Announcements

Membership is our strength, and that’s not just a cliché.

Membership is an important source of revenue for everything that Casino funds don’t cover—such as website fees, office expenses, AGM expenses, printing and postage, and volunteer appreciation (we buy coffee for the crews for each trail maintenance work party).

Keeping track of our members is also essential to our standing as a registered charitable organization. As stated in the by-laws: “The membership secretary will keep a record of paid-up members. This record must include names, addresses, telephone numbers and any other information required by the Board or the Alberta government. The record is open to any member upon two days’ notice in writing.”

The Duties of the Membership Secretary

In the time since Sandra Carruthers picked up this position, the membership registration and payment process was moved to the website. Today, members are able to sign up and renew themselves and pay with their credit card. As a result, Sandra handles only the occasional mailed-in membership forms. Most of the tedious work with record-keeping has been eliminated.

The main duties include:

• Mail out membership cards to new and renewed members. The mail package may also include a guidebook, crest, decal, and pin, and a tax receipt for a donation.
• Each month, prepare a report of the membership numbers, the revenue received, and the names of new and resigned members. At the same time, send to the treasurer a listing of revenue received and any cheques or cash collected.

The membership secretary requires

• Access to a computer (either Windows or Mac) in order to log in to the membership database on the website and log in to PayPal. Spreadsheet software (MS Excel or similar) would be an asset.
• Ability to attend most monthly board meetings

Come for a Visit

Why not visit the next board meeting on October 12? It’s the best way to find out what we’re all about.

If you have any questions about the duties of the Membership Secretary, Sandra will be happy to talk to you.

Next time, we’ll look at Trail Maintenance Coordinator.

Behind (or beyond?) the Waskahegan Trail, there is a board of volunteers who organize and direct the Association’s activities.

As all board positions are limited to four years at a time, there will be opportunities opening up for new volunteers when we have our Annual General Meeting in April 2018.

Starting this month, we’ll visit the open board positions to see what’s involved and why they matter. These positions are:

1. Membership Secretary
2. Trail Maintenance Coordinator
3. Hike Coordinator
4. Permissions
5. Social Convener
6. Director at Large

In the meantime, why not come to the next board meeting? You’ll leave with a good idea of what we do, and you may even find it enlightening. The meeting will be at Jerry Shaw’s house in the Allendale neighborhood in south Edmonton. RSVP to JoAnne (780-487-0645 or [email protected]). See the website for more details.