Annual Meeting 2007

The FILA Board hosted the Annual Meeting and potluck lunch on December 8th at the Great Lakes Children's Museum in Traverse City. Twenty-six members and volunteers enjoyed a bountiful lunch of culinary offerings from the board  and several of the members.

Though a brief board meeting followed lunch, the highlight of the afternoon was an audio-video presentation composed by Jan Nickerson. It featured photo montages of the Team Nickerson island visit set to music written and performed by an old time lumber jack from the island, Jim Crocket.

The photos presented an excellent documentation of all of the work that the Nickersons completed this summer and the experience of enjoying the camp life on the island again. This was an island reunion for the older Nickersons who had last been there decades ago when their family owned much of the island and was actively involved with lumbering it. They are already planning to return next year to assist FILA once more.

At the formal Annual Meeting, again partly attended over the phone from Switzerland by Sandra Bradshaw and H. Joerg Rothenberger, the Board reviewed the financial situation. The good news was that thanks to our generous membership, private donors and grantors, FILA will be embarking on the 2008 season with the financial ability to execute an aggressive program of projects at the Lighthouse. We encourage members and new volunteers to contact us and join in the island work this coming summer!

After polling the Board, we introduced our new board members Sally Frye and Bob Zwemer. Both have already made great contributions of resources and effort to FILA; welcome aboard!

The election of officers yielded: John McKinney - president, Sandy Bradshaw - vice president, George Carpenter - secretary and Phil von Voigtlander - Treasurer. The new Board is committed to an active program of stabilizing and protecting the Fox Island Lighthouse Complex. We briefly reviewed our Mission Statement and opened the discussion on how it might more concisely address this purpose.

Bob Zwemer reported on the state of the Webcam Project, which will connect the South Fox Island Light Station to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum and to the Internet.

Led by Phil Von Voigtlander and John McKinney, members and volunteers that have donated in-kind services and material this year were thanked for their efforts. The people mentioned (in no particular order) are: Charles "Riz" Anderson of Leelanau Tree Service, contractor Dick Parker, Britten Banners, Gull Island Marine, Northport Bay Boat Yard, Andy Thomas of Thomas & Milliken, Ron Fitzsimmons, the Nickerson Family, Don Bult, Al Noftz, Bob Zwemer, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (Anna Sylvester, Craig Gulseth, Lisa Gamarro), Rotary Charities, the Leelanau Township Community Foundation, and the Ted and Jane Von Voigtlander Family Foundation. A special thanks also to our partner organization, Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum and Stef Staley.  

Phil von Voigtlander & George Carpenter
December 28, 2007

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