We’ve Got Your Back!

Because of the recent once-in-a-century snow storms, the club faced a problem with two ski trips in danger of being canceled because local airports shut down. However, in both cases, outstanding cooperation between our trip leaders, tour operators, and a bus company prevented cancellation. Trip participants traveled by bus to either Norfolk or Richmond because airports were still operational there, and they continued their trips to their final destination.

Similarly, when one of our tour operators defaulted last year, the club had the resources to allow the affected ski trips go on as scheduled. Members of other clubs informed us that their clubs would have gone out of business under similar circumstances.

The club also ran a ski helmet promotion program, resulting in better protection for more than 50 ski club members at a rock bottom price.

By the time you read this, the April elections will be behind us. Fortunately, all the candidates look to be well qualified and I look forward to working with them in the months ahead. I also want to thank the previous members of the board for their patience. Board meetings tend to have rather full agendas with many decisions to be made in order to keep the club running as smoothly as possible. It takes a small but dedicated paid staff, plus about 200 volunteers to run the many trips and other events during a typical club year.

We have a 75^th anniversary coming up in 2011. The club historian, Kate Hayes, has outlined plans for the yearlong celebration. Program chairs will be asked to plan events that somehow relate to the club’s history. There will be several large events for the general membership as well, plus a ski trip with historic relevance. It will take a significant number of volunteers to make it all happen. If you can help in any capacity, please let me know.

Bids are already going out to various tour operators for the next ski season. We have to start planning earlier and earlier because of the constraints imposed by airlines and resorts. The Western/International and Eastern committees are doing a remarkable job of managing trips to make sure the club remains solvent. They have to guess how many participants a trip will attract and cutting trips back when absolutely necessary to avoid the severe penalties involved when not meeting targets.

In the second year as president of the ski club, I intend to focus on increasing club membership. During the first term, the idea was to heighten interest in our membership meetings by encouraging members to bring guests to our events. The slogan was: Bring a Buddy! That may have helped, but it was not enough to increase membership significantly.

The board of directors is now considering various options for a more focused approach, with emphasis on advertising, corporate sponsors, prizes for bringing in new members, big parties, etc. The campaign will probably start with a larger version of last year’s pool party. Stay tuned for future developments.

Bring a Buddy! Leo

President’s Message:

By the time you read this, we will be approaching the end of the ski season. The few remaining trips are either sold out or only have a few spots left. Our Eastern and Western programs deserve a lot of credit for balancing the anticipated demand from our members on the one hand and the requirements of our vendors on the other. Since the vendors require more and more early commitments, the club has to gamble that enough members will participate to avoid very serious penalties.

Thus, board members perform a very important function in keeping the club solvent while providing a framework of rules to keep the club running smoothly.

By now, it is time to look ahead to the next club year, starting with the election of new board members in April. Board members approve budgets for planned activities and consider changes in our rules and procedures.

The club combines the election event with recognition of outstanding volunteers who made significant contributions to club events during the past year. By the way, in addition of few paid staff members, it takes around 200 volunteers to keep the club running.

Another event to look forward to is the volunteer party. All of the aforementioned volunteers will be invited. In addition, we plan to invite all of the previous presidents as well as those people who won awards for service to the club in previous years.

There were some significant changes during this club year. We moved our meetings from the Westpark hotel to the Crowne Plaza and our website received a complete overhaul.

This year was also a first for several noteworthy events. It was the firs time we continued our monthly meetings during the summer. It was also the first time the club organized a Caribbean cruise as well as the first time we including a helicopter-skiing event in our trip lineup. Other firsts were the back-to-the-beach party and the Halloween party, both with the beach people.

Furthermore, it was also the first time we had a pool party in July. That was quite successful, with about 160 people participating. We are making plans for an encore in 2010.

My purpose in reminding you of these firsts is that the club is still evolving to offer its members an exciting array of activities. We encourage you to invite a friend or two to our events because the more members we can attract, the greater the variety of events we can offer.

Bring a buddy!

Leo

Are you having fun?

I am writing this column right after this year’s successful Fashion Show, organized by Judy Burlbaugh, ably assisted by Sylvia Lynch. Approximately 160 people attended the event, put on by a cast and crew of about 30 members. The audience clearly enjoyed the antics of the models, while Gary Rubens and Sylvia Lynch described the outfits and made humorous comments. At the conclusion, the entire cast danced to the music of “Thriller” and threw paper balls at the audience. Some of them contained prizes. Snow Time provided lift tickets to their Pennsylvanian ski resorts as additional door prizes. After the show, people hung around and danced to the music of Ed the DJ.

There are still quite a few ski trips left before the end of the season,

What Goes On at Ski Club Board Meetings Anyway?

The Board of Directors approves the budgets for all the ski club’s committees, varying from the Western/International committee and the ski school to the cultural events and parties. It invites people to be on the nominating committee for the next election. It also deals with other situations requiring club resources.

For instance, at a recent meeting, the board approved overnight trips for the Eastern skiing program, voted to publish a low-cost Who’s Who, and OK’d polling the membership via Evite on an important question. The question iswhether the members prefer to receive the newsletter in printed or in electronic format.

Calling Gen X/Y

The club’s Board of Directors voted to change the name of the Twenties and Thirties (TnT) program to Gen X/Y. The objective is to broaden the age group slightly. The new name is meant to include people ranging from those in their twenties to the ones in their early forties. The purpose remains to emphasize activities for people in that age range. We are also hoping that more future leaders will come out of this group of people. However, it should be clear that other people cannot be excluded (or put on wait lists).