It is with a very sad heart that I find myself back writing this quarterly message to our membership. The passing of Charlie Fritts affected me unlike most losses I have experienced. I have learned that the first half of your life is filled with happy memories including weddings, children, graduations, etc., but not the losses we will begin to experience as we hit the other side of our life cycle. These include the loss of our parents and friends as we all get older. As with any loss you go through a process of grieving that will include remembering the moments you have shared with someone who is no longer with us. Charlie was a very special guy, and I have a lot of memories of him from the 23 years I was lucky enough to have been associated with him. As I recall the memories of Charlie, which I have been experiencing since his passing, it comes to mind what a powerful man he was. He was a humble man who had an extraordinary talent to uplift anyone he came in contact with. He was a man who always had a positive effect on anything he did. This included his contributions to our industry, and there were many – too many to list all of them. As you operate your self storage business you can rest assured that Charlie was involved in the changes that resulted in the growth of CTSSA and MASSA into a regional association now known as NeSSA, our updated lien laws, changes to tenant insurance regulations and late fees, and the growth and success of our annual regional trade show and Fall Retreats. I will also mention that I am sure that many of the business decisions you make as an owner or manager were impacted for the better by knowledge you may have learned from Charlie through his presence on many panels at these shows and personal contact with him. He will surely be missed. In Charlie’s absence I will be fulfilling the roles of President of our association for the remainder of 2024.

Farewell Charlie, we will miss you!

Here is an update on our upcoming events:

• The Fall Retreat is coming up on September 24th at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge, MA featuring speakers attorney Scott Zucker, Universal Storage Group's Lou Barnholdt, and the SSA's President and CEO Tim Dietz. Event Sponsors have already sold out and we're looking forward to another successful event for our northeastern storage industry.
• Nominations for 2025 board members are underway! Check the website or contact the office to download a nomination form - which is due back by October 4th.
• NeSSA's Annual Business Meeting is scheduled via Zoom on October 24th. You can find more information about this meeting as well as the link to add it to your calendar on the homepage of our website.
• It won't be long before it's time to collect membership dues for 2025. You can expect these notices to hit your inboxes in early October. Your dues help to keep the association running at such a high caliber with great events, a state-of-the-art website, the most updated resources we can provide, and all the little things no one even realizes. We greatly appreciate your membership and support!
• Vendor members can also expect to register early for the 2025 Northeast Storage EXPO at renewal time. Next year's event is once again co-hosted by NHSSA and MeSSA and is scheduled for May 14th and 15th at Foxwoods. Exhibit space sold out this year, so we encourage you to take advantage of early member registration.

Thank you,
Steve Tranni
Vice President of NeSSA