McHenry Sportsman’s Club Newsletter (November 24, 2005)
Dear Members and Families:
Newsletters are becoming few and far between.
One of the reasons for this is because our club now has a website on the Internet.
This website contains hundreds of pages that contain just about everything you would want to know about our club and more.
The site was established in December of 2004, and has been up for almost a full year.
Our website does not cost our club anything to host and maintain.
Newsletters and other mailings do cost our club money and are becoming more expensive to produce and distribute.
We need to get as many of you to visit our website as possible.
To access our website and any other website, you need access to a computer that is capable of accessing the Internet.
If you do not have this available to you, and wish to access our website, you may want to consider finding out which of your family or friends has this available to them.
You may be surprised as to how many people have this capability.
If this is not possible, please let us know and we will try to help you.
To visit our website, start your Internet Browser and type: www.mchenry-sc.org and press enter.
Barring a couple of outages that occurred last year, our site is up twenty-four hours a day.
Our site's content changes frequently so you may want to peek at it on a regular basis.
The site contains information about our club, schedules of events and the results of current and past events.
This newsletter, as well as our past newsletters may also be found there.
There are even pictures taken at the club.
You will also find many links to other websites that you may want to visit.
The site is expanding and its content will continue to improve.
When you renew your membership (or are joining the club), please, if you have an email address, please indicate this on your application as clearly as possible.
We would like to start sending emails to our members to announce club events and other club business in an effort to keep you informed; and at the same time reduce the cost of mailings.
This Year's Events
All of this year's events and their results are contained on the website.
Feel free to browse all the articles contained about them as well as other information now available to you.
Upcoming Events
January 1: Annual "Hangover" Shoot.
Jackrabbit style shoot; Please bring a dish to pass.
????: 2006 Winter Jackrabbit Shoot.
This is a league style shoot.
The schedule is in the process of being formulated.
Information on the above and other events are contained on our website.
Membership Renewal
This year's membership renewal and new member signup will be different.
All of us are going to have to review our club's "Terms and Conditions" and agree to them by signing our applications.
All of the information is published on our website and will also be available at the club.
The content addresses safety and operational issues.
There are no liability issues contained in the Terms and Conditions (you are not signing anything away).
By agreeing and signing, you are helping our club maintain a safer and more orderly club.
We have both good news and some not so good news.
We have "crunched and analyzed" all of our numbers for the past three years.
This year, for the first time, our "non-shooting" budget (building, utilities and other non-shooting expenses) have outstripped our budget.
This has actually been occurring for the past two years, but income from shooting was used to balance the budget.
In 2005, shooting and shooting revenues were down and the money needed to balance the budget simply was not there.
Other than adding our fourth Pat Trap, (which half of the money needed was generated in the previous year), we have kept all of our expenses to the minimum.
What does this mean to our membership?
Shooting expenses are still within budget so there are no changes in line fees, what you paid for a round of trap this year you will pay next year.
This is a good thing considering the price of targets increased over 20 percent over the last year.
Membership dues must increase to keep our club in operation.
The old rate was fifty dollars (twenty-file dollars for seniors).
The new rate will be seventy-five dollars (thirty dollars for seniors).
Our club is a NOT FOR PROFIT operation.
Nobody is paid except our trap help.
Our club cannot make any type of profit.
In fact, we try to end the year with a negative cash balance.
Whatever money we take in is spent on keeping our club in operation and providing all of us with the opportunity to shoot.
We hold meetings on the first Thursday of each month.
All financial data is available for your examination.
If anyone has any suggestions as to how to reduce costs, please speak to one of the board members.
Please be constructive.
if you have complains, they may also be expressed.
All of us on the board are here to help you, without compensation, and we all have normal personal obligations just as all of you do.
We do not always think of everything.
Many operational and cost cutting tactics in use at our club today came from your suggestions.
Please, have a have a happy and safe holiday and a good new year.
GOOD SHOOTING TO ALL
Sincerely,
Tom Carneal, Club Treasurer