Dear SPLKA Member and Friends;

Preservation of historical structures is an on-going task just like the maintenance and

repair we do on our homes. As an Association we have some major maintenance and

restoration work that needs to be completed over the next several years so that we can

continue to fulfill our mission of preserving our lights.

At the October Board of Directors meeting we heard a report from Blair Bates of

Building Restoration Inc. Blair has done a thorough assessment of the brick at our three

lights with brick exteriors as well as looking at the steel cladding on the tower at BSP.

This past July Mr. Bates rappelled down the sides of our towers with a camera, taking

pictures of rust spots and gaps in the mortar. The results of his report indicate that we

have some work to do to continue to preserve these historical structures.

He is recommending that we repair the rust holes in the steel cladding on the BSP tower

(this is of immediate concern); seal open joints on LSP and BSP towers, repair plaster on

the interior of the towers at BSP and LSP. The brick on the house at BSP is in need of

repair at various spots around the building. While we have found a brick that is

acceptable for repair of the side of the house under the gift shop windows we have other

locations that will also need to be repaired. The limestone window sills under the

windows at BSP also need replacement.

In addition to these repairs we need to repair the wood window frames on all the

windows at BSP. Our Executive Director is seeking approval to schedule a wood

window repair workshop at BSP for 2013. This workshop will provide training in the

historically correct way to repair the weathered damaged window frames.

We also will need to plan to repair the chimney at BSP and at WRLS. Just like our homes

there is always something that needs attention. The estimated cost of these repairs

exceeds $150,000. The Board of Directors will be focusing efforts on fund raising in 2013

to begin raising funds needed to make these repairs. If you would like to make a

donation to SPLKA to help with these projects we would be grateful!

Sincerely;

Lenore Janman, President

SPLKA Board of Directors

Letter from the President

Vol ume 8 , Issue 2

Fal l 2013 Sable Points Beacon

Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Associat ion

Letter from the President 1

Report to the Membership 2-9

Letter from the Vice-

President

10-

11

Membership Application 12

Ins ide this issue :

Vol ume 8 , Issue 2 Pa ge 2

Sable Points Lighthouse

Keepers Association

Report to The Membership

September 2013

Sabl e Points Beacon Pa ge 3

The mission of SPLKA is to preserve, promote and educate

the public…..

Preservation is an ongoing task with our lighthouses. In 2010 we received a matching Save America’s Treasures grant

for one hundred thousand dollars to expand the seawall at Big Sable Point Lighthouse. This work was completed in

December 2012 and the picture below shows a portion of the extension.

The brick repair on the gift shop wall at Big Sable Point was completed in May 2013. In September after the

mortar has had sufficient time to carbonize the bricks can be painted. The wood window repair workshop at

BSP was held in September 2013. The exterior of WRLS was painted in September. Ceiling repair at the Luding-

ton North Breakwater light will also be done this fall to repair damage from last winter’s leaks.

Visitors to the Lights

18,392 18,975

17,309

28,453

34,764 34,869

10,019 12,257

16,594

5,632

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

2010 2011 2012

BSP

LSP

LNBL

WRLS

The mission of SPLKA is to preserve, promote, and

educate the public…..

Our mission to educate a future generation of lighthouse enthusiasts is demonstrated by the number of students that

visit our lights on field trips. Students from as far away as Lansing and Reed City came to climb the towers and learn

about the importance of their maritime history.

Pa ge 4 Vol ume 8 , Issue 2

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

2010 2011 2012

BSP

LSP

LNBL

WRLS

Number of Student Visitors

In 2010 we had 1,272 students visit all three of our lights, in 2011 we had a record 1,413 student visitors and in 2012 we has 458 student visitors.

The mission of SPLKA is to preserve, promote and

educate the public……

Our second annual West Michigan Lighthouse Festival was held on June 1 & 2, 2012. Each of our lights hosted enter-

tainment and we sponsored a bus day at Big Sable Point Lighthouse. The following weekend we partnered with the

Badger for the 50’s Cruise which was a sold out venue. Each of our lights had special entertainment during the 2012

season.

Visitors to our lights have been increasing steadily over the past three years. The chart below shows the number of

adults and children that visited each of our three lights.

