June 2, 2011

OLLI at BCC has had an amazing year! Our membership has grown form 957 in October 2009 to our current total of 1,030 members. Our courses have provided us with the opportunity to learn from accomplished instructors on topics from The Stagecraft of Tom Stoppard to Basic Ballroom Dancing to Two American Masters of the Brush: Homer and Sargent.  We have travelled to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to see the New York City Ballet and to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We have listened to lectures, among them From Ironic to Iconic: An Idiosyncratic Look at the History of the Manhattan Skyscrapers to Romanticism in Music. All of these activities have taken place in a socially supportive environment where new members have made new friends and have offered points of view on a myriad of topics.

The OLLI Board of Directors joins me in thanking you for your support of our programming. We extend our most sincere thanks to those of you who volunteer in our efforts. Committee members, instructors, class facilitators and media support personnel are critical to our success and we greatly appreciate your generous contributions.  Our OLLI is as strong as our volunteers, and we are very strong!

To maintain our momentum we must continue to seek contributions. As our program grows our printing, mailing, supply, advertising, equipment and office expenses grow. Our endowment gifts from the Bernard Osher Foundation remain intact; however, the interest earned in our current market has not met our projected goals. The Board is committed to keeping our membership and course fees among the very lowest of those charged by other OLLIs and thus we need your support to make this possible.

Your tax-deductible contribution to the Berkshire Community College Foundation, which receives OLLI’s contributions, will ensure that our special programming will continue to be available to you now and in the future.  We are happy to offer you an additional option to support OLLI. The 1960 Society is a vehicle for planned giving to the college and its programs. OLLI members may designate OLLI at BCC as the recipient of a gift of retirement plan assets, life insurance or a bequest to the program. Please call Jennifer Kerword, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at BCC (413.236.2188), to discuss a legacy gift to OLLI.

Please join me in giving to OLLI by completing this form and returning it with your gift.

Sincerely,

Sandi

Sandra Rubin

President