As I sit here and reflect on the last six months of my time here as Executive Director of your community center, I am left feeling extraordinarily thankful. Thankful for the community, thankful for our community leaders, thankful for our members, thankful for our volunteers, our donors, our sponsors, our instructors, our board of directors, and our staff. Without the endless support from each the above and many others, The Center or I could not be as successful as we have been. The board, the staff, and I have worked hard to make The Center “the community’s gathering place,” and we will continue to work to achieve a “best in class” facility the entire community can be proud of while we work towards long-term sustainable success.
In the last six months we have had many successes to also be thankful for:
- Summer Camp presented by The Ugly Grouper had over 400 campers
- The LaPensee Bowling Tournament
- The Ugly Grouper Golf Tournament
- We’ve hosted a fundraiser for the West Coast Surf Shop and another for hurricane relief for the panhandle.
- We hosted hundreds of children and families for the Anna Maria Elementary Schools Fall Festival.
- Hundreds have played Indoor Youth Soccer, Youth Fall Soccer, and Adult Soccer
- Through funding, we received from Manatee County we were able to purchase two new vans for our Beyond The Classroom After School Program and Senior Adventures.
- We ended our fiscal year successfully serving over 7,000 unduplicated members with 29,804 fitness related check-ins
- Financially we finished our fiscal year in the black – a $300,000 positive swing from the previous year.
Now that season is upon us we will have many community-related events beginning with our 17th annual Lester Family Fun Day on Saturday, December 1st. This event is from 10:30 to 2:00 with Santa arriving at 12 noon.
Our 11th Annual Murder Mystery is this February 22nd and 23rd. The theme this year is ’80s based and as always we encourage all to come in character.
March 16th is our 26th Annual Tour of Homes and our first ever “Passion For Fashion Show” will be this April 11th.
I am genuinely thankful to be part of this AMI community. From my family to yours “Thank you” for making this community everything that it is, a true island paradise.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Best Regards
Christopher Michael Culhane
