FICRA Flash - December 2019

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Fox Island Upcoming Events:

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 [email protected]

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!

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 [email protected] .

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. 

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

Fox Island Emergency Preparedness

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 [email protected]

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!

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 [email protected] 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!!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected] .

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, [email protected].

Monthly Adult Game Night @ NCC

No Team Trivia for December.

Island Yoga & Exercise Schedule:  (classes are on a donation basis)

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.

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  [email protected] 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.