Friends of NCRD welcomes summer with its Summer Cut Flower Sales. Last summer’s Sales, offered daily in the parking lot of the Little Apple, raised a little over $6,000 for Youth scholarships, summer programs and projects at NCRD.
Friends’ Mission is to support NCRD by promoting it and raising funds for scholarships, programs and projects. With scholarships as top priority, Friends are proud to have raised more than $15,000 in the past twelve months for Youth/Sports, Fitness and Aquatics Department scholarships. Of that amount, over $11,000 went to the Youth After-School & Summer Programs and Youth Sports. With its focus on Youth, Friends provided an additional $1,000 for Youth Center/ Sports equipment and the Aquatics “Learn to Swim” program. Special thanks and appreciation to our members, part-time and full-time, whose donations to Youth Center/Youth Sports have enriched and expanded opportunities to all North County families.
Friends of NCRD also promotes and supports the New Pool Project. Individual Friends have made significant donations to the new pool. Friends were among those who gathered and celebrated at the May 9th Groundbreaking Ceremony. Friends continue to promote the New Pool Project by participating in grant applications, to close the gap between funds available and funds needed to complete the Project.
In collaboration with the Fitness Department, Friends of NCRD sponsors “Pop Goes the Heart,” an annual February Fun Fundraiser. In 2022, $6,000 earned from the event, plus an additional $1,600 from Friends, purchased eight spin bikes for the new Spin Class program. Thanks to a generous donor, an additional four bikes were later purchased to accommodate a full class. The February 2023 “Pop Goes the Heart” brought in an amazing $9,000 for Fitness Department equipment, including new benches, exercise bars, mats, storage rack, preacher curl, hyperextension-oblique and water-rowing machines.
The Plastic Bench Project, another Friends of NCRD activity, encourages community recycling of previously non-recyclable plastic. Three attractive outdoor TREX benches, earned by Friends’ participation in the Project, have been gifted to NCRD for community use. Plastic additionally collected is about 100 lbs short of the 500 lbs required to qualify for a fourth bench.
Thank you to Friends’ dedicated volunteers for generously giving of their time to the North County community. Friends of NCRD Board members – President Linda Makohon, Vice President Barb Scott-Brier, Treasurer Carol Mills, Secretary Gail Young, Director Andrea Cortinas, Liaison to NCRD Kiley Konruff, and Flower Chair Patty Rinehart – along with Friends’ volunteers, have worked hard to make Friends’ mission a reality in 2022-2023. Congratulations to All!
Membership in Friends of NCRD is open to everyone connected to the community. Join Friends in its commitment to NCRD and North County families. Volunteer to help with fundraising activities supporting NCRD. Donations can be made online or mailed to: Friends of NCRD, PO Box 511, Nehalem, OR 97131
Friends of NCRD welcomes guests to its meetings, held the third Tuesday of the month.
For more information, check website: friendsofncrd.org or contact gyoung@friendsofncrd.org