Update from SAS, June 1st

I hope this message finds all our Salle members safe and healthy.  The Salle has been working on a reopening plan based on the guidelines provided by the State’s Phase II Opening Plan.

Unfortunately, King County and the City have not yet entered Phase II, as I am sure you are all well aware.  We hope that this will occur sometime in June; we will provide you with the details of our reopening plan before the end of the week.

Until then, we are asking our members to, once again, donate their membership fees if they are financially able to do so.  If you are not able to do so this month, please contact us so we can turn off payment notifications to you.  These donations are tax deductible and keep in mind that some employers match donations.  Let us know if you need a receipt for matching purposes.

We will be expanding our online class offerings this month; they will continue after we enter Phase II and into Phase III.  Please take advantage of these online classes, regardless of whether you are currently donating to the Salle.  Contact us if you need the link information for these various online classes.

Salle Auriol Seattle was successful in securing a Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) loan, providing us with additional funds to pay our full-time staff.  The club has used some money from our “rainy day” fund every month, but it remains healthy due to the awesome generosity of our members.  Thank you!

Please be on the lookout for more information about the Salle’s next steps towards fully opening.

Best Regards,

Marshall Hibnes
President, Salle Auriol Seattle

SAS Club Closure Update

Hello, members of Salle Auriol Seattle!  I hope this update finds you safe and in good health.

In accordance with the stay at home order for Washington state, the club remains closed until restrictions for our type of business are lifted.  As I am sure you are all aware, the stay at home order currently extends through May 4th.

Governor Inslee has indicated that he is considering loosening some business restrictions after that but none of the business sectors he has discussed include health and sports clubs.  The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is currently estimating that it will be safe for Washington state to ease restrictions on May 26th.  This is an evolving estimate that is subject to change.

During this time, the club coaching staff have produced online footwork videos for use by club members.  You should all have received information about where to access these videos; if you didn’t, please contact us for that information.  The coaches also started live Zoom video classes this week.  Many of you have already been invited to sessions relevant to you.  Kundry is continuing to disseminate links and instructions for accessing these classes as we add more.

Thanks to the generosity of so many of our members who were financially able to donate their club fees and provide other financial contributions in April, most club expenses were covered; the difference was paid out of our Reserve Fund.

We remain committed to paying our coaches and staff through this time.  We have applied for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) but have not been approved at this time; we hope to be included as part of the second wave of recently approved funding.

Since it appears likely we will be closed for most, if not all of, May we once again humbly request that our members who are financially able to provide donations (in the form of your regular monthly  dues and class payments, or some other donation amount).  As a tax-deductible non-profit organization, we are tracking our member donations so we can provide you with suitable tax reporting documentation later this year. You can also donate through our website.

We understand that this extended stay at home order has negatively impacted so many individuals; if you were able to contribute in April but are no longer able to contribute in May, simply let Kundry know so she can deal with any auto-pay or payment reminder notifications associated with your membership.

I look forward to the day (hopefully fairly soon) where our member family can once again come the Salle Auriol Seattle and enjoy the fantastic sport of Fencing!

Best Regards,

Marshall Hibnes

Salle Auriol Seattle