Chair, FOMZI

Steering Committee

The Friends of Mt. Zion committee met Tuesday of this week at the home of Chuck Herrin, formerly the Greenbriar School on Highway 269 in the Greenbriar section of Fairfield. We appreciate Chuck’s offering to host us due to a conflict in our regular meeting space. The surroundings were not only spacious and pleasant for a meeting place but inspiring as well. Chuck has done amazing things with this building, all of which reinforce our vision of what Mt. Zion can be again.

The committee welcomed new guests who are interested in our work, took subcommittee reports, then moved on to our invited speaker, Marty Daniels. Marty is a retired non-profit consultant from Camden who agreed to speak to us on many different aspects of the job ahead. She offered much insight on the process of establishing a permanent non-profit organization, establishing a board, plan development and raising funds. Marty has had extensive experience in all these areas and we appreciate her taking time to speak with us.

Bill McMaster was with us to give us an update on his continuing talks with engineers and construction and code experts. We’re nearing a point where we’ll be making some decisions about how to proceed with final studies on structural issues that will not only further educate us about the building but also lead us to the bid process that will give us actual numbers to shoot for funding-wise.

Speaking of funding, a huge, huge thank you to those who are already on that bandwagon! Your faith in us and the vision so many share is both humbling and gratifying. Thanks also go to those who are viewing our website and signing on as FOMZIs. Your kinds words of encouragement and support are a big part of what keeps us on task.

Don’t forget … call 635-4041, Extension 112 to help with our database, which is growing weekly. We’d particularly like to hear from former students of the elementary and middle schools that were in the buildings after the high school moved. It was your school too and you’re part of the story. Also needed is current contact information for many of the names we’ve compiled from class reunion lists. If you’re in the process of updating such a list, please let us know.