Things are looking UP and the weather is starting to show some signs of TENNIS!! We have weathered an exceedingly difficult past year and the Board is now looking forward to opening the Club within a few short weeks (full opening, no pandemic restrictions, all courts open). As always, we thank you for your membership and appreciate your support to make OPTC a truly remarkable place for tennis, world-class instruction for all ages, and a vibrant social community. In past communications, we shared that the OPTC Board was diligently exploring a project to install a Water Well to irrigate our courts (and eliminate one of our largest annual expenses as well as our reliance on the municipal water service). This process has been unfolding for several months and we have now secured approval from our landlords at the Cook County Forest Preserve District to move forward immediately with the Well Project. This project has significant benefits—More than 90% of the Club’s water consumption will come from the Well (to irrigate all 9 courts) so the club will only need municipal water for the locker rooms and the kitchen sink. We estimate that the water bill, which is a massive $25-$30,000 per season expense, will virtually be eliminated, with a 2-year or less payback on the Well!! In addition, the Well will have a significant environmental and sustainability impact on the community. …But how do we get to this long-term solution to eliminate our massive annual water expense? We need your help!!! Could this be the last OPTC Fundraiser? Yes, that is highly likely if we can install this much-needed Well this season!! The cost of the Well Project is ~$40,000 (and we are ready to move forward now) --So we need some help! We ask you to consider donating to the Club to help fund this immediate Well Project (which will also let us keep our Season Pass rates at the reasonable levels that we offer). We have been contacted by a couple of anonymous donors already who have pledged large donations to the project, but we need additional help to match these generous contributions. We appreciate your generosity and support to keeping OPTC viable for many years to come! | 