program was developed with the assistance of Iona Senior Services staff, which also helped us develop our volunteer training and the member and volunteer manuals.
party set-up at Blake hall, St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Of course it wouldn’t be an anniversary party without some statistics, so here goes. Since our launch five years ago we have performed a total of 2,287 volunteer services; of those, 1,247 were for transportation. I thank you for your support of Georgetown Village through membership, volunteering, and being here.