2008 – The Past

The Galion Alumni Association was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Entryway Sign/Message Board at the entrance drive to the Galion City School Campus. These funds were sufficient to provide the landscaping in front of the entryway and a yet to be built sign along the entryway drive honoring Galion athletes winning State Championships. Donations were made to the Galion City School campus wear fund, Dr. Phillips Special Fund for school supplies and breakfast expenses during OGT & Terra NNA week. The Alumni Association assisted the Galion City School Memorabilia Committee raise funds for the preservation of artifacts from the old schools. An Alumni Basketball Tournament was sponsor by the Alumni Association and games were played in late May. The Alumni Association sponsored a picnic open to all Alumni on August 9^th. This event was not as well attended as was hoped for, but was a fun event. The Alumni Association was a part of Homecoming Weekend and held its Raffle Drawing at the Varsity Grille after the game. The Alumni Association continued to maintain a website which promoted class reunions, posted class reunion photos and attempted to provide other information of interest. The registered users portion of the website currently has 335 profiles ranging from the class of 1941 to 2010.

In order to provide these services, funds needed to be available. In the case of the Entryway project, a specific fund raising effort was made starting in September 2007. These funds were handled by the Galion City Schools and all donations were tax deductible. The remainder of the funds were from paid membership dues about 40% of our income total. The remainder came from the Alumni Basketball Tournament ( 25%), receipts from our raffle (25%) and 10% came from the sale of other items such as yearbooks and other memorabilia. Though we were able to assist in a number of areas this year, our memberships are our most sustainable income. Annual memberships totaled approximately 100 people. We have a total of 39 Life Memberships. When you stop and consider that there are approximately 4000 living graduates, we are far short of having the full support of our alumni.

One of the bright spots of 2008 was the addition of new board members. All of the board members are volunteers giving of their time and ideas to make the Alumni Association a better organization. The board consists of the following individuals:

Brian Treisch 1974 President

Joe Kleinknecht 1960 Vice President

Steve Melchior 1960 Treasurer

Sue Jarvis 1975 Secretary

Bill Durtschi 1965

Terry Shifley 1974

Lee Anne Shifley 1975

Doug Schilling 1978

Shawn Woerlein 1996

Kathy Jenney School Superintendent

2009 – The Future

 As we move into 2009, what is the future holding for the Galion Alumni Association? First on the list is the membership drive. Starting now, memberships for 2009 are being offered. The schedule of memberships being offered are as follows:

Single Annual Membership $ 15.00                  Couple Annual Membership $ 25.00

Single Life Membership $300.00                       Couple Life Membership $450.00

Corporate Membership $ 35.00

A membership form is available on the website (Click on memberships above) and can be printed off and sent along with your check to the address on the form. You may purchase a membership through the website using a credit card. A membership mailing will be made during December 2008 and January 2009. No matter how you join, please provide as much information as possible. We do not sell or provide your information to other organizations. Please join us.

The website will continue to provide services to all reunion committees. Please send us your reunion announcements and lists of missing classmates at the earliest possible date. This will give you the greatest exposure and help bring your event together. Other class information can be posted under your class pages. Not a registered user? Join other Galion classmates by becoming a registered user. This will allow you to see the profiles of other registered users and provide a method of contact with others. Again, it is important that everyone provides as much information as possible. We sure would like to see more registered users provide a current photo image with their profile. If you need help getting a photo loaded , Email us through the contact us menu item and we will get back to you.. We do not share this information, we do not advertise and our services are free. If anyone out there would like to consider being a sponsor of the website and help offset the expense of maintaining the site, please contact us. If you have an idea that would make our website better, let us know by using the contact us menu item. In 2009, the class reunion announcements will be accessed through an index or menu link under Announcements & Upcoming Events at the top of the front page. This is being done to eliminate an excessively long front page and the need to scroll down through all of the announcements.

There is currently an ongoing effort to Coordinate the direction and efforts of the Galion Alumni Association, Galion Alumni Band, Galion Community Foundation, Galion Education Foundation, Galion Boosters, Galion Community Center and the Galion City School System. Meetings have been held to formulate a plan to have these organizations work together to better meet the needs of the Galion Community and its schools. Each organization has its own identity and direction, but in many cases there are areas of common interest. The Galion Alumni Association looks forward to participating in these efforts and contributing to the communication of these group efforts.

The Alumni Association looks forward to 2009 and sponsoring The Alumni Basketball Tournament. Currently we plan to hold our annual money raffle and the possibility of an Alumni get together with all of the groups mentioned in the paragraph above. Homecoming activities have been scheduled for September 25, 2009. We are looking forward to a much closer affiliation with the Galion Alumni Band organization. The year 2009 will be a year of growth and excitement as we develop new associations. We extend an invitation to all Alumni to join us in these efforts.