Letters to the Editor
Including new members
I look at the Houston Canoe Club and I wonder where will it be in a year or even five years. We continue to attract new members but yet we don't try to keep them. There are so many little groups with their own specialty and interest that exclude the new members that in a short time the new members give up and leave the club.
When I first joined I saw a paddle that I though I might have enjoyed but when I called the trip leader and was told "I don't know you and your paddling skills so I don't think you should go". I didn't go.
Later I went to a class with a friend and was talking to a member of the club and when I mentioned this incident the statement was "We all have groups that we know their skills and we paddle with them". It was quite awhile before I paddled with any from the HCC. I did meet up with some on other paddles put on by other clubs. From these I have made friends with a few paddlers in HCC and go on these paddles.
I know there are a lot of different types of paddling (white water, flat water, trip across much of the continent, freestyle, etc. yet this club can not be constrained to any type. We need to keep this club open to all types of paddling and all skill levels. If a new person joins the next paddle a special invitation should be extended and everyone on the paddle should be willing to help a novice. If this doesn't happen this club will fall apart.
Another thing that should happen two or three times a year: we should have a gathering at some lake or river with a real good camping area where the whole club can come together to make friends and reacquaint ourselves with old friends. How this happens, where this happens, and what activities that are present at these gatherings can be decided a yearly meeting.
The one thing that is all-important is that we all make welcome all types of paddlers and all skill levels. Offer all types of paddling to all with no small groups or skill levels being excluded.
Ron Nunnelly
Request for Donations
Dear Members: