b'Dear Friends,Welcome to our 2025 Halloween Ball!We are so grateful that you could join us for this momentous occasion, as the ghosts of Gatsby come back to relive their glory days at the opulent Hempstead House mansion.Tonight, for one night only, we invite you to step back in time to the Golden Age of the 1920s.Experience the extravagance.Relish in self-indulgence.Give in to desire.But beware.As you eat, drink, and dance the night away, darkness lurks beneath the surface.Around every corner, the ghosts of Gatsby linger, haunted by their pasts.Watch their dramas unfold and bear witness to long-buried secrets coming back into the light.While this night harkens back to our storied past, it also facilitates the support of our future.As one of our most important annual fundraising events, the Halloween Ball ensures that the Conservancy can uphold its mission to protect and promote the natural resources, historic legacies, and community programs of the Sands Point Preserve.This year, we offered new programs and created new spaces to foster additional points of connection for our community.We hosted Gatsby-themed Talk and Tours, Historical Walking Tours, and new writing courses.We also provided tailored nature-based education to under-resourced students from the local Littig House program and created new curricula to engage students at the Navy Simulation Museum.We built a new outdoor lounge out of the previously dilapidated icehouse, developed a sculpture garden surrounded by new, native species plantings, and brought in goats to combat invasive species.Hopefully, the ghosts of Gatsby would be amazed to see the thriving space their estate has become.And thanks to your generous support, we know our future will hold continued successwe can only imagine what our ghosts will see 100 years from now!Thank you for joining us tonightnow lets party!Karli Hagedorn Jeremiah Bosgang Chairman of the BoardExecutive Director'