August 6, 2021
Dear Classmate!
Well . . . here we are again, a little over a month before our re-scheduled 40
th Reunion and that darn Delta variant has to be spreading! Ugh, when will this thing ever go away!
As a result, the Class of 1980 Reunion Committee had a zoom call on Wed, Aug 4 and started the meeting by discussing implications for the reunion due to the current Covid situation, with rapidly rising infections driven largely by the Delta variants. We have worked so hard for this Reunion; however, we also
don't want to be a super-spreader event, with people from across the country, and have anyone get sick from the reunion, either an alum or one of their grandchildren, parents, co-workers, friends, etc., etc. because we attended.
"It would be the worst feeling in the world to know we did something that caused another person to get really ill or worse." And, vaccinated or not, in theory, we could all still spread Covid. We also think attending this event with a mask is something few people will be comfortable doing.
We spoke at length and unanimously agreed that canceling would be the right thing to do, at this point. First, Some experts agree that we are 5-6 weeks behind the UK, meaning that our current rise will likely continue for another 2 months, at least, making the situation even worse by September 17, 2021. Second, given the likelihood of cancellation, we wanted to notify classmates ASAP, as some may need to cancel reservations before losing money. Third, we spoke informally to several of our classmates and they all agreed that it was the right decision to make at this point.
We are all very, very disappointed.
Despite this unfortunate turn of events, even without the reunion, just the planning has led to
many long-distance calls, visits and rekindled friendships. We hope that this continues for years to come and certainly, until we can safely get together.
We agreed on the following next steps
- Keep the website for another 5 years and maintain all the work that has been put into it. Possibly add other ideas (a blog?) and get more classmates to fill out their profile, so we can notify them of future events more easily.
- Agree to have an informal or mini reunion as soon as Covid clears, likely in 2022, at the current rate. Now with the website and people's emails, it will be very easy to let everyone know about a party a few weeks in advance
Therefore
, we are officially cancelling the reunion for this September, 2021 ~ "Better safe than sorry!” We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please communicate this information to your friends, in case they do not receive the email.
Any Classmate that would like to make a donation for the website subscription and other expenses, or use some of their prepaid dinner monies toward any of the costs, they can notify Peggy or Barb, or send a check to / Venmo Barb for any amount they choose.
We hope that everyone stays healthy!
Still Sailing Afloat ~
The Reunion Committee:
Ron, Elizabeth, Andrea, Barb, Joe, Tammy, Carol, Kathy, Heide, Becky, Ken, Jeff, Peggy, Harry
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