JEFFERSON, Iowa, Dec. 7, 2016 — As this year comes to a close and 2017 is set to begin, it’s time to purchase or renew memberships in the Greene County Historical Society. And it’s also a great time to make donations to the society and be able to claim the donations in your income taxes.
Individual memberships are $15, family memberships are $20 and you can really help us by becoming “Friends of the Greene County Historical Society” at the $50 level. Additional donations are welcomed for any amount, of course.
You can get all the details about memberships and donations — including the new option of making these transactions online on this secure website — by clicking right here.
Chuck Offenburger, a member of the GCHS board of directors, said he “used my credit card and the online payment method to buy our family membership for 2017, primarily just to test the system, and I was amazed how quick and easy it is. People should give it a try, both for memberships and for straight donations.”
And while you are on that memberships/donations page on the website, please take time to read the compelling story by past-president Ces Brunow published there. Brunow concisely explains just what our organization’s financial obligations and challenges are.
Dale Hanaman, our current president, notes that our membership is very loyal. “Using the membership list, we have 284 people who are members — people holding individual or family memberships,” he said. “During 2016, all but 37 paid their membership,” which is pretty good in comparison to most organizations that have members. We figure that the 13 percent who did not pay in 2016 either didn’t get our reminders or just plain forgot.
Hanaman said he has to be aware and a bit concerned that our members include “a large number of people over 60 years of age. I hope that we are able to attract many new members during this coming year,” and he added that current members can sure help recruit.
“Many of us are business persons, or involved in a community service group or connected to a worshipping community,” Hanaman said. “And we all have friends and neighbors. New historical members may come from our own contacts, so our members need to encourage others to join.”
He noted that “the historical society is a group of people wanting to remember our roots, help cherish our various backgrounds, and celebrate our history. What of your history can we lift up and give thanks?”
We typically attract 50 to 60 people to the monthly historical programs we have April thru December. We strive to make those programs informative, interesting and even entertaining. And we make them accessible, too, as we schedule them into churches or other meeting facilities around Greene County. The programs, over the year, span a wide variety of interests. In addition, we feature up to a half-dozen special feature programs that are typically held at our historical museum in Jefferson, and those programs often attract more than 100 people.
