What's happening at Theler Center -- Challenges and Opportunities

By Anne Whitman
May 15, 2008

Wow, when I took on the position at Theler Center I said "I always look forward to a good challenge!" But now I am also thinking, be careful of what you wish for!

The Mary E Theler Community Center & Wetland Trails and I have gone through a lot in this last couple of years. We have launched several annual events such as "Walk for the Wetlands" which is a pledge walk a thon for maintenance and up-keep of the trails. Also the quarterly "Mystery Dinners" and the "Wetlands Festival," which occurs on the 3rd Saturday of August each year. Both a winter "Holiday Vendor Fair" and a second in the "Spring" as well.

Theler Center has experienced a complete turn-over in the Board of Directors, the 2008 board members are: Tom Farmer, President; Tim Wing, Vice President: Margi Veitch-Kenny, Secretary; Dave Kinnee, Treasurer and Mel Coffman, Member at large.

The final and most recent "Challenge" is the loss of the Theler Trust funds that North Mason School District receives as a beneficiary of the Estate of Samuel & Mary Theler. NMSD has historically passed the payment on to Theler Center as a way of helping with the costs of running The Mary E Theler Community Center & Wetland Trails that Sam Theler requested to be built in his wife's name. Now to be fair Sam's will states "to be used for athletic and recreational purposes forever and a portion of which real estate shall be used for a gymnasium or recreation center". I think that Sam had wanted what is now the "Wetland Trails" to be baseball fields but in today's world that is not possible, I do believe that he would like the compromise that the Superior Courts, School District and this Community have made to accommodate the "recreational, athletic" and we even added educational use.

So back to the "Challenge."

Theler Center has lost about $2,400.00 a month in Maintenance and Operational funding, the money goes to pay the power, water, heat (gas), phone and security bills, a portion gets used to purchase janitorial supplies, and maintenance items to keep the Center and Trails open and safe. You might ask yourself, "is the Center or the Trails going to close? Are the staff going to be laid off?" or better yet… "How can I help my Community Center?"

Well the answer to that is: No, we will not be reducing the hours of operations or staffing at this time. What we will be doing is asking this community "to step up and take ownership" of the treasure that Sam Theler's Estate helped create and helped support for its first 23 or so years by doing a few small thing such as:

• Come support Monthly Bingo on the second Saturday of each month
• Or purchase and attend a Mystery Dinner, the next one is June 14 th at 5:30
• Commit to volunteering one 4-6 hours shift once a month in the office, gardening or in the Exhibit Building.
• Drop off a can of coffee, ream of copy paper, or a bottle of copy machine toner.
• Drop off your unused Christmas or Birthday gifts for Bingo prizes or Auction items
• Offer to volunteer at an upcoming event/function.
• Donate your professional services. We need a good electrician, plumber, CPA, chef, just to name a few.
• Make a cash donation to Theler or get 10 friends to send Theler $10.00 a month for 12 months.
• Help search for or write Grants.
• Or call the Office at 360-275-4898 or send e-mail to theler@hctc.com. We have more ideas on how you can help your Community Center.

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