The Gates Mills Community Club has 76 members. Our Monthly Luncheons/Programs have been very well attended. Ladies Night Out is now planning for our Summer Patio Dinners. Members gave Toys to University Settlement, our Holiday Giving Project. They also volunteered at the "Gathering Place Warehouse." We had our second Pancake Breakfast in March it was successful and a great community builder. Together with the Garden Club we participated in the Village Service Luncheon. Community Club helped sponsor the New Residents Welcome Party. Our annually donation was given to the Gates Mills Elementary School to purchase gifts for 21 students in the 5thgrade Graduating Class. We continue to give Scholarships to High School Students in Gates Mills. Many members were involved in the Art Show. The Book Club meets the first Thursday of each month and is doing very well. Ladies Night Out group had an evening at Flow Yoga in Gates Mills to show them our support, we also supported an "Encore "pop-up concert. We will continue to sell Hot Dogs at the concession stand on July 4th.

The Club is financially stable, the Pink Sheet is solvent. Pink Sheet has some new Ads but are always looking for more to help with the cost of printing. Pink Sheet is online in color and continues to be delivered to homes each month. The Pink Sheet "the glue that keeps the Village together." Community Club continues to recruit new members to increase our membership, so we can continue our mission with emphasis on benefiting the residents of the Village Gates Mills.

CathyDiVincenzo, President

In 2024, The Gates Mills Historical Society continued to expand its museum, programs, and funding. The Kish Family Gallery funded, by long
time resident Dan Kish, provides the necessary space for museum exhibits singular to Gates Mills: the Red Fox restaurant, the Chagrin Valley Hunt, the mills of Gates Mills, and W. Smithson Broadhead horse scene street sign renovations. A large replica mill by George Brown fills one corner.

The conference room houses individual displays for each village organization and the elementary school, a corner repository for books written by Village residents, photos of Village events including: the Christmas Eve bonfire, Fourth of July parades, the Art Show and other along with police, fire, and the horticulture school.

A rare piece of original Cleveland & Eastern Interurban track, spikes, and gravel with a bronze historical marker was installed on the original right of way of the line that went between The Chagrin Valley Hunt Club and Southwick House.

Charley Marston, aided by Will Krause, has managed a steadily growing endowment fund. The Veale Foundation gave the endowment fund a matching grant of $10,000.

Our shop of historical items: Paul Meunier maps & placemats, books including a new title: "A Life in Gates Mills" by Dan Collister, coasters, etc. bring village life into homes.

We continue to work with Mayor Siemborski and the Village on getting necessary repairs to the Cleveland & Eastern footbridge crossing the river. A celebration of the 100th anniversary of the last trolley to cross the bridge took place March 30, 2025.

The increased interest in Village history and talented, hard-working Board of Trustees propel us forward in our mission to document and preserve the history of Gates Mills

Submitted by
Dan Kish and
MarciaAnselmo, President
 

I am happy to report the Friends are financially sound and able to generously support the Gates Mills Branch programs and increase our support to CCPL. Our membership at 77 households is lower than past years, yet their contributions are higher than ever.

We celebrated our 50th Anniversary Celebration in August, which brought together young and old to enjoy some old fashioned fun on the Village Green. We hope to sponsor more free events like this in the future.

Extending our reach into the Village, the Friends were able to contribute a substantial portion of funds to the Village Sidewalk Project from the School to the Community House. We also sponsored a program for the Community Club in January and hope to continue to gain exposure within the Village.

Our Artist Series and Receptions, led by Karen Galloway continue to bring the Fine Arts to the Village five times a year. Our May/June exhibit opens this evening with Chagrin Falls photographer Ryn Clarke.

The Friends Scholarship for Mayfield High School seniors had the most applicants so far at ten students, two of whom received $1000 gifts to kick start their college years.

Finally, the services and staff at the Gates Mills Branch are constantly evolving and we are committed to supporting them and their presence in the Village and we encourage you to get to know them and do the same!

Suzanne Snelson, President

Over the last year since our last update, the Gates Mills Land Conservancy has achieved a number of important milestones with more to come in 2025. Here are the highlights:
Land Acquisition: In May 2024, GMLC acquired a 13-acre parcel on the north side of Mayfield Road in a bargain sale transaction which was $40,000 below the appraised value. The heavily wooded and ravined property is now known as "Kay Perkins Preserve."

