August 30, 2005

Good news! The incorporation of our not-for-profit organization (SLSA) under the Societies Act is complete. Next week an application will be submitted requesting charitable status so that income tax receipts can be issued for all donations to our group. Processing the application takes from 4 to 9 months so we can expect to hear if the application has been approved between January 1, 2006 and June 1, 2006.

The Harnaha Beach Fundraiser was a huge success. Harnaha Beach may be relatively small (50 cottages) but they are very big in community spirit. That spirit was very evident on Saturday, August 20th when Vern Kalnychuk, Jim Romaniuk, Leon Romaniuk and John Archer took the lead and, with a lot of help from the Harnaha group, sponsored a "beef on a bun" fundraiser. The event was enjoyable, well organized and hugely successful. 150 people were in attendance and $3,000 was raised for the Skeleton Lake Stewardship Association. On behalf of all SLSA members we want to thank everyone who supported this event with their hard work and generous donations. Well done!

The www.skeletonlake.com website has received 10,000 hits since it was launched a month ago. This interest is extremely rewarding. Thank you for the comments and positive feedback. 20 new members have joined via the website and more volunteers are putting their names forward every week.

The SLSA Lake Representatives will be meeting at the lake on September 3, 2005. One of the issues to be addressed is the forming of "fan-out phoning committees". This plan will enable SLSA volunteers to personally contact members as more than half of our 900+ members do not have e-mail and postage is too costly to reach everyone by regular mail.

SLSA is pleased that volunteers have enabled us to strengthen skills and numbers on the Technical, Government Relations, Communications and the Membership-Fundraising Committees. We are now looking for a member or members that have past or present experience in Meteorology! Please reply to info@skeletonlake.com if you fit this category.

Keep checking the website for updates, send your donation to Box 156, 9768 - 170 Street, Edmonton, AB. T5T 5L4 and look for another SLSA Newsletter on September 15, 2005.

Enjoy the long weekend,

Your SLSA Board