July Board Update

Dear Members of the Indianapolis Bridge Center (IBC):

 

It is hard to believe a month has gone by since I last addressed you. We have been so busy at IBC and that is such a good thing.

 

Last month we conducted our Longest Day activities, raising funds to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. While we are still tabulating the final total, we have raised over the $50,000 we set as our goal for this year. We were fortunate this year to have the efforts headed by Mary King who oversaw a huge team undertaking. I cannot overstate how much work Mary put into this project. Thank you to all who participated in any way, whether it was through coordinating, collecting, bidding, baking, donating, or buying. It truly is a team effort at IBC, and it is your dedication that makes this club special; playing bridge is our commonality but our desire to serve a cause makes us more than a business.

It makes us a community.

 

One of the most critical missions of the IBC Board is to ensure that we remain fiscally responsible. It is our pleasure to report that, to date, we are very close to being on track with our budget. May 2025 reports indicated that IBC had more income and more expenses than anticipated but the extra income was more than the increased expenses.

 

The table count for June was 559 (May was 468 when the club closed for a week due to Regional, and in April it was 503). Additionally, online games were fourteen. 

 

We are pleased to report that our free class for beginners had over fifty new students. New players mean new members and hopefully we can reach our 2025 goal of four hundred paid members. We are currently at 383 paid members and counting.

 

Our Player of the Month (POM) is Patty Cole, and our Novice of the Month (NOM) is Margaret Gisler. Congratulations to them both!

 

Our Membership and Marketing Committee have created business cards to publicize IBC. We encourage you to take some and distribute them on your community bulletin boards and to any of your friends who might be interested in joining our ranks. Business cards are located at the Director’s table in the main room. Thanks to the Committee for an excellent piece of work.

 

We want to encourage everyone to check out our Thursday Soiree Game! It is a quick, 18-board game that is rapidly gaining popularity. Also, do not forget about our Tuesday evening online game!

 

We are also excited to announce that the Wednesday evening game, which is 0-100, will be adding a 0-500 section to hopefully attract more attendance, especially among working folks.

 

This Saturday, July 19 is our Ice Cream Social.

The Board and Staff are working to implement a system that will allow those who desire to pay with a credit card to be able to do so. Please be patient as it takes some time to work out the details but for those who have asked, we are trying to meet your needs. Details will continue as we get close to a roll-out.

 

We hope that all of you get Joyce’s weekly Update/Newsletter, it provides many special dates for games with extra points and opportunities. If you are not receiving this weekly email, please let either a Staff or Board Member know, and we will add you to the list. Continued thanks to Joyce and those who help her for being so timely and informative.

 

As always, the IBC board welcomes comments and questions. We are here to serve you!

 

Larry N. Cohen