Karen Payne

The Norma Pealer Volunteer of the Year award recognizes the exceptional dedication of a volunteer who has provided outstanding support for the Arts Center. The Board of Directors is pleased to recognize Karen Payne as the 2019 Volunteer of the Year.

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A Dresden native, Karen taught grade school in Penn Yan, while raising three children with her husband Dave. Always an active community member, after retirement she contributed to a number of clubs and organizations. In 2013 Karen joined the Arts Center’s Board of Directors and soon took up the daunting task of organizing the volunteers who keep the Arts Center open by serving daily at the docent’s desk, providing food for exhibit openings and supporting a variety of events and fundraising activities.  

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Her kind and gentle manner attracted still more volunteers and Karen implemented new training materials and procedures for those new volunteers as well as organizing volunteer appreciation events. 

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After six years on the Board, Karen looks forward to having more time to attend activities and events with her grand-children but she remains one of the Arts Center’s most willing and active volunteers.

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Karen is always ready to lend a hand and always has a cheerful smile and enthusiastic greeting for visitors, especially those grown “children” who were in her classes at school, and the many local patrons whose children she taught. The Arts Center Board is grateful for all that Karen has done and continues to do to support our organization!

Thank you for your on-going support of the Arts Center of Yates County.

Supporting the Arts Center of Yates County

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As a nonprofit organization, our ability to offer opportunities for active participation in the arts to area residents, artists, and visitors is highly dependent upon the ongoing involvement of our many friends. We're deeply grateful to members and other donors who so generously support the Arts Center, and to our amazing volunteers.

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In addition, many members make other special contributions to the Center. Contributions support operations at the Main Street Arts Center and Flick Gallery and at the Keuka Lake Sunny Point location, programs such as creative workshops for all levels and interests, and other special events like poetry readings, children's activities, and more! We invite you to play a vital role in our ongoing mission to provide quality affordable programs to our community and its visitors by becoming a member of the Arts Center.

If you wish to make a gift to the Arts Center, or include it in your estate planning, you may donate directly to the Arts Center of Yates County  or via NYCharities.org . (click the "Donate Now" button)

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You may further support the Arts Center through other contributions:

• Gifts to honor a birthday or other special event

• Memorial gifts

• Donations for capital improvements

• Instructional workshop scholarships

• Program sponsorship

• Planned gifts

Create a Legacy through Planned Giving

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Consider providing for an investment in the future of the Arts Center of Yates County while meeting your current personal, family, and financial needs. Through planned giving, you can provide meaningful remembrance of a loved one who appreciated the arts, and perhaps enjoy specific tax advantages, often allowing you to make larger gifts than you thought possible.

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The following are examples of planned gifts:

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1. Contribute to the Arts Center of Yates County  through a gift of cash or other items of value: Appreciated stock, paid-up life insurance policies, land, buildings, art, or other property are viable endowment gifts with possible tax advantages.

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2. Endow a Memorial Fund: Make a charitable gift to the Arts Center of Yates County in honor of an important person of event in your life with an unrestricted gift or to support a specific project.

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3. Include a Bequest in your will: You may specify a fixed amount or a percentage of your estate, or include the Arts Center of Yates County as a contingent beneficiary in your will, retirement life insurance programs.

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4. Invest in a Donor Advised Fund: Ask your investment advisor or contact the Arts Center for information on establishing a fund from which you may make investments which grow tax-free as long as the funds are used for charitable contributions. Establish annual contributions and a bequest portion to be given to the Arts Center.

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5. List the Arts Center of Yates County as Beneficiary in your Tax-Vulnerable Qualified Plans.

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6. Set up a Charitable Lead Trust or Charitable Remainder Trust.