Class Gift 98% Completed (May 2007)

To those of you who gave generously towards the class gift, you will be pleased to know that the RMC/CMR/RRMC Class of 1996 Stained Glass window gift project is 98% completed. The window installation was done in mid-may by Sandpiper Studios of Belleville, Ontario. All that remains is to purchase a bilingual plaque to identify our class as the donor. We already have $400 raised of the $3000 needed to finish the VERY LAST PART of the project! (I know everyone will be extremely pleased to have the entire thing done.)

Thank you to Marc Rancourt who arranged and coordinated the scaffolding from the RMC Civil Engineering Department and Steve France of the RMC Foundation for writing up the project paperwork for Commandant approval. As well, Steve France allocated $5K from the Foundation to make up for previous donations of our class that had been amalgamated with their funding pool in 1999 due to changes in the CCRA charity tax rules. The total cost of the stained glass window ended up being just under $14K because we did not need to rent scaffolding.

Thank you to Tyler Brooks and Eric LaForest for tracking down authentic prints of the coat of arms for both Royal Roads and College Militaire Royale. These prints were used by Sandpiper to fabricate the stained glass colours with as much authenticity as possible!

And of course, a big thank you to Gary and Linda of Sandpiper Studios Belleville for designing, creating, and installing the six stained glass panes in the atrium. I have already received feedback on the professional quality and design of the work.

Now would be a great time to finish the project off with a bronze plaque, so please contact those who aren't listed in "The Patron Pool" below and encourage them to help finish this off! At this point in the project any further donations can be made DIRECTLY to the RMC FOUNDATION in Kingston: (http://www.rmcclubfoundation.ca/en/about/staff.shtml). Payments can be made by credit card over the phone. Remember to specify that the money is for THE CLASS OF 1996 FUND!!!!! When there is sufficient cash to order the bronze plaque, I will have a biligual one made up and mounted.

It is my hope to have the window formally "donated" on behalf of the Class of 1996 once the plaque is installed in the atrium, with a target date of Ex-Cadet weekend this September 2007.

Many thanks to all of you who gave generously to see the Class Gift project through to completion.

Jeff "Zoomer" Szumlanski
engrn@cogeco.ca

We've Started! Check out the Project Update:

Refs: A. Meeting Jeff Szumlanski/Alphonse Doyle (RMC NPF Account Manager) 25 Jan 07
B. Meeting Jeff Szumlanski/Steve France (RMC Foundation President) 26 Jan 07

This is an email to advise you that your Class Gift donation cheque was turned over to the RMC Foundation today and will be cashed in the near future. My apologizes for the short notice, however things moved quickly this week between the RMC Foundation and the NPF Account manager this week. The good news is that the 20% deposit cheque will be issued to Sandpiper Studios to commence work on our stained glass windows within two to three weeks.

Additional info:

Why was the project delayed past October 31, 2006?

There was a delay in the autumn following the 10-year reunion caused by a fire regulation that prevented the existing "fire-rated glass" to be removed from the six-pane window between the New Gym and the CMRC. The existing "georgian wired" ceramic glass is fire-rated to contain a fire in the New Gym for up to 60 mins, since there is no water sprinklers in the New Gym because of the age of the building. Working through this issue with the Base CE Chief Architect and the BCE Project Officer slightly delayed the approval of the window by Base Construction Engineering until a work-around was achieved. The stained glass windows will now be mounted on the side of the six-pane window facing in towards the circular atrium. A wooden trim will be used to hold the windows in place, which added an additional cost for materials and installation of $2000. Also, three panes of the existing fire glass are cracked. RMC Physical Plant must now replace the broken panes before final installation of the stained glass windows can proceed. However, Sandpiper Studios has estimated it will take between three to six months to contruct the six stained glass window panes.

What other issues had to be resolved in the fall before the project could proceed?

Because the stained glass windows were no longer being installed on the New Gym side into the existing window stops, an issue arose because of the safe work height requirement on the atrium side of the window, since there is a circular ledge on the inside of the atrium that would have prevented normal scaffolding from being used. Marc Rancourt was instrumental in locating specialized scaffolding available in the RMC CivEng department that enables the installation to be completed by enabling Sandpiper Studios to work forward of the scaffolding main structure. Prior to locating this specialized scaffolding we had been considering renting a hydraulic lift, however the rental cost and logistical problem of getting it up to the second floor of the New Gym were significant hurdles.

