From Mike Robson:
First time down this year and I encountered two disappointments coming in and leaving. Everything in between was good because I was at the lake with the Malachi Family-the collective of cottagers.
At the outset I would like to address our elected governing body. This message is to Gerry Hunter, president of Malachi Campers Assoc. and the rest of the board of directors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and previous Boards for the effort put forward in events throughout the years that I have attended at the lake. What makes our lake what it is, is the people and the volunteers. This also goes back 20 plus years to all those that have participated as a volunteer in one way or another at our lake and made it a place I want to go and come back to visit again. This letter is to all those in the baggage car or at the dock, who visit and take the time to help those around them. This promotes a healthy and vibrant Malachi community.
I would also take this opportunity to remind everyone that a little co-operation at the dock helping others (as we used to do at train time every weekend) goes a long way to your own enjoyment of the cottage. It allows us the time to meet new people and renew old acquaintances. And maybe get ourselves to our own sanctuary a little bit sooner. This was not evident this Friday evening at the landing. I found one of our seniors waiting in her truck halfway up the hill. It seems that her and her husband and grandsons had been asked to move their vehicle so two boats could launch. And then afterwards the seniors were asked to move their boat to the end of the dock for someone else’s convenience. At no time during my wait did I witness anyone offer to help the seniors loading or assist the Grandmother who walks assisted by a cane, down to the boat now moored at the far end of the dock.
The second disappointment was on the way home that weekend. I was in receipt of a letter on my window criticizing the president and directors and the manner in which the annual fees were being collected and in a larger sense the management of the association. Not once in the letter was there mention of contacting the president for a clarification of the quoted passage on the Malachi website. If you don’t like the politics don’t fuel it with worthless criticism but with positive thought and involvement in the Association. I am one who pays their fees later than May31st for no reason other than tardiness and my apologies for this. But seriously folks we have a good thing at Malachi compared to many areas in both N.W. Ontario and Manitoba. Have you only paid for parking and not for the roads you drive on or the dock you unload onto? I think that if a person goes to the trouble of a waterproof cover and time to write and print this letter and then attach it to vehicles windscreens they should have enough courtesy to sign their name so that better dialogue could occur after I receive this. The reason that the road has improved over the last 20 to 25 years I have driven it is because of the volunteer hours that have gone into this, the docks and the many other activities and facilities the Association promotes and VOLUNTEERS their time for. The only way these projects continue is by support of the members and payment of fees if nothing else.
Keep up the good work folks and see you at the lake.