Happy New Year 2013 – Parent Talk’s 20th Anniversary year!

2012 has been a wonderful first year working with all the member volunteers who make Parent Talk tick.  I just want to thank everyone who works so hard to make all the events and lectures, playspace,  play groups and, of course, the sale a success.

Most recently, Frosty’s Festival was fun again this year and I just wanted to thank Jennifer Emmett for chairing the event.  Jennifer and her family joined Parent Talk in August, and she wanted to take on a project.  She did a great job of it, too, along with her friend, Me Lisa German.  In addition to the classic activities, with marshmallow snowmen, cookie decoration and beaded ornaments, the playhouse were transformed into a gingerbread house and holiday music was playing softly in both rooms. 

There was a change in leadership of the Used Clothing, Toy and Equipment Sale in 2012. Seema Meloni and Beth McCarthy, who have led the sales for four sales over two years turned over leadership for the fall sale. Seema had worked the sale since 2007 and Beth since 2008.  For 2012, they decided to leave that lead roll to others, and I would love to say a big thank-you to Susan Orr, Joanna Noon and Nikki Amara Myers for taking that roll on.  With lots of preparation and help from Seema and Beth, Joanne, Susan and Nikki and their committee continued the tradition of bringing in more money with each successive year’s sale.  Congratulations! I’m looking forward to the Spring Sale.

Thanks to everyone who filled out the 2012-2013 membership survey!  We have a great deal of information from it so that we can make Parent Talk even better in the year to come. My next post will have more information about some of your ideas.  Did you give your contact information so that you could win a year’s membership to Parent Talk? The lucky winner is Aarti Sawant-Basak. Aarti is a relatively new member of Parent Talk, having joined in November. Congratulations, Aarti!

For the coming year, we are planning on celebrating our 20^th anniversary all year long, so keep your eye on this space for special discounts and happenings in the coming year. As part of our celebration, Parent Talk is putting together an Anniversary Cookbook. We are collecting recipes through January 31^st and the book will be on sale at events and on the website. Please see the website for more on how to get involved in this fun project.  Upcoming events include the I love Mondays Lecture on January 22^nd and the Summer Camp Fair on January 31^st, with a snow date of February 7^th.

Hope to see you around Parent Talk!

Mary Celeste Brown