Since the call came to close the Club on Saturday 14th March, the staff and our leadership have been working hard to follow the new regulations we are operating under, while still trying to provide value and help to our members, family and community. We want to use this moment to let you know what we have done, what we are currently doing and what we are planning to start.
We were delighted to receive a waiver from the State last week to enable us to continue to offer our FREE hot supper program. The supper is still at 5-6pm, Monday through Friday at our main, Al Tahoe, site, but is now in a new ‘drive thru to-go’ format. Lindsey is still cooking up delicious meals and ANY child in the community under the age of 18 (or 19 in full time education) can have a meal. Thanks to community donations we also have extra food/milk to give away with the meals.
Indeed, thanks to donations from Harrah’s/Harvey’s, 10 Crows BBQ and the Sierra Nevada Girl Scouts, last Saturday we were able to give out 150 bags of food. Sadly the demand was so great we ran out of food within an hour. We do not envisage another opportunity to do the same as the casinos and most restaurants have now closed, but we are incorporating other donations into the supper program and trying to give extra food where possible.
Please spread the word about the supper program as we would like to help as many children as possible. The food is ready to eat, no cooking required, and we hope that will take one thing of a parent’s plate each day.
Starting next week we will also be offering ‘virtual Club’. Using social media and our YouTube channel we will be posting activities and messages from staff to our members. We are also looking at providing an online ‘power hour’ to help members with their school work. Check Facebook and Band for further information.
We do not know when the crisis will end and are listening and following experts to help us plan for the future. There is a great possibility that the restrictions will be lifted just in time for, or during, our summer program, and we are already preparing for that possibility and will reopen the moment we can. That is why we are moving forward with summer and 2020-21 after-school enrollments. We want to ensure that full service is resumed immediately, and for that reason we are retaining our staff on regular hours through the crisis. This is both the right thing to do as an employer, but will also ensure we can reopen immediately. Staff are using this time for the virtual Club and also to participate in virtual learning and training.
We understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for our families. Everyone is affected by the crisis and many are facing a loss of employment or significantly reduced income. Our Executive Director is researching grants and funding to increase our scholarships for the summer and next year, and to help replace the loss of revenue from the postponement of the Tahoe Brewfest and possible decline in donations. For families who have been hit hardest and are facing major financial crisis, we want to help as much as possible. The Club is a referral agent to Tahoe Magic, a one time crisis fund that helps families with mortgage/rent/utilities/car payments etc If you need referral please email Jude on [email protected]. Many members of the community are also reaching out to the Club to ask how they can help. It is incredible how our community is pulling together and we will connect community members with needs wherever appropriate.
Thank you for supporting the Club, sharing our posts, and understanding that we are doing the best we can under difficult circumstances. We are all #TahoeStrong and we will return stronger than ever as soon as possible.
*Fact: that quote was never in Star Trek; it was in the comedy pop song Star Trekkin’ but was so popular people think it was in the TV series.
