Some of the Year’s Highlights:
We are proud that our own program Children’s Theatre of Winnetka (CTW) not only produced Oliver! (Fall 2017) and Once on this Island (Spring 2018), but also received Make it Better magazine’s award for Best Suburban Children’s Theater in 2018. Twice each year, CTW casts 4th-to-8th graders from New Trier Township in Broadway-style musicals, giving students extraordinary onstage and backstage experience in Matz Hall.
Matz Hall is also used for children’s theater programs by the Glencoe Park District, Skyline Studios, and for dance recitals, along with other major events such as the Winnetka-Northfield Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Recognition Luncheon that – each April – honors outstanding area residents, community leaders, business members and volunteers.
Another Matz Hall highlight included director, choreographer, and set designer Toby Nicholson’s, A Christmas Carol Toby assembled professional actors and local amateurs from the North Shore for his original vision of this holiday favorite, which was underwritten by the Hirschmann Family Foundation so that all ticket proceeds would benefit the Community House.
In addition to the major rebuilding of The Gardens and the employee parking lot to the south, we have painted, cleaned, repaired and re-carpeted many portions of this 100,000 square foot building. With the replacement of conventional light bulbs with LEDs, we cut our energy costs dramatically and – in April 2018 – won the Green Award from the Village of Winnetka, having completed the largest green conversion in Winnetka to date. We believe in “safety first” and therefore installed security cameras and additional AEDs (automated external defibrillators), while retraining our staff in CPR technique.
We welcomed The Winnetka Club as a tenant in January of 2018. We introduced many new programs including Survive Strong for community members who are cancer patients. We assisted two scouts, helping Teddy Ross achieve Eagle Scout and Simone Wall earn her Gold Award.
The Woman’s Board created a Junior Board of about 30 high school juniors and seniors, who assist at fundraising events and who are planning their own fundraiser – a 3K Fun Run – this spring.
After the 2018 fiscal year-end, we honored four impressive couples as Life Members in recognition of their decades-long contributions of time, talent and treasure to the welfare of the Community House. We installed Peloton bicycles in the Fitness Center and began the re-roofing and thorough tuckpointing of the building. All of this – and more – will be covered throughout the year and in next year’s Annual Report.
