Happy New Year to all! It’s time for fresh starts and new beginnings. We celebrate past accomplishments and look forward to future successes. As we welcome 2019, it’s time to make bold changes and be able to begin the New Year fresh having attainable goals and ambitions.

ICES is on the path to a long and bright future. We are thrilled to have launched a new website, putting forth a fresh, more modern look for ICES. Please bear with us as we put the finishing touches on the website. It will always be a work in progress. We will continue to increase our social media presence and make a concerted effort to celebrate the many accomplishments of our members and those who support ICES. Our digital newsletter continues to expand and evolve. Dottie Saulnier and Deb Bashaw have reimagined our convention to bring out not only the best ICES has to offer, but to make it more appealing for our membership and a broader audience of Sugar Artists. We are ready to grow our membership and share ICES with new friends around the world.

Along with all the new hopes and promises that the New Year brings, I hope it also brings us opportunities to work together. We need you this coming year to help ICES reach even higher levels of excellence. What are some practical things that you can do to help your fellow members, and ICES as a whole? Here are just a few suggestions:

• Be an active contributor to the extent that your time allows. I know that, as a volunteer, your time is both limited and precious. We must not waste it, but your active participation will help ICES to be all the more effective.
• Support your Representatives/Ambassadors and your Board of Directors. These leaders have an essential job, but a tough one as well. Pitch in and lend a helping hand or words of encouragement.
• Stay engaged and involved in the mission of the organization to the best of your ability. Share your talents at a local Day of Sharing or Meeting, volunteer for a local committee or project, invite new friends to join ICES, or consider becoming a local Representative/Ambassador. Get involved at the International Level by writing an article for the newsletter, sharing photos of your work and accomplishments, creating a tutorial for the members only section of the website, applying to demonstrate on teach at convention, volunteering for a committee or project, helping to find new ways to help grow ICES membership.
• Make plans to attend convention, if at all possible. The convention is more than just a fun, social gathering, it is where you have the opportunity to shape the future of ICES. It is where we connect, network, learn and grow both as individuals and as an organization.
• Make a donation to ICES Scholarship Fund or General Operating Fund to help ICES continue to thrive.
• Help ICES to have a healthy climate in all we do. Are visitors welcomed, or ignored? Are new members, or members new to their position, mentored so they can be successful? Do we always have a welcoming climate of inclusiveness, or is it cliquish? Every member plays a role in establishing our organization’s climate. Do your part to help ensure that the climate is a healthy one.
• Communicate your suggestions and concerns. Email president@ICES.org. I am here to listen.
• Finally, be a positive voice for ICES. We know that no organization is perfect, but let’s put our best foot forward and work together to continue the legacy of ICES.

My Happy New Year wish for you (and ICES) is for this to be your best year yet,
A year of peace and dreams fulfilled.
A year in which you cherish the past year’s memories,
And live each new day full of bright expectancies.
I wish for you a year with happiness galore;
And when it’s done, I wish you many more.

Here’s to a bright and successful year for ICES and all of those in the ICES Family.

Suzy Zimmermann
President
International Cake Exploration Societe’