On Saturday, May 20, 2000, there will be an auction sponsored by The Long Island Traditional Music Association at the Brush Barn. LITMA, as it is known, also meets at the Barn. The purpose of this auction is to raise money so that they can have a pair of bathrooms built at the barn. Last year, LITMA ran an auction and raised enough money to purchase those cushioned chairs we now use during the monthly meetings. Do you remember those other wooden seats we had before? You needed seat belts to keep from sliding down onto the floor, and after an hour or so your own seat was as hard as that wooden chair. And talk about the bathroom - cozy, unisex with a bay window to check the crowd coming in. At times it was a 100-yard dash from the barn to the bathroom only to get there and find three or four other sprinters doing all kinds of thigh crushing movements, looking at the woods and thinking maybe they could make it out there sooner.

Now don't you think that LITMA has a real good cause for this auction? Shouldn't we support this effort? Of course! Here's how: we can bring some of those beautiful things we make in our shops, or donate some item we have at home, like that ugly lamp we got as a gift and keep bumping into muttering expletives. One man's junk is another man's treasure; so why not make someone happy? Anything that will bring in a few bucks at an auction will help. We can also help by volunteering to help on May 20th at the Barn. But certainly everything we contribute should be acknowledged as coming from the Long Island Woodworkers Club, except for that lamp.

Mr. Hartman of LITMA called me to see if we could help, and since it would benefit us as well, I said I would approach the members. If you can't bring in your contribution at our next meeting, we will try to arrange it so it can be brought to the barn on May 20th. Thank you all for your participation.