Alumni
Dear Class Reunion Contact Person:
Thank you for your willingness to help plan your class reunion for
this coming year. I hope the process goes well and that your event
is a fun and rewarding one. I am writing to let you know how I and
the school can offer support. Please see the following pages for
specific details.
Please send me the date and location of your class reunion and the
name of the contact person and phone number and/or e-mail address
(if that person is someone other than yourself) as soon as you know
it so I can begin listing it on the Web and in Bridges. Information
such as times (meal, tour, etc.) can be added when it becomes available.
If you have questions or need help, I am available at (717) 394-7107
or shankja@lancastermennonite.org.
Specific services the school can provide as you plan your reunion:
1. Resource person: You may schedule a staff person
to talk briefly at your reunion to update you and your classmates
on what’s been happening recently at LMH. This could be an
administrator, faculty member, former class adviser, or a former
classmate who is employed at the school or who serves on the school
board. Please feel free to request a certain individual.
2. Tour of campus: One of the persons mentioned
above could give a tour of the facilities in a time slot chosen
by your committee. Let me know if you would like to schedule a tour.
Note: Make sure you communicate clearly to persons attending your
reunion where the tour will begin. Let me know as well so I can
notify the person leading the tour.
3. Use of school facilities: Please fill out and
return the enclosed form if you plan to use school facilities. Ignore
the references to rental fees, facility policy, and certificate
of insurance. If you are planning to use Dottie Weber’s catering
services there are no additional costs. A class gift to the school,
though optional, is always appreciated.
If you are hiring an outside caterer, there is a rental cost but
you receive a 50% alumni discount. For instance, the church rate
for 5 hours of use for the dining hall and kitchen combined is $685,
but your cost would be $342.50.
Occasionally a class requests to use the dining room without other
services. The Alumni Dining Hall is free if you use it without using
the kitchen or Dottie's services. You may bring in your own snack
and then clean up afterward. Water and coffee makers are available
in the auxiliary dining room (where faculty eat lunch).
Reminder: The Alumni Dining Hall has been in high
demand so reserve early if you plan to use it. Also enclosed is
a copy of our banquet menu. If you are interested in having Dottie
cater a meal, please call her at the school at (717) 299-0436, ext.
328. Your reservation of the Alumni Dining Hall does not automatically
reserve Dottie’s catering services. (Menu prices are subject
to change so be sure to check prices with Dottie when you discuss
your selection.)
The Alumni Dining Hall is free if you use it without using the kitchen
or Dottie's services. You may bring in your own snack and then clean
up afterward. Water and coffee makers are available in the auxiliary
dining room (where faculty eat lunch).
4. Free mailing labels: Each class may request
as many sets of labels as needed for class reunion mailings. A computerized
listing of the entire class is also free. In addition, you will
receive a data form for each alumnus to fill out and return to you.
Please send completed data forms back to the school after you are
finished using them. (Some classes use information from the data
form for their reunion booklet if they compile one.)
5. Post reunion documentation: Please plan to have
someone take digital photos of your reunion so that we can post
them on our class reunion web page. Also, if you are compiling a
class reunion booklet I would like to have one for our file here
at school.
6. School items for sale: If you hold your reunion
in the school’s Alumni Dining Hall, I will put school sale
items out on a table for classmates to purchase during the evening.
For your convenience, classmates will purchase on an honor system,
signing their name and paying later. It is helpful if you just remind
your guests that items are there for purchase and that purchase
instructions are on the table. Sale items include (as supplies last):
• 60th anniversary fraktur, a watercolor limited edition print
by artist Emily Smucker-Beidler. Price: $15.00.
• The LMH cookbook, Meals and Memories, in its third printing.
Recipes were donated by LMH alumni, students, parents and other
friends. The book contains over 500 recipes, including numerous
“heart healthy” recipes and special information about
some of the entries. Price is $9.95 each.
• LMH Hometowne Collectible of auto bridge and another of
the campus front. Price: $10.00.
• Down by the Old Mill Stream CD featuring LMH’s Mill
Stream Quartet (LMH staff) and other LMH music groups. Price: $15.00.
• Campus Chorale CDs for $10.00.
• Passing on the Faith: The Story of a Mennonite School, a
book on the history of the school’s first 50 years, authored
by alumnus Donald Kraybill. Sale price: $4.95.
• Bridge at Noon limited-edition watercolor print of school
bridge. Painting was done by 1970 graduate Julia Eby Swartz. Price:
$25.00.
7. Video resource: 1971 graduate Ron Leaman, at
(717) 299-6479, does high quality videos for events such as class
reunions. Call him for more information.
Ideas for your reunion:
Scheduling a reunion around a school event: Another idea that has
surfaced is holding the class reunion the weekend of the Fall Gathering
& Auction or the spring musical (or another event such as a
field hockey or soccer game). For instance, the reunion meal could
be held locally and then classmates could attend a performance,
pork roast/chicken barbecue, auction, or sporting event together
as part of the reunion weekend. The school would also be happy to
explore ideas with you on holding a reunion meal or tea on campus
during one of those weekends. If you are interested in exploring
this, let me know. I would be happy to discuss it with you and also
send you a copy of the school calendar. If enough reunions would
express interest in meeting on the auction weekend, a homecoming
event could even emerge from the dreaming.
Class gift idea: Two years ago three members of
the class of 1963 spent an evening calling classmates during the
Feb./March phonathon. They gave their classmates reunion details
and also invited them to give toward a class gift they had established.
The class selected the David and Edith Thomas Endowment as the recipient
of their gift. This endowment helps pay the salary of the person
responsible for planning chapels and other programs that nurture
students and encourage Christian growth. The class gift idea gave
class members the opportunity to contribute to a specific cause
during the phonathon rather than just giving to the annual fund.
Having a special class gift enabled them to raise more funds than
they usually do during the phonathon.
Other class gift ideas could include the academic building, residence
hall, music endowment, Brent Nauman Memorial Fund (to provide an
athletic trainer for the school),the annual fund, etc. Call me if
you have suggestions.
Jeff Shank
Director of Alumni Relations
717-394-7107
shankja@lancastermennonite.org