In 2010 we had a total of 56,864 visitors to our three lights. In 2011 BSP had 19,963 visitors, LSP had 35,454 and the

LNBL had 12,275. In 2012 BSP had 17,309 visitors (closing two months early) LSP had 34,869 visitors, LNBL had 16,594

visitors and WRLS had 5,632 visitors for a total of 74,404 visitors.

Pa ge 5 Sabl e Points Beacon

Strategic Plan Update

_____________________________________________

During 2010 and 2011 the SPLKA Board of Directors worked on the development of a five year strategic plan for our Association. In previous years boards have developed one, two and five year plans listing projects which they hoped to accomplish. The think-ing behind the strategic plan was to combine those plans into one “master” plan that would focus our energies and resources over a five year time period. The Board of Direc-tors came up with four broad goals and a series of objectives under each goal. The follow-ing is a report of our progress on the objectives that have been worked on since its incep-tion. Goal I: To engage, educate and empower our membership in all available opportunities to preserve, promote and support our lights. Objective 1: Strengthen communication

A board retreat on communication was held April 2012 Our Executive Director and staff developed a written commu-

nication plan for SPLKA Constant Contact was purchased and our membership list en-

tered to allow email blast communication A Report to the Membership was developed and distributed at

the annual meeting 2012

Implemented a student pass for our lights Objective 4: Create a data base of member’s skills

The keeper application was revised in 2012 to ask the question about keepers skills

A data base was developed in the winter of 2013 Goal II: To manage growth and continue the historic preservation of all of our lights. Objective 1: Organize, preserve and properly house SPLKA archives so they are accessi-ble to all

SPLKA archival materials were moved from BSP to the down-town office and placed in a locked cabinet

The process of copying some of the documents in a digital for-mat has begun

Materials have been organized for easy access Objective 2: Implement the BSP sea wall restoration.

This phase of sea wall restoration was complete by December 21, 2012

Objective 3: Reproduce the third order Fresnel Lens for BSP Due to the cost of doing this is was decided by the board it is

not feasible at this time

Pa ge 6 Vol ume 8 , Issue 2

Goal III To develop a self-sustaining endowment through targeted fund raising and planned giving. Objective 1: Establish a reserve fund for unexpected expenses.

This was accomplished with the development of the 2013 budget.

Objective 3: Explore opportunities to develop an endowment.

Meetings with a financial expert were held in 2012 to gather information

A model presentation for fundraising was developed and pi-loted in 2012

Goal IV To continue to educate our global community regarding our maritime im-portance and the cultural importance of our lights as a tourist destination. Objective 2: Enhance our website.

Our Executive Director procured a grant from DTE to help cover the costs

Work has begun on a new website Objective 4: Increase local community partnerships.

Staff worked with local community partners on the West MI Lighthouse Festival planning

Contact with local Chamber of Commerce in all of our com-munities to update information about our lights and activ-ities

While we still have more work to do the Board is committed to continuing our progress in achieving our goals and objectives. Each board member is assigned a goal committee to work on and is looking for members that would like to help achieve these goals and objectives. We welcome the help of any of our members. We meet on the third Satur-day of each month during the season at the SPLKA office from 10:00am until about 11:30am. Following our committee work the board meets in a business meeting to con-duct SPLKA business. All board meetings are open to the membership.

Pa ge 7 Sabl e Points Beacon

SPLKA Financial Information

SPLKA is a non-profit 501c3 organization. Our sources of revenue include grants, memberships, gifts, tower tours,

sales of merchandise and interest and dividends on money in the bank, CD’s or in Foundations. The chart below

shows the amount we received in each category for 2011 and 2012.

Pa ge 8 Vol ume 8 , Issue 2

The chart below shows total support in dollars for a four year period

(2009-2012).

The chart below shows revenue versus expenses for a three year period

Pa ge 9 Sabl e Points Beacon

“Four Lights One Mission….” (Preserving Michigan’s Maritime History)

Hello,

I am Bob Baltzer, your Vice-President and Chairman of the committee for Goal III in our Strategic Plan (2011-2016).

The purpose of this committee is to: “….develop a self-sustaining endowment through targeted fundraising and planned giving.

