he response to our year-end fundraising effort on behalf of Grand Canyon River Guides (gcrg), Inc. and our many programs has garnered such an overwhelming response that we felt compelled to tell you about it. We've already exceeded last year's amount and now have over $6,800 in donations! What a way to launch gcrg into 2000. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you personally so we'll take a stab at listing you here (those we've heard from to date that is!). If you're not listed it probably means it hasn't gotten to us as of this writing (it takes a long time to publish a newsletter, you know!). We of course apologize to anyone we may have inadvertently missed. Our sincere and deep appreciation goes out to:
Anonymous (you know who you are!)
Barbara & Phil Albright
Steve Asadorian
Tim Begue
Noel Eberz
Pat & Roger Essick
Mary Gratton
Robert Hirsh
Denise Hudson
Steve Jellinek
Ed Jodice
Jane & Robert Katz
Gary Ladd
Gwen Moody
Betsy Newcomer
Gloria Pfeif
Drummond Pike
Margaret Pratley
Marji Robinson
Larry Schmelzla
Thomas & Jane Schwenk
Merion Sharp
Fred St. Goar
Walt Taylor
Marja Tenney
Ellen Voorhees
Ken Wright
And while, we're in the thank-you mode, there are a few other incredibly generous folks or organizations we should mention. Major contributions were also recently received from David Hinshaw, from the Chehalis Fund of the Tides Foundation (on the recommendation of gcrg member, Drummond Pike as listed above), from the Brown Foundation and from Newman's Own Organics. We've also received wonderful news of pending support from the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund for our Guides Training Seminar, Adopt-a-Beach program and Adaptive Management program participation and from the Grand Canyon Monitoring & Research Center for our Adopt-a-Beach program. We also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported us with your memberships, contributions and volunteer labor throughout the year.
And last but not least, we sent out a letter last fall to members who had let their gcrg memberships lapse (inadvertently, we're sure!), or those who were simply “non-members” asking them to join. We've been sending out the newsletter to these folks all this time regardless of their status and have gotten to the point where we just can't do it any more. Harsh reality overshadowed our good intentions as the number of people in those categories grew (especially the expired members!). Fortunately, as a response, we've gained over 100 new members. We're so glad to have you back on board! It was heartening, to say the least, to see many long-time expired or non-members join as gcrg life members! The point of this is that membership dues matter tremendously. They are, in fact, our biggest single source of income. So, if you want to stay involved and informed about the Canyon, send your dues in when you get that renewal notice in the mail. It's vastly important to gcrg and to the overall health of our organization!
Our sincere appreciation goes out to all of you who continue to support gcrg and our ongoing efforts to protect Grand Canyon and its magic. Our warmest and best wishes for a wonderful New Year.

Lynn Hamilton
Secretary/Treasurer