Director's Message - February 2026

Graybeal Signs installers replacing our street sign with the new Foothills Community Center version.

Dear Friends,

​It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the heart of winter with barely a snowflake in sight. While the days may be short and chilly, our center continues to be full of warmth, activity, and connection. Whether you’re stopping by for programs, volunteering, or simply visiting with friends, it’s a joy to see how alive our community stays — even during the quiet winter months.

​As we reflect on the past year, I want to share my deep gratitude for the generosity shown throughout 2025. Every donation — large or small — has made a meaningful difference in supporting our non-profit senior center. Your contributions help sustain our programs, maintain our facility, and ensure we remain a welcoming place for all 2,000 of our members. We truly could not do this work without you.

You may have noticed some exciting changes happening outside our building. Our new name and updated signage are officially up, and it’s wonderful to see this new chapter taking shape so visibly. Inside the office, however, there’s still plenty of work underway. Updating forms, business cards, vendor records, and internal systems take time, and I appreciate your patience as we continue to work through these details to ensure everything comes together smoothly.

As a fun note, when the old sign was removed from the front of the Center, we uncovered an original, hand-painted sign from the Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center. The artwork featured various types of fruit, each painted with images of Saddlerock, Lincoln Rock, and Turtle Rock within the fruit itself. Because the sign was painted directly onto the face of the building, it could not be removed. Our hope is that during a future phase of building remodeling, a way can be found to remove the sign intact and preserve it somewhere inside the Center. For now, it is still safely tucked away behind the new signage. What a wonderful and unexpected discovery!

One event we are especially looking forward to this spring is our Gala on March 14, A New Era in Bloom. This evening is designed not only to provide entertainment and a chance for the community to come together for a fun and an elegant social event, but also to celebrate and usher in a new era of growth and progress for our Center, as the name suggests. The Gala also plays an important role in supporting our Building Expansion Project, with all proceeds going directly toward that fund. Guests will enjoy a silent auction, entertainment by a lively dueling pianos duo traveling in from Seattle, and a beautifully prepared four-course meal by a professional chef. We are incredibly grateful to Wenatchee Memory Care and Springwater Insurance for their generous sponsorships. At this time, five sponsorship tables are still available, while general admission tickets are nearly sold out. If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring, now is the perfect time to reach out. 

Building Expansion Project Update -- We have easily surpassed the original $400,000 benchmark set when we first began this venture. Many of you have recently asked what reaching that goal means and what comes next, making this a perfect time for an update. Our initial fundraising target was based on early estimates of what would be needed to qualify for federal and state funding. As we approached that goal and began applying for grants, it became clear that demonstrating additional local investment — more “skin in the game” — was essential for the project to be taken seriously. Reaching that first milestone was incredibly important, as it directly reflected our members’ willingness to support a project of this scale. We are now expanding our outreach to the broader community, including local businesses and the private sector, with a new goal of $1,000,000. Reaching this level will position us strongly to reapply for government grants. As this message goes to print, we will have just submitted a new grant request seeking matching funds to build upon our already generous coffers. If awarded, this grant would bring us to the amount needed to complete Phase One. We stay relentless in our commitment to seeing this project through to completion.

We’re also delighted to share some exciting staffing news. Nancy Barrett will be joining our team in early February. Many of you may know Nancy from her business, Class with a Glass, which she is stepping away from. Nancy will assist with office support, help cover reception when Barbara is out, organize and clean up computer files, and work alongside Lydia on travel planning and larger events such as the fall Gift Fair. We’re thrilled to welcome her skills, experience, and friendly presence to our team.

I’d also like to let you know that I will be out of the office for about a week and a half in mid-February to recharge and catch up in my personal life. During my absence, Lydia, Barbara, and Nancy will all be available to assist you and keep things running smoothly. I’m grateful to have such a capable and dedicated team supporting our members.

Finally, please remember that the Community Center will be closed on February 16 in observance of Presidents Day. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to welcoming everyone back when we reopen that following Tuesday.
Thank you, as always, for being such an important part of our community.

Your participation, generosity, and spirit make this center what it is, and I am truly grateful to serve alongside you. Stay warm, enjoy the winter season, and I’ll see you around the center soon. 

~ Lisa