Objectives: Establish a reserve fund for unexpected expenses. Continue to research and apply for appropriate grant funding. Explore opportunities to develop an endowment. Educate and encourage SPLKA membership to participate in planned giv-

ing. I am happy to report that we now have a “Reserve Line Item” in our Budget, cur-

rently funded at $10,000.00. We will continue to fund this Reserve Line in future budget cycles. While its purpose is to fund “unexpected” expenses, the Board will be very judi-cial in using these dollars. We have been successfully writing and being awarded several grants. As you know, our most recently completed project was a “$200,000.00 matching grant” for our new sea wall. The project came in under budget and our matching costs were approximately $83,000.00. Leslie Griswold, our White River Light Station (WRLS) Curator/Assistant Director applied for and was selected for an MLAP grant to paint the exterior of WRLS. Finally, we have selected an architect firm to begin work on a Histori-cal Structures Report (HSR) for Little Sable Point Lighthouse. Funds for this project were partially funded by a grant. A word of caution about grants… due to our Nation’s present economic situation, many grants are being offered as “matching grants” only, i.e. we have to “match” any federal, state or private funds. Yes, there are private founda-tions “out there” that provide funds to “worthwhile causes” and I can assure you that I am exploring them as quickly as possible. Those private foundations require an exten-sive “financial package” that explains our organization; who we are, our strategic plan, 990’s, Annual Reports and other very detailed information. Over time, as we build rela-tionships with some of these Foundations, I hope to be able to obtain more funding for our urgent restoration and maintenance projects.

This brings me to the main purpose for this article, which is Goal III, Objective (4):

Educate and encourage SPLKA membership to participate in planned giving. We cur-rently have the following urgent projects planned for Big Sable Lighthouse:

Letter from the Vice-President

Pa ge 1 0 Vol ume 8 , Issue 2

Patch the steel cladding on the tower and repaint $72K Strip paint from the keepers’ quarters, replace bricks and $150K whitewash the structure Historical Structures Report (HSR) for BSP and LNBL $60K each light Replace roof at BSP $30-50K

As you can see, we have some enormous expenses “looming on the horizon”. I

can assure you that your Board is doing everything it can to account for every penny in our budget and to be good stewards of your money. We have come a long way from our very humble beginnings. The responsibilities of restoring and maintaining four historic lighthouses on the shores of Eastern Lake Michigan have been demanding, but very re-warding as well. You, the SPLKA membership, have grown from the initial 23 members to well over 500 members now. Our mission remains very similar to the original words at the beginning of this article: “….to preserve, promote, educate the public and make our lighthouses accessible to all.”

Please take a moment to decide if you would like to make a very important and

timely investment in the future of YOUR lighthouses. You may send cash or check; simply complete the information on the attached envelope and send it to the SPLKA of-fice in Ludington, Michigan.

Thank you very much for helping us restore and maintain our “Castles on the

Lake”. Your generous donations will enable us to move forward with some very urgent maintenance projects. I will keep you advised on our progress as we move forward.

If you have any questions or require any further assistance, please do not hesitate

to contact our Executive Director or me. splkadirector@gmail.com (231) 845-7417 (Office) (937) 623-4958 (Bob)

Respectfully, Bob Baltzer SPLKA Vice-President (Fundraising Chariman)

Pa ge 1 1 Sabl e Points Beacon

$ 25 ___Associate Membership

$ 50 ___Individual Membership

$ 75 ___Couple/Family Membership

$ 150 ___Head Keeper

$ 350 ___District Inspector

$ 500 ___Lifetime Individual Membership

$ 250 ___Business Partnership**

$ 500 ___Corporate Sponsor

Amount Enclosed: $_____________________

Today’s Date:_____________

Please mail check and completed form to:

Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association

P.O. Box 673

Ludington, Michigan 49431

(231) 845-7417 Website: www.splka.org

Membership Application

Name(s):

Address:

City, State, Zip:

Telephone:

Email:

___New ___Renewal ___Donation

**Stating New Level of Membership and benefits. Contact Cindy Beth at

splkadirector@gmail.com if you'd like to become a Business Partner

SPLKA

P.O. Box 673

Ludington, MI 49431

Phone: 231-845-7417

E-mail: splkadirector@gmail.com

www.splka.org

NONPROFIT ORG

US POSTAGE

PAID

LUDINGTON MI

PERMIT NO. 673