Thank You’s, New Faces, and Exciting News

Have you taken a walk along the Pathway to Community beside the MERF House, or gathered for food and fellowship at our senior lunch? Maybe your children or grandchildren have discovered their creative sides through art classes at Moon Lake or Valley Head. The fact that you are reading The Groundhog now shows that you enjoy connecting with your neighbors and keeping up with community news through this newspaper.

All these activities and more express MERF’s mission of “supporting lifelong learning.” The impact of this local non-profit organization has been well documented through the years in the pages of The Groundhog. This month’s issue features the culmination of many weeks of hard work on behalf of MERF’s volunteer board, our partners and sponsors, and members of the community in general.

To begin with, it is with great excitement that we welcome Alyce Kenney as our new executive director. As you’ll read in the article introducing Alyce, she has a passion for community that will serve MERF well as we strengthen existing programs and expand our impact.

A warm “thank you” goes out to Anna Mae Horn as she leaves that position. Anna Mae has made tremendous contributions to MERF and the Mentone/Valley Head area. We cannot thank her enough, and we wish her all the best as she retires from MERF to focus on other things.

We likewise wish Paula Easter well in her next chapter of life, and thank her for her terrific 22-year stretch as MERF’s art and music teacher, first at Moon Lake School and then at Valley Head School. She helped MERF fill a significant gap in rural education in our community. Through art and music, Paula provided a much needed opportunity for curiosity, creativity, problem solving, whimsy, and stress relief to countless students across two decades. We admire and applaud her commitment and dedication to a community that would have otherwise gone without. The long-term impact of her classes will be felt for quite some time. Art is an important part of a well-rounded education, and Paula will always be an important part of our community. We wish her well.

Valley Head students were greeted with a new face this year as Caroline Moore stepped into the art teacher role. Her passion for working with children and for creative expression intersect perfectly in this new role, and we are so thankful she was ready and willing to join our efforts.

You will also read in this edition about MERF’s work to create a stronger visual identity. And if you have ever wished for an easier way to read and share Groundhog articles online, we are excited to share the new website with you at www.readthegroundhog.com.

What’s ahead for MERF? We will start work soon on a new website for MERF, making it easier to learn more about the organization, our activities, and the outstanding sponsors who support our important work. And we have new features planned for The Groundhog that will continue to forge deep connections throughout the communities we serve.

Visit the MERF and Groundhog websites. Connect with both on Facebook. Subscribe to have the printed edition of the newspaper delivered to your home or business. Stay connected as your non-profit organization and its many volunteers work together to ”enrich the living and learning,” according to our mission, across the greater Mentone area.