Land Trust Alliance Reaccreditation: In the fall of 2024, GMLC was again accredited by the Land Trust Alliance, the leading national association for land conservancies. This lengthy process requires detailed reporting and accounting of our management and stewardship practices and ensures our conservancy is following best practices and is held to the same high standards as peer organizations across the country.

LTA Rally in Cleveland: Later this summer, the Land Trust Alliance will bring Rally, its national conference, to Cleveland. This event draws thousands of conservation experts from across the country and as part of the event programing the GMLC will host a field trip for around 50 attendees to the Chagrin Valley alongside our partners the Chagrin River Watershed Partners and Western Reserve Land Conservancy. These attendees will visit Gates Mills to learn about how we are leveraging public/private partnerships to advance land conservation and stewardship in the village.

Tree Canopy Subcommittee: Three GMLC directors, with Mitch Bass as its chairperson, joined the Village's Tree Canopy Committee. The Conservancy's Merkel Preserve, located north of the Gates Mills Garden Club on Chagrin River Road, is one of four pilot sites in the Village to be treated for invasives starting this winter and over the next several years.

Invasive Species Removal: Funded by a confidential grant administered by PNC, the Conservancy engaged a botanist in early 2024 to perform an audit on its owned preserves for invasive species with a particular focus on eradicating the highly aggressive Tree of Heaven, which is a host plant for the invasive spotted lanternfly, which has exploded in prominence in urban areas. Tree of Heaven was found and treated on five preserves. This multi-year eradication effort will continue this year.

Community Outreach: GMLC publishes three newsletters a year, which are distributed to 725+ villagers. They focused on the purpose and need for conservation easements, notable conservation collaborations with the Village and individual community members; tributes to Rindy Collister, Dan Kish and John Kramer; the Tree Canopy Program, our Tree-of-Heaven mitigation, and introduced Penitentiary Glen as a new contributor.

Our second annual Environmental Seminar was held at the Gates Mills Environment Center in September. Expert speakers made presentations on environmental topics including the importance of conservation easements, effective land stewardship, healthy tree canopies, and waste-water treatment. The event was well received with 43 people in attendance.

New Website: Since spring, a website task force, made up of three directors and GMLC's Secretary, has been working on an enhanced website for the Conservancy. The task force expects to roll out the new website and its enhanced capabilities in 2025.

Governance: In October, the Conservancy held its annual meeting and elected new directors and officers. Phil Campanella and Alex Bercheck were elected as new directors and John Kozak was re-elected, each to four-year terms. The Conservancy's full complement of fifteen directors was completed during the Village Council meeting in October with Anne Marchetto's appointment to the GMLC's board by the mayor. New officers were also elected: Jamie Carracher as president, Nathaniel Smith as vice president, Alex Bercheck as treasurer, and Diane Kennedy as secretary.

As always, we value your questions and feedback. Thank you for your time and support as we work together to ensure Gates Mills stays a beautiful and wonderful place to live.

Jamie Carracher, President

JUDY BELL REPORT

-  Our season began just before Thanksgiving when the committee, along with the GM PTO created handmade ornaments with the students at GME. This long standing tradition takes many hands and lots of planning to decorate the Community House tree.

-  The Tree Lighting for 2024 was very well attended, though there seemed to be less children in line for Santa than usual. We had many "goodie bags" left over. John Colello did a great job as Santa and will be sharing those duties as Jim Stafford will don the suit in 2025. We are blessed with an ample supply of Santas for the foreseeable future!

 The Pony Rides continue to be popular and we hope to continue this tradition. Thank You to the Improvement Society for sharing the cost of the Percheron Ponies!

-  In the spirit of Christmas, the Food Drive continues to be a success with hopes of providing even more non-perishables next year for the food pantry at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Mayfield Heights.

-  We went through all 225 hot dogs and 660 donut holes in about an hour!More will be ordered for next year.

-  Generous financial donations (totaling $675) were received from eleven Village families, which was almost ($615) matched by the "Tips for a Cause" jar at Addies Cup. Thank You to Laura Berge at Addies for this large donation which enabled us to just about break even. (The cash donation cans at the event brought in $125.)

-  Finally, as always the Service Department Crew was organized and efficient and made the rest of us look good. We really couldn't do it without them!

Submitted by
Susan Daugherty and Suzanne Snelson