By Marty Helly
The customary president’s message for this time of year is to wish folks a Happy Holidays, encourage attendance at the chapter Christmas party, and look forward to a prosperous New Year. All that is difficult to do this year. For many, myself included, our normal holiday gatherings and traditions are impractical or even impossible to engage in. As a chapter board we made the decision that cancelling our chapter event was in the best interest of the health and safety of our membership. As to the New Year, many are just looking to recover from a financially trying 2020 and the immediate future holds predictions of further emergency declarations and restrictions on activity.
Despite all that, I sincerely wish you the best in this season. I hope you find ways to make as many of your normal joyful traditions as possible come to life. I hope you share them with friends and family whether it be in person or socially distant or virtual. I hope you can spread good will and find happiness in each encounter, large or small. I do wish you a prosperous New Year. There is hope on the horizon with the development of vaccines, the beginning of their distribution and a potential return to normal.
Thank you to my fellow board members who have kept things going. Thank you to everyone who participated in any of our activities throughout the year. Thank you to all who stepped up and made contributions to keep our scholarship program successful without the annual golf event. Thank you to all of you who continue to support the chapter and renew your membership every year.
The chapter will do its best to get back to normal in 2021 with our monthly programs. January will focus on design considerations for fighting fires. February will discuss hazardous materials handling. Later in the spring we’re looking at hands on events including a demonstration of window/envelope testing as well as a building tour to see the progress on the South High School. As always, our goal is to provide opportunities for learning and networking of the construction community to advance careers and advance building technology.
In the meantime – I’ll share a little holiday joy with a traditional recipe I enjoy this time of year. It’s called a Nantucket Cranberry Pie but it’s really a great big New England sugar cookie. In my most humble opinion, its best enjoyed with a glass of eggnog on a couch with a warm blanket in front a decorated tree and a Dickens classic on the screen.
And in the words of tiny Tim: “Bless us everyone.”
Marty