Starting the New Year

Iosco County Democratic Party

Dear ICDP members and friends,

As I write this first email as chair, I never imagined we would be where we are. Yet, we are, and as we look to the new year, there is much work to do.

First, we extend an incredible thank you to our outgoing chair Carole Bleau. Carole served as the Iosco County Democratic Party chair for six incredible years; among the many successes and highlights, Carole led us through incredible membership growth, found and rented our office space, led our record-breaking fundraising efforts, coordinated the executive committee and kept us on track, and ran our monthly meetings. We are here today because of her vision and efforts and are better for it. We are profoundly grateful for her work and her willingness to stay on as the vice chair. Thank you again, Carole, for everything you have done for Iosco County and the Democratic Party.

A big thank you to our outgoing Secretary, Laurie Miles. Laurie kept our ever-expanding membership list up-to-date, managed our records, took the best minutes of anyone I have ever met, collected annual dues, and kept up on our mail. She is turning over records to the incoming secretary in perfect shape! Laurie is also an exceptional writer and we are thrilled she is staying on as a Trustee! Thank you, Laurie,

We also thank Kathleen Davidson and Sue Duncan, both of whom are rotating off as Trustees. Kathleen, thank you for your incredible work supporting our members with outreach. Sue, thank you for your work on communications. We are grateful you will continue to serve as the chair for the communications committee.

Today, a warm welcome to our new board members! Welcome Judy, our incoming Secretary, and Natasha and Paul, our new Trustees!

We have done a little housekeeping on the website. Please check it out here.

A reminder that we have changed our monthly meetings to the third Tuesday of the month. Same time, 5:30 pm and same place, 224 Newman Street in East Tawas.

Events
The events committee is hard at work and our 2025 schedule is out. We are looking for volunteers to sponsor Brew and Stews, host fundraisers, and bring snacks to our monthly meetings. We also need help for our signature events including Perchville, Adopt-A-Highway, and Adopt-A-Forest. We can’t do this without you!

Membership

The membership committee is looking for volunteers to help with outreach to our members to connect with and grow our membership. We have both committees and projects that need help and support. One important project is our Project 2025 team. We will be researching Project 2025 and formulating ways to resist autocratic steps potentially imposed by the incoming administration. We will look for ways to resist, write and speak to counter the lies, and demonstrate and protest as we are able. If you have time and can help, please fill out our volunteer form here.

Fundraising and engagement

We are grateful for the community investment in our fundraising efforts. We will continue to fundraise to support democratic efforts as we approach the midterms, support our local candidates, and maintain our office in East Tawas. If you are able, please consider sponsoring a month’s rent or a monthly donation; this allows us to budget for our expenses. We also recognize the value of engagement. If you can, please support our efforts by working events, bringing a snack or beverage to our meetings, or working a shift in the office. We appreciate this as well.

Democrats care about and contribute to the protection of our environmental and community needs. If you have ideas or recommendations for ways we Democrats can engage, please reach out to us!

Office Hours
Our winter hours are currently Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 11:30 AM until 3:30 pm. I will be holding office hours two Thursday afternoons a month or other hours by appointment.

Wise words

In a recent email as Senator-elect, Elissa Slotkin wrote eloquently about working with the incoming administration. She wrote this: The new administration is going to talk and tweet a lot over the next few years. But we need to focus on what they’re actually doing, not just what they’re saying.

This will be our focus, too. We need ways to hold our leaders accountable, whether they like us or not. I will be holding regular office hours in the new year. I would love to meet with you as it works whether is over a cup for coffee, a visit in the office, or sitting on my deck, enjoying a beverage and Lake Huron. I look forward to it.

We are all in this together. Here’s to a year of possibilities.