A new system for maintaining lakeside’s master calendar of events and fundraisers was revealed this week.
After 11 years of compiling and distributing the current master list, Betty Prentki announced her retirement from the position following a series of talks and meetings that organized methods to ensure the continuation of this invaluable community tool.
In the announcement sent to the publicity heads of the area’s many non-profit and charitable organizations, Prentki described simple steps which will allow each group to register upcoming fund-raising and social events on the existing calendar at www.ajijicnews.com which is published by Nancy Segall. This perpetuating calendar allows organizations to include an identifying logo to distinguish their events from the many others that jam the days and weeks.
Over the years Prentki has donated endless hours for this project so that organizations can avoid scheduling fund-raisers on previously booked dates. “With all the work that goes into putting on a fund-raiser, attendance can be maximized by avoiding competition with other events,” Prentki observed. By registering dates directly, planners can immediately spot preferred open times and ensure the success of their efforts. She added, “Organizers should be certain to list a viable email address when they register activities so that questions from the public or from the website staff can be answered quickly and easily.”Prentki is handing off the maintenance of the “presidents list” to the Lake Chapala Society (LCS). Karen Schirack will take charge of the directory of non-profit groups which includes the name of the organization, presiding officer, a brief mission statement and relevant telephone, email and website contact information. Prentki urged local groups to update this information with Shirack by emailing new officers and contact information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The continuation of the community calendar and presidents list were prime topics at a November LCS summit meeting of the heads of 17 local groups. At that time Prentki noted that there were 67 local groups in the presidents list and the calendar list included 49 calendar contacts, with some information outdated or obsolete.