FICRA Flash - December 2019
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Fox Island Upcoming Events:
- Dec 1 - Tree Lighting & Concert
- Dec 7 - Santa at the Museum
- Dec 11-21 Museum Silent Auction
- Dec 12 - Sand & Soil Meeting
- Dec 14 - Yuletide on Echo Bay
- Jan 25 - Roaring into the 20s!
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FICRA welcomes Fox Islanders of all ages to the annual Christmas tree lighting and community concert! This popular free FICRA event will be held at the Nichols Community Center on Sunday, December 1st starting at 5:30pm. There will be a bonfire, caroling and a visit from Santa! We will light the tree at 6:05 and Santa will arrive at 6:15. Parents will have the opportunity to snap pictures of their child with Santa. Fox Island’s own Wickline Family and Friends will once again perform a concert of Christmas favorites starting at 7:00pm. Make sure to dress warmly for indoor/outdoor activities.
To make this all happen, we need several volunteers to help with setting up chairs, clean-up, serving hot chocolate and cider, etc. Every year we are blessed with wonderful neighbors who volunteer to help make this event special. If you can help, please contact FICRA President, Miguel Martinez at
Miguel@mtzfinancial.com
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Santa Arrives by Fire Truck!
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Santa will be arriving for the FICRA Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration by fire engine at 6:15pm courtesy of the volunteers at Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One. Make sure to be there in time to see Santa make his grand appearance!
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Helping Neighbors at Christmas
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Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One is participating in the Gig Harbor/FISH Food & Toy Drive to help children who need help to have a Merry Christmas. Please bring food, unwrapped gifts and/or cash donations for the Food & Toy Drive to our
Christmas Tree Lighting event on December 1st
to help your neighbors. Nonperishable food, and new or excellent condition used games, books, clothes, and toys are needed for all ages.
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Christmas Concert
Join us for our annual Community Christmas Concert with the Wickline Family & Friends on Sunday, Dec 1 at the Nichols Community Center. After getting your photos with Santa, settle in for some lovely Christmas music. You might even be invited to sing along!
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2020 Party with a Purpose
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Mark your calendars for our annual FICRA Building Trust “Party with a Purpose!” The 20s are back and we’re celebrating! Get ready to dance the Charleston, bid on awesome auction items and raise some money for our wonderful Nichols Community Center! This fun event helps fund the maintenance of our 85-year-old Fox Island School House, now known as the Nichols Community Center. The primary projects we are hoping to fund from this event are restoration of the windows in the building.
Invitations will go out in US mail in late December and you will be able to register online or by sending in a check. Stay tuned for details.
Please plan to join us!
** If you have new items or services to donate to the auction, please email us at
ficranews@gmail.com
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Citizens' Patrol Tip of the Month
The holiday season is upon us! Citizens’ Patrol wishes everyone a safe season. It is also the time of year of possibly bad weather. We should all remember what we experienced by the February snowstorm. It probably is a good time to fill up propane tanks, as well as, having extra emergency/food supplies in your home.
If you plan on being away during the holidays, please capitalize on our home check service. Please go to FICRA.org and follow the instructions for signing up. You need to do it 72 hours before leaving. Otherwise, make sure a family member or friend can check on your home.
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Anytime, but especially in the wintertime, it is important to walk your dogs, kids or just yourself on the side of the road FACING oncoming traffic. This is called the Country Road Rule and for many of us, raised in a farm atmosphere (where roads have no curbs), this rule was taught early in life and quickly became a habit.
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The idea is to give yourself some notice to allow for evasive action, if and when some unplanned situation happens, like a car or truck drifting onto the road shoulder. Remember that ground fog and rainy, dirty windshields also contribute to driver difficulties seeing Island walkers.
