JULY 2023 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Dear Friends,
President Eleanor Thomas
Another packed year of goodness, granting, and gathering.
We are so grateful to this community, to our allies, for the Board’s energy and commitment, to the dedicated grants committee, and to our advisory committee members who are always there for us. And a shout-out to Barb, our amazing program manager, as well as to Chris P’Simer who left the Board but will join our Advisory Committee. Cannot say enough about the momentum generated by all of you.
So what have we been up to this year?
- We co-sponsored the Queerli Mardi-Gras, which was a blast.
- The 2023 Founder’s Award was given to Kathleen Bresnan (KB), a champion of North Fork Women and who is always helping at every turn.
- Speaking of KB, she was founder of First Friday Friends (FFF) which gets ever more popular each month. We held two of these at Custer Institute Observatory and the Maritime Museum, for extra enjoyment.
- The Author’s reading at Poquatuck Hall had a packed live audience plus a large group who listened in via Zoom.
- Golf pride was a beautiful day that was sold out and incredibly fun, with thanks to our many sponsors.
- Bingo was a hoot at RGNY Vineyard, co-sponsored with our friends at Queerli.
- The screening of the Grounder’s Documentary at the North Fork Community Theatre recounted women breaking ground by creating and managing team softball in the 1970s. Our own Diana Voelker was among the panelists who described her time in the Prospect Park leagues.
- The inaugural North Fork Pride Parade, conceived by Lori Panarello and produced by the LGBT Network, moved gayly down Front Street in Greenport, with a spirited contingent of North Fork Women marching past well-wishers. NFWFWFer Leslie Weisman was a perfect representative of what a Grand Marshall should be!
- “In the Know” was started in the spring and is an informational series on health topics of interest specific to our community and presented a few times during the year with the expertise of Peconic Bay Medical Center.
- “Creative Connection” is a series that was created by artists and for artists of any ability within our community. The goal is to stimulate creativity and promote collaboration.
- “Fitness with Lori” kept attendees moving towards a healthier fitness level.
- We sat down with CAST to initiate a collaboration. We are now blasting volunteer opportunities to our members.
- And we count as a great success our collaboration with Queerli (Queer Long Island) – the younger LBGTQ+ group that is teaching us so much. We hope to offer a training on the current and evolving language and goals of our collective community.
Perhaps, the most important backdrop to all these activities is to say we continue to meet each and every grant request that comes to us. Thank you!
Next up is the annual auction, with a new date and location. It will be held on Sunday, September 3rd at the Veteran’s Beach Park in Mattituck. Raffles are now expanded to include 7 winners. Please click here for a chance to be a “Lucky 7” winner, or go to NorthForkWomen.org for all information on entry, raffles or donations.
As always, we appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you soon.
With gratitude,
Elly
Eleanor L. Thomas
President, North Fork Women