How were we able to afford the revised cost of $14,000 for the stained glass windows?

The RMC Foundation provided an additional $5,000 to assist us with our $9,400 of donations in order to meet the revised cost of the stained glass windows. In my view, this helps offset the original donations that were absorbed by the Foundation in the late nineties due to income tax changes. It has also helped us move to complete the stained glass window portion of the project. The orginal estimate was $12,000 for the windows and $3,000 for the cast bronze plaque (total of $15,000). The revised costs are $14,000 (windows) and $3,000 (plaque) for a total of $17,000. A small amount of additional fundraising awareness will need to be done to rally up money for the plaque.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at any time. If you are in contact with any fellow classmates, please pass this along. It would be nice to receive ten or twenty more donations in order to buy the bronze placque and have the entire thing finished this year. I am quite well aware how tired you are of being pestered for money. As I found out this week, you can contact the RMC Foundation and request to be identified as "do not solicit" in their database to reduce the amount of mailings asking for money. The newsletter is run by the Ex-Cadet Club, a different entity, however they may also have a similar option if you no longer want the newsletters and emails, etc.

I appreciate your patience and trust in providing a donation cheque in advance.

Jeff Szumlanski
engrn@cogeco.ca
jeff.szumlanski@rmc.ca
613-549-5648
www.rmc96gift.blogspot.com

The Window - Class of 96

The Patron Pool

Thank you to the following classmates who contributed for the Class Gift Project:

(Donations Collected/Remitted to RMC Foundation)
Helga Budden
Elisha Sloan-Keats
Jeff Szumlanski
Simon & Marie-Andrée Jacques
Fiona Chaperon (née Schreurs)
Julie Misquitta (née Brazeau)
Marie Barker (née Demers)
Janin Blanchet
Marc Rancourt
Mick Bodnar ...TWICE! Two separate donations! Thank you!
John "Streak" Waugh
Stephane Neveu
Darren Puffer
Ryan Solomon
Josh Price
Walter Norquay
Lisa Grenier
Nicolas De Rico
Francois Marcoux
Craig Isenor
Charity Weeden (née Stephenson)
Brian Erickson
Rob and Kathleen MacEwen
Réjean Gagnon
Tyler Brooks
Chris Poole (received while on vacation from New Zealand, 17 Aug 2007)
Andrew Chanyi (received from San Francisco, CA, 5 Oct 2007)
Todd Willms (RMC Foundation online donation, from San Francisco, CA, 5 Oct 2007)

(Donations Pledged) ...Please either donate directly to RMC Foundation (and let me know via email/phone...they can can't tell me due to privacy regulations) or mail a cheque to me and I'll look after it for you.

John Schreuders
Kevin Horseman
Rory McLay
Walter Moniz
Jim Sale
Philippe Trahan
John Waugh
Bryan Davidson

And others have contacted me to find out how much is left to go.......

This is the home stretch. With $3K left for the cast bronze plaque, this is your last chance to donate and know that you contributed to the Class Gift Project. We are going to finish it this time. (and we're already 98% of the way there!)

Mailing address:

Jeff Szumlanski
82 Point St Mark Dr
Kingston ON K7K 6X9
engrn@cogeco.ca
jeff.szumlanski@rmc.ca
Tel: (613) 549-5648

Facts and Figures

There was just over $2000 of specific Class of '96 donations held by the Ex-Cadet Club/RMC Club Foundation (the fundraising entity of the Ex-Cadet Club) up until about 2001. Anyone who had donated up until that time had their cash absorbed into the Foundation's "general purpose" account due to Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) changes to the Income Tax laws for directed giving. Donations specifically for a special project can no longer be held in escrow longer than 2 years. This donation money is GONE FOREVER and we cannot get it back from the RMC Foundation to use towards our Stained Glass Window. The RMC Club Foundation would also not tell us who had donated between 1996 and 2001 due to privacy legislation.

Any donations we make directly to the Ex-Cadet Club/RMC Club Foundation are no longer under our direct control. If you were to send your cheque directly to the RMC Club Foundation, there is no way for us to retrieve/return your cash, or to identify that you have given money. Therefore, the Class Gift Project Team is trying to collect the $15,000 separately from the Foundation between May to October 2006 in the five months leading up to the 10-Year reunion celebration so we know BEFOREHAND that enough funds will be available to commence the gift project.

