Minutes of the Jan. 24, 2009 meeting

[genglish]

The meeting was held in the Franklin OH Library. There were 7 members and officers present.

The financial report from 2008 was presented: we had income of $1617.00 and expenses of $1624.01. The membership for 2009 to date is 50 memberships (12 of these are family memberships).

Membership cards are new for this year. There will be benefits at WWWH and possibly at other stores. To keep costs down, these will not be mailed unless necessary – pick yours up at the next meeting, at roll practice, at Spring Fling or from Gwen English.

Growth and development of the club was discussed. There were offers of other activities – watch the website. It was agreed that we need to have meetings that people will want to go to, so an activity or a speaker will be a part of every meeting. It was decided to have 5 general meetings on Tuesday evenings (as people may be preparing for a weekend trip on Thursday evenings): March 10, May 12, July 14, Sept. 15 and Nov. 10. There will informal campfire meetings at the Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day trips.

Consistency and structure for Trip Coordinators was discussed, as well as what information should be available for all participants before a trip. The need for everyone to assume a fair share of the shuttles, either by driving or paying for gas, was reiterated.

The club will have a booth at the Adventure Summit at Wright State, February 20 and 21. Contact President Mike Logan to be a part of this.

The current trip schedule was presented. If you would like to lead a trip and be eligible for a drawing at the end of the year, contact Kathy Sines. It was proposed that the annual Holiday Party be moved to late January or early February, when people are not so busy and are ready to kick off a new season. Watch for a poll on the website about this.

Selling T-shirts was discussed. We could “think local” by having Pat McCarty screenprint them.

The next meeting is March 10, tentatively at Gander Mountain Outfitters Store.

[Boilerblues]

Growth and development of the club was discussed. There were offers of other activities – watch the website. It was agreed that we need to have meetings that people will want to go to, so an activity or a speaker will be a part of every meeting. It was decided to have 5 general meetings on Tuesday evenings (as people may be preparing for a weekend trip on Thursday evenings): March 10, May 12, July 14, Sept. 15 and Nov. 10. There will informal campfire meetings at the Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day trips.


Seeing you mention this, I just wanted to throw out something that the HCC has done that has really helped in growing membership and keeping people in touch. The HCC has weekly pool sessions all year, renting out a city pool for 2 hours every wednesday night, followed by Mexican food :) This has provided an easy way for new people to try it out in a safe and warm environment, an opportunity for some training sessions (like safety), and it has built up the community of paddlers in Indy. Not everyone is consistent, but there are some people who are usually there each week. Attendance has generally ranged between 5 and 15 people, depending on time of year and what has been going on. The HCC made an arrangement with the city pool that once a month they would teach a kayaking clinic for area kids to help pay for the pool time (plus it's another way to recruit future members), and people have been really enthusiastic about it.

Just wanted to throw that out there. My wife and I have been excited to meet area paddlers, but haven't been able to make any of the meetings. We met a few at the whitewater warehouse pool sessions last spring, but didn't get a chance to get to know them.