Welcome to the website of Michigan State University’s alumni club for The Villages,Florida area. Founded in 2007 and chartered in February of 2008, The Villages Area MSU Alumni Club, today numbers over 250 members and is still growing. The club is for alumni and fans. While dedicated to promoting and supporting the mission of Michigan State University, the Club actively provides many opportunities for fellow Spartan fans to enjoy social, athletic, cultural and charitable events together.
Our Activities Calendar provides for monthly social activities, football and basketball game watches, tailgate parties, social and dance nights on The Villages’ Squares, group attendance at area entertainment events, golf outings and support of worthy local organizations.
MSU, we love thy shadows
When twilight silence falls,
Flushing deep and softly paling
O’er ivy covered halls;
Beneath the pines we’ll gather
To give our faith so true,
Sing our love for Alma Mater
And thy praises, MSU.
It has been a long time since we last contacted you to tell you the April Picnic, and all club regular activities, would be cancelled until the fall. Now, almost six months later, not much has changed in that regard. Your board met via Zoom on September 1, and, disappointing as it is, decided we cannot yet resume any club activities. We are hopeful of having our Annual Meeting in January, but only time will tell if that is possible.
On a personal note, my wife and I are still in Michigan. I had a medical appointment on campus this morning and decided to take a long walk along the Red Cedar while I was there. While school has started, the campus is like a ghost town. Absent were the students walking between classes, studying outdoors on a beautiful day and the general commotion that always comes with a campus visit. Every person I saw was wearing a mask — even the Sparty statue was masked up! They, like us, are taking the safety first route, but the difference in atmosphere on campus was startling.
We do intend to continue with our Education Grant Program with Wildwood Middle High School. The schools are also in a chaotic situation and need our help now more than ever. We have enough money in our education fund to cover some grants on a reduced basis, but the cancellation of April picnic and our auction, which was our major fundraiser, will diminish our abilities significantly. If you would like to donate to this fund, you can mail your check to our treasurer, Linda Chard (address hidden on website). Any donations are certainly appreciated and will be 100% used for this program, but as we are not a 501 (3)(c) organization, donations are not tax deductible.
We don’t know when it will be, but we are certainly looking forward to better news ahead and look forward to resuming the fellowship with our fellow Spartans.
In the meantime, Go Green!
Rich Rasmussen, President