Living President.
You may have noticed some changes recently at Simply Living. First, there is a new set of officers, some new, some not. The current officers are Lenn Black, President, Jenee Murphy, Vice President, Lynn Stan, Treasurer, and Vilvi Vannak, Secretary. And we have added David Obrien to the Board of Directors (look for an article about David soon).
New Sustaining Membership Levels
You may also have noticed that we’ve been offering our events with no admission fees, and we’ve been gratified to see strong attendance numbers. Thank you! We plan to continue this practice whenever possible.
If this approach is going to be successful, we will need to generate funding some other way. With this in mind, Simply Living has instituted two new Sustaining Membership levels: one at $2 per month and one at $5 per month. It is now possible to be a Sustaining Member for as little as $24 per year (plus processing fees). Please consider becoming a Sustaining Member and form the foundation on which we do our work! You can add your name to the list at Support Simply Living with a Sustaining Membership!
Annual & Business Memberships Continue
We still welcome Annual Memberships at the following levels: Individual, Household, Senior, and Student. Become an Annual Member of Simply Living at Support Simply Living with an Annual Membership! Or become a Business Member (including a nonprofit level) at Support Simply Living with a Business Membership! If Simply Living is to thrive, we need more members!
Simply Living is Now Volunteer Driven
You may also have realized that, since the departure of our Executive Director in December 2025, we have opted to continue as a completely volunteer driven organization (we do have a 20-hour per month contract with an administrative consultant to keep the accounts). This has been working out well so far, but if we are to be a successful volunteer organization, we need, well . . . volunteers!
We are planning many events this year, and we need volunteers to make them happen successfully. We need people to represent Simply Living at the plethora of local Earth Day/Month events in April, and to staff our Beverage Booth at the Columbus Arts Festival in June (a major fund raiser). There will also be another Sustainable Garden Tour and an Urban Garden Tour later in the summer.
Arts Festival. Photo by Lenn Black
We’re also looking to keep our monthly movie series going and continue sponsoring the Bioregional Working Group. Matthew the Recycle King is coming back for another workshop, and we’d like to go back to the Rumpke Recycling Facility for another tour. Other tours & events are also in the offing. And we could really use some assistance with social media & newsletter development. Please say yes to helping this year!
Simply Living is Turning 35
Do you realize that Simply Living will be 35 years old in 2027? It’s true. We are planning the festivities and putting together a Simply Living History featuring the notable characters & events over the past three and a half decades. There are lots of documents to wade through and help is needed! If you are interested in helping with this (or with other activities), please drop an email to lenn@simplyliving.org.
