Dear Directors,
At our AGM, we acknowledged the importance of the Chapters to NARGS and our desire to strengthen ties. We found the Chapter presidents receptive - they had suggestions for both the Chapters and NARGS and expressed a willingness to consider an annual contribution to NARGS. To turn this effort into action, we’re making 2017 the Year of the Chapters and creating a Chapters Committee. Our past Director at Large, Don LaFond, has agreed to chair the Chapters Committee.
One proposal the Chapter leaders supported is the assignment of a Director to each Chapter to act as a liaison, as a first step to improving NARGS Chapter communications and activities. Each Director would be responsible for two or more Chapters, communicating regularly with the Chapter leadership. We want the Chapters to know that we are listening to them about initiatives they would like NARGS to pursue, improvements to the website and organization of joint and regional meetings. We’d like to raise awareness of the importance of donating to SeedEx, the resources on the website and Facebook page, the Tours, and the benefits to NARGS from using the website portal for Amazon shopping, as well as helping Chapters to identify ways to retain long-standing members and to recruit new members, both for the Chapters and for NARGS. This list is by no means exhaustive - we heard many good suggestions at the AGM and expect that we will hear many more once the liaisons are established.
Attached is a list of the the Chapters and their presidents. Please send Don your top five choices, listed in order of preference. If you have a special connection with a Chapter, let Don know what it is.
And, please know how much your willingness to undertake this extra effort for NARGS is appreciated.
Matt Mattus
The NARGS chapter heads/leaders are “chairs” or “chairpersons” (according to the by-laws) not “presidents.” It’s mentioned twice in the letter.