In order to fundraise without losing the ability to RETURN donations if our target of $15,000 is NOT met by October of 2006, please make a cheque out to " THE RMC CLUB FOUNDATION, INC. - CLASS OF 1996 GIFT ". It will be held until October '06 but NOT CASHED. If after the 10-year reunion weekend we have collected enough to start the project we will give the cheques to the RMC Club Foundation and they contract with Sandpiper Studios for the stained-glass window (on our behalf). We cannot start the window until we KNOW for sure there is enough CHEQUES collected to finish the project all the way because $15K is too expensive an undertaking to have anyone "foot" the bill and "hope" the balance is collected in time.

If $15,000 is fundraised by October 2006 and we start the stained glass window, your CHEQUE will be handed to the RMC Club Foundation so that YOU the donatee receives for income-tax purposes an income-tax receipt and charitable donation deduction. Then the Foundation will pay all deposits and invoices owing to Sandpiper Studios for the stained glass window. The 2-year "escrow" holding period would start this fall and our project will be completed by 2008 thereby ensuring we use up all our donations. A brass placque will be engraved and mounted on the wall in the New Gym next to the window identifying it as being from the Class of 1996. The donation for the Class of 1996 Stained Glass Window Class Gift cannot be used to purchase a brick in front of the Memorial Arch with the same cash - sorry.

If we do NOT raise $15K by this October 2006, the donations will be mailed back to the individuals (therefore make sure you have accurate mailing addresses and contact information included with your cheques). The Stained Glass window project will be closed and the Class of 1996 class gift project will be dead (maybe someone else can try again at the 25-year reunion).

If every one of the 300 or so Class of 1996 graduates donated we would only need $50 per person to raise $15K. However, based on logic and the past experiences of the Ex-Cadet Club/RMC Foundation they have told us that 300 donatees is unrealistic because some people are "MIA"/"missing" and others have no warm and fuzzy desire to donate money to the college for a class gift. The Foundation advised us to set a realistic goal of 25% of our class (75 people) donate $200 each. This makes $15K. This is enough to get started. If you are comfortable donating $200 (which equates to $20 a year for 10-years) that would be awesome and we can get started on the stained-glass window. As many may remember, we each received $80 back from our Gift Fund donations that were taken off our pay during the four years at the college, so we are asking for it back plus $120 extra.

If you wish to remain anonymous, please mention that. A running total of donatees is being posted above.

Send donation CHEQUES that can be held in trust without being cashed until OCTOBER 31st, 2006, your donour recognition preference (yes/no), plus detailed return address & contact info including email address and tel # in case we are forced to close the project and issue refunds in October 2006 to:

Jeff Szumlanski
82 Point St Mark Dr
Kingston ON K7K 6X9

If you wish to contact me I'm at: engrn@cogeco.ca

Class of '96 Stained Glass Window

The Class of 1996 Tri-College Crest Stained Class Window would be installed in a six-pane window at the west end of the second floor of Yeo Hall between the New Gym and the Cadet Mess and Recreation Centre (CMRC).

In black and white you can see the Artist Design Concept of the three coat of arms of each of the three colleges.

The window is in a distinct and highly visible location. Anyone moving between the New Gym and the CMRC will see the window. During the afternoon and evening, the warm glow of the western sunset will light up the colourful glass.

Sandpiper Studios in Belleville, Ontario indicated they can perform the handpainting of the coat of arms on the glass and then cut them to fit inside the six curved windows. Sandpiper Studios has completed numerous stained glass restoration projects for Queen's University Grant Hall and St. George's Cathedral (downtown Kingston).

Already several classmates have been involved in preparing the initial design of the window and tracking down historically accurate copies of the three college coat of arms from archives and historical offices in Ottawa.

Stats 96

Approximately 300 of us graduated from RMC in May 1996. Due to circumstances at the time, we did not donate a class gift to the college.

This being our 10th anniversary year we are trying to raise sufficient funds to complete a tri-college stained glass window as our Class of 1996 Gift, approximately $15,000.

Any questions or comments regarding the Class of '96 Stained Glass Window Class Gift Project, contact Jeff "Zoomer" Szumlanski @ engrn@cogeco.ca