After a fatal incident, about twenty years ago, a lawyer in Portland asked a consulting Engineer “how much time would someone walking on the shoulder have to get out of harm’s way if they were facing traffic and a vehicle drifted slightly off the roadway”? That question could be answered by the Engineer after a few calculations. Then the lawyer asked “how much time would they have if they were walking with traffic? No time was necessary answer that question! Let’s keep our Fox Island walking crowd safe and sound by using the Country Road Rule.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on our hotline, (253 549-7744).
Your Citizens’ Patrol Members
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Fox Island Emergency Preparedness
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Do you know what to do? This hands-on free class will be offered by your Emergency Preparedness team, and the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management on Saturday, February 8th from 10am to noon at the Fox Island Alliance Church (655 6th Avenue).
Click here to register
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Do you have an Emergency Plan?
If not, why not? If so, how recently have you reviewed it?
The Emergency Prep group is looking for Block Coordinators! You can check the map of the island showing the BC coverage at:
tinyurl.com/FI-BC-Map
If your house isn't covered and you are interested in helping your family and neighbors, please e-mail us at
FIBlockCoord@gmail.com
If your house is covered by a BC, please consider being an alternate BC, sharing responsibility and making our coverage more robust. A rough poll of residents shows that at any time, 1/3 of the residents are off island, and the more BC's the better! If you wish, get in touch with your block coordinator, or email us at the above address.
Have a safe Holiday Season!
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Fox Island Amateur Radio Club (FIARC)
The Fox Island Amateur Radio Club (FIARC) is a committee of the FICRA Building Trust. In addition to the fellowship and learning opportunities the Club provides, the FIARC ham members will be the main communications for our Emergency Preparedness (EP) Team's response if and when a major emergency occurs. The membership is growing and the EP Team is acquiring more equipment to maximize coverage on Fox Island.
You too can belong to FIARC! It is open to anyone interested in learning about radio communication. Amateur Radio is a radio hobby that has been around since Marconi. Besides being a fun way to talk to other radio operators around the world, Ham Radio operators are relied upon during emergencies to provide much needed communication when all else fails. The next Amateur Radio Technician and General level classes are scheduled for March 14 and 15. These are two 8 hour classes with the exams given at the end of the second day. If interested please send an email to
info@ficra.org and we will get back to you.
The Fox Island Amateur Radio Club (FIARC) holds their meetings normally on the 4th Saturday of each month at the Nichols Community Center. The meetings begin with a social gathering with coffee and treats and a chance to get to know one another at 9:30 am. The business meeting starts at 10 am which we try to limit to an hour. Due to the holidays and other events there will not be a meeting in December. The next meeting will be on January 11th at 9 am. Come early at 8:30 for coffee and chat. See you there!!
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Dave McHugh and Ray Kittelberger have secured a supply of forms from the Pierce County Department of Human Services that covers the various services they provide for senior care. Examples include adult care, disability related services, legal assistance, Medicare and Medicaid, housing repairs. Once racks are available, the materials will be displayed at the Nichols Community Center and the Fox Island Museum. We will keep you posted.
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Holiday Shopping Reminder!
AmazonSmile
is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on
AmazonSmile
, the
AmazonSmile
Foundation donates 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Please use
smile.amazon.com
for your Amazon shopping and designate your support for FICRA Building Trust. Thank you!
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Party Planners
We are still seeking some fun-loving people to help organize the annual FICRA Trust "Party with a Purpose" that will be held in January. Please reply to this email if you can help out.
** Auction Donations **
Seeking some awesome items and experiences (boat rides, theater tickets, etc) for the Party with a Purpose silent and live auctions. An independent review of last year's event recommended that we reduce the number of items so, we will need to be a little more selective this year. We are seeking unique, quality new (or very gently used) items. If you would like to help but don't have anything to donate, the committee would gladly accept cash donations to purchase auction items. Please reply to this email to help.
Publicity
We are still seeking a volunteer to step up to take over FICRA publicity. This includes creating this newsletter monthly. Other tasks include updating the FICRA Facebook page with information on events and the Instagram account with photos, creating flyers and posters for the FICRA window at the store and creating and posting the bridge signs. If you are interested in all or part of these tasks, please reply to this email.
