A personal appeal from your EVP

Please participate! All of us have benefitted, and continue to benefit from the efforts of the ECA staff and operations We the staff have had to make big sacrifices to continue those benefits for 2020 without the benefit of our usual events that traditionally cover over 35% of our operating costs. Covid 19 sucks and it certainly has for us. Yet we are going to finish the year in a healthy economic status thanks to staff cost cutbacks and generous help from many of our ECA family! One last way all of you can help out is to participate in this Auction. We know it will be fun, and we know you appreciate the ECA. Please find some time for us and enjoy what Mary has worked so hard to put on for all of us with her “crack committee” helping her all the way-Tom Boylan, Kevin Ghilotti, Jenah Smith, Corinna Fernandez, Kathleen Smith & Wayne Settle.   

This Auction and Donation opportunity is a big deal for us. Can you imagine how tough it is for a restaurant to stay in business without being able to have paying customers in their restaurant? That is what it has been like for us not having events. We have continued to work, continued to host free webinars, continued to push for funding of work (Yay Measure DD!) that benefits all of our ECA firms, and we have done so without being able to host our usual events that are so necessary to our survival. It has not been easy, and some of you have stepped up in a BIG way to help us out with donations, “Ask” responses, and auction items to offer to everyone. If you have not been able to participate because of your own hardships, we understand. This Auction is one final way to support the ECA that has been in continuous existence since 1976 and your help and participation is not only very necessary, it is also very appreciated. Please make Mary happy by logging on, spreading the word, and bidding on some items while perhaps even hitting that “Donate” button for us!

The Live Auction (201-214) itself will take place on December 5, from 5:30-7:30 but you can get your account set up, make a donation if the spirit moves you, and read and see about the live and start or continue bidding on the silent auction items that are on the site right now!

I know I enjoyed reading about the five-night getaway in San Francisco courtesy of Rod and Donna Stevenson, and the great lunch event offered at the St. Francis Yacht Club donated by Julia Dodge. There is something for everybody here and the Auction Committee and Mary have worked very hard to set up the virtual auction such that it will be fun, easy, and there are some very good items to bid on. We realize how challenging the Covid 19 has made all of your lives, as it has affected everybody. This is a chance to support local companies by bidding on items, enjoying the special video that has been created by Don Mills and his adept crew at Sound Ideas, and if nothing else, you can click the Donate Button (as I have), to contribute directly to the ECA so we can continue our good work in these times where we are all trying to be safe and the usual events we rely on cannot be held. We appreciate your support, and we ask you to spread the word to others outside the ECA such that they might participate in the Auction and perhaps be moved by the accomplishments of the ECA this year! Guest auctioneers Keith Woods, Tom Boylan, and Yours Truly will be auctioning off on December 5, so now is the time to get on the site by clicking the link below, and getting your card registered. I am registered, I have donated, and I have started bidding on the silent auction items already. After all, it is a good way to do some Christmas shopping! Click on the link below to get started! Please acknowledge and appreciate all of the sponsors and donors as you look through the items online.

There are many ways to help us out and we have tried to acknowledge all of those generous ECA Members that have done their part! Please do business with them! Don Mills and Sound Ideas can help your company out and I used them to help with my Dad’s “Celebration of Life” recently. I am glad I did. Please utilize these fellow ECA firms! It is the epitome of buying local!!

That’s All Folks!

John