Greetings and great news!

We made about $3,000 on our Raffle in December and that will help offset our expenses for the upcoming sports seasons. I'd like to have a meeting after bowling on March 12th at Brewster's Lanes to discuss the upcoming sports, our spring fundraiser, and our Bocce invitational in June.

As many of you know, we are not doing basketball skills this year, but we still have Team Basketball and will be supporting them throughout the season. In place of basketball skills, we're going to be going to Snap Fitness and use some of their exercise equipment. We will be using some circuit training equipment, along with treadmills and elliptical. The cost will be $3.00 per session per person. If you are interested in doing this, let us know as soon as you can because we are limited to 15 athletes per day; also, please let us know if there are any physical limitations or things that we should be aware of. If you are a family member, caregiver , or parent, you are invited to attend our sessions as well. Nancie Cook (524-2879), Deb Carroll (983-2719) and Marie Willis (986-6702) have been trained on the equipment. We will be having sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 3-4pm. VARC will provide transportation to Snap Fitness.

I'm sitting here while the snow is coming down, schools closing, thinking about getting ready for (athletics) Track & Field, and Bocce this year. Bowling is still going on but is winding down. I'm anticipating track to be starting in April (probably April 11th). I just finished training in our new sport, Turbo Javelin. It is a new sport and we are looking forward to having it in our track and field events this year.

Bocce season will start right after track and field in June; however, I need to know who is going to compete in bocce this year and need to know this by March 15th. I need to submit the forms to the Area Office so they can start to generate team rosters and prepare for our own invitational.

Enclosed are the 2008 Awards and Recognition applications. Please submit applications for those that you feel are deserving of this recognition. These people/businesses volunteer their time, effort and money and do not expect anything in return. This is one way in which to express our appreciation of them for their dedication and hard work. If you need more than one form, I'll gladly copy and send them to you. These applications are to be postmarked by April 1, 2008.

Here's hoping we'll have an early spring.

Deb Carroll, Agency Manager/Coach