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What's Happening at the Chapel?
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Tickets are now on Sale!
Our annual Christmas concert fundraiser will be Saturday, December 14th with Puget Sounds Wind Quintet. Visit
BrownPaperTickets to reserve your spot for this wonderful event!
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What's Happening at the Museum?
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Santa at the Museum
December 7th
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Stop by to spend some quality time with Santa on Saturday, December 7th from 1:00 to 4:00pm. There will also be fun projects for the children! Free and open to the public.
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Silent Auction
Our annual Silent Auction will be held from Wednesday, December 11 through Saturday, December 21st. You can stop by during museum hours, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00 to view and bid on silent aution items. If you have something to donate to the auction, please send us a message to
FIHSmuseum@gmail.com.
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Click on the Calendar icon (left) to view the all-island event calendar. If you have a Fox Island event that you would like to include, send email to
ficranews@gmail.com
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Men's Coffee @ NCC
Men's Coffee is every Wednesday morning from 9:00 to 11:00am. Bring your friends and meet new ones. Get and share expert opinions on all sorts of topics and stay for the camaraderie.
Nature Center Work Parties
You're invited to help keep our Nature Center in shape. Work parties are held once a month on the 3rd Saturday at 9:00am.
Guitar Clinic
Tuesdays at 10:00am at the Nichols Community Center. Free!
Quilters
The Fox Island Quilters
will meet on Thursday December 5th at the Nichols Center 10-2. Bring a sack lunch and plan to finish some of those holiday gifts. We start the new year off with our get together on January 2nd and 16th. Have a wonderful holiday season and keep on stitching!!
Contact: Sue Lester, 253-549-4428,
suelester61@hotmail.com.
Monthly Adult Game Night @ NCC
No Team Trivia for December.
Island Yoga & Exercise Schedule:
(classes are on a donation basis)
- Monday at the NCC at 9:30 with Sara
- Wednesday at the UCC at 9:30 with Katie
- Friday at the NCC at 9:30 with Sara
Sand & Soil Garden Club Meetings
Meetings held the 2nd Thursday of the month at 11:00am at the Chapel followed by potluck luncheon.
Fox Island Art Group
Wednesdays at 10:00 at the NCC
FICRA & FICRA Trust Board Meetings
Second Thursday of the month at 7:00pm at the NCC.
Fox Island Historical Society Museum Board Meetings
Normally the last Monday of the month at 7:00pm at the museum.
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Our annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Community Concert is coming up on December 1st. This
free event and others are made possible by the dues paid by members of FICRA. If you haven’t had a chance to renew your membership or if you wish to join FICRA you may do so via the online membership form at
ficra.org/dues.htm and pay with a credit card. Forms and envelopes are also available at the Fox Island Store along with a drop box. FICRA Membership dues support the many FICRA activities that happen throughout the year. Join/renew and become part of our Island community! If you are unsure if your membership dues have been paid, drop us an email at
info@ficra.org and we will look it up and let you know.
FICRA and the FICRA Building Trust are always looking for volunteers to assist with our various programs. Come join us in making Fox Island the wonderful place that it is. Please also consider a tax deductible donation to FICRA Building Trust and/or the Citizen Patrol Program along with your FICRA Dues payment.
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Helpful Numbers
- Animal Control: 253-798-7387
- Dead Animals: 253-798-6000
- Injured Animal-West Sound Wildlife: 206-855-9057
- Road signs: 253-798-6000
- Road crews (potholes, etc.): 253-798-6000
- Down trees on county roads: 253-798-6000
- Code Enforcement: 253-798-3737
- Health Department: 253-798-6500
- Traffic Control: 253-798-4940
- Fire Department Non-Emergency & Burn Permits: 253-851-3111
- Pierce County Sheriff’: 253-798-4721
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