[From the Ontario District's newsletter, The Trillium, issue 61-02, April - June, 2007 , Waldo Redekop, editor.]

Step up to the challenge

By Chuck Alexander, Ontario District President

At the House of Delegates meeting at the spring convention at Blue Mountain Resort, I distributed a list of all of the e-mail contact addresses for not only the various district officers but for each group of chapter officers so that they could communicate with each offering suggestions and information to make their job easier.

I asked that each delegate make up copies to give to their chapter officers. This information is also available by any and all district members from their HOD representative.

With the help of District Webmaster, Alex Beamish, as well as V.P. of Communications, Waldo Redekop, we downloaded over 360 names and addresses on this system of communication.

At that same meeting, I challenged the delegates to go back to their chapters and encourage their members to join the district Yahoo Group so that we can communicate with them directly rather than going through various chapter officers.

A random review of five chapter rosters at the Society office saw over 80 percent of their members having e-mail addresses while 30 percent of the members are on our group mail system. At this time we have but 37 percent of our members registered with our Yahoo Group while many of our counterparts in the U.S. have over 85 percent participation on their communication systems.

By the time that you read this, I will already have started a project whereby I will be contacting every chapter secretary to ask them to personally approach each of their members to ask for their approval to join our group. We must do it this way as the E-mail Privacy Act insists that the addressee approve being added to a group mail system whereas our brothers to the south do not have such a law. Penalties for not complying are significant.

Your HOD delegate was also given instructions on how to register a chapter member. It is very simple. All you have to do, either you or your chapter secretary, is to send an e-mail to Waldo at communications @ ontariodistrict.com giving the member’s name, chapter affiliation and his e-mail address.

As your district leader, I have done my job. You all have a means of contacting any of your district officers. Now it’s your time. Help me “Improve communications in 2007 and beyond” by registering with Waldo. Join the district’s Yahoo Group.

You, too, can “Step Up To The Challenge.”         k