I graduated from a two-year college in Saskatchewan (Canada) in 1981. I have lived the past 25+ years in Kansas, and have often grieved being far away from friends and family. This is home; but those are my roots.

Over the past several months, I've thrown out the idea of a 30-year reunion next summer to several of my friends from there. Received not much response or interest. There's only been one reunion ( a 10-year one). The school no longer exists, so there is no alumni office or list, or anything.

So, ...

I decided that I want this badly enough that I'd pursue it. I began searching on facebook, and, between lots of facebook, and a little bit of soliciting contact info from other alum, in the past 2 weeks, I've contacted 40 - 50 alum (out of about 100).

I set up a reunion event page, and said that I was gauging interest. 25 - 30 have responded. All who have responded have said yes, or maybe, they would come. No one has said no.

There's been an incredible amount of interest (which I truly did not expect). A side benefit is that they are finding each other on the event page, and adding each other to their own friend lists. Many of them have not been in touch with each other since they graduated.

We're all having a blast re-connecting in cyber space already. I've received tons of thanks and credit for this -- I can hardly believe that I'm responsible.

But now -- wow. I have a big task ahead of me! It doesn't even seem like an option to "not" plan one now. And, trying to do that from 1200 miles away seems slightly insane.

However, I have connections in the area (my dad lives there) and there are lots of local alum, one whom is willing to be pretty involved in helping with the planning, and another who expects that local people can be involved with many of the local things (it sounds like she's kind of volunteering too).

So, ... here we go! I've never even been to a reunion, let alone planned one.

And, I'm the one who, the first week of college, was so shy and quiet, that I was told by one person that I was stuck up because I never talked to anyone. (Actually, finding that out changed my life. As I didn't wish to be perceived that way, I decided to use the opportunity of being in a new setting to change who I was. Now, my husband wishes I'd found a happy medium! lol)

Any good ideas for reunion planning?

~ Faith

Using a hotel space is always a good idea. That way you can use their meeting rooms, banquet halls, food services...you get the idea, and no one is stuck cooking for 25 or 250 people. When folks get tired, they go to their room. A bar is usually close or alcohol can be catered to the event. Most larger hotels have a catering service. You will have to charge a fee for the big party event, and then allow each to provide their own room fees. If they dont want to stay at the hotel you chose, let them bunk elsewhere, and arrive for the big party.

Think of games. HAve folks bring as many photos as they can from their own lives. Make sure you have music from that era.

Not to derail the subject but did you get the daycare off the ground? I would hate to see you run yourself into the ground.

Hey! I know, get a group to help you organize it. Pick two or three that are good at it, and you can save each other many steps.

This sounds like so much fun! enjoy!

Thanks for the suggestions, Dej.

Regarding the pre-school like program, I'll message you about it. Last time I posted here regarding that, it didn't go well. Others can message me, if they'd like to know more, as well.

~ Faith

I think Deej had great ideas . I need to think of more

But I wanted to say WAY to go Faith!!!!

Good for you - you took the lead- contacted people and enjoyed the reconnection
I think that's great

Maybe you could create small tasks for more folks s they don't feel swamped and you get the help

Yup; been thinking about the small tasks/delegating idea. I've got one person who has volunteered to help quite a bit. I've been leaning towards an indoor facility and a caterer. I have local connections for a possible facility, but she'd likely help find a caterer.

However, she has also suggested an outdoor venue (a local prairie sort of zoo) that rents out space, and a bbq or carry-in meal, or something. I wouldn't want anything to do with planning that:
I suspect there'd be a lot more physical labor involved in setting up (my MS stamina/fatigue wouldn't like that)
I don't have easy connections for booking
Carry-in? People are coming from 3 Canadian provinces, probably, as well as 1-3 of us from the US.
BBQ? Sounds like a lot of work.

But, she'd be willing to take on something like that.

Someone has also suggested putting together a reunion book (profiles, photos, etc.) Between my computer skills, and the skills of my computer guru of a DH, I could handle something like that, but, would be real willing to delegate it out to someone else.

Even little things like making name tags could be done by someone else.

Will keep thinking on that. First priorities, tho, are choosing a date and place.

~ Faith

Good for you for taking this on and reconnecting with classmates. No suggestions, just wanted you to know how great I think this is.

Great Faith. Have fun with it. WooHoo

Continuing to have a ball with this. Have contacted 57 alum, and still have people who will likely be able to assist in getting in touch with more. (Have located 6 out of 7 former roommates.)

About 80% of those have responded, and every single one either says they will definitely, or maybe (usually, likely) attend.

3 of us are in the US; most in are Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which, although they are neighboring provinces, will mean a 10- or 12- hour drive for some of them.

Facebook has been an incredible tool -- a great way to find people, connect on the reunion event page, and message each other.

Other than continuing to try to locate people (I'm really working hard at that -- kind of past the searching phase and really into the networking with other alum), my next steps will be to choose a date and place.

~ Faith

Date: July 9, 2011
Place: My home church, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This was a small Bible college, of which that church has always been very supportive.
Tentative caterer booked. Several -- one especially (more local) people helping. But, someone else may do a reunion book, and someone else is interested in putting together a slide show. And, someone wants to coordinate local people offering to host alumni who are traveling in their homes for night, etc.
Some alumni are already asking relatives to plan summer weddings around those dates, so they don't have a schedule conflict.

Have contacted 71 out of 108 alumni. 6 were just last week, and haven't responded. 5 additional ones have not responded. Only one has said no -- schedule conflict. A few have not indicated an attendance status. The rest have said either yes, or maybe, they'll attend. Some of the "yes" people will be traveling 12 hours. Some of the "maybes" live 24 hours away.

I've had a lot of positive feedback/pats on the back for my current efforts, and it feels good to see many of us connecting on facebook with people we've been out of contact with for almost 30 years. lol If I fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, I believe the reunion would still occur without me, because it seems to have taken on a life of its own.

~ Faith

P.S.: Am also working on planning my daughter's wedding, which will be held in May. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...764#post706764