I've been a member of AERC for 10 years, when I first joined, AERC was
having growing pains because it was going from
board-meetings-in-Julie-Suhr's-living-room (sorry for using your name in
vain, Julie!) to a more structured format,
I have been
a member for 27 years and when I joined the meetings were not
being held
at Julie's house. They were sometimes held at Kathy's in Auburn
but
not at Julies to my knowledge. I will be sure and check with her but
they are in Madascar now and will not be back until April. I will be
sure to
check this out though.
You're kind of proving my point,
Maryben. I'm NOT from northern California, I joined in Texas and now
live in Michigan. I've never met a single founding member of AERC,
wouldn't recognized them if they slapped me. Who is Kathy? I used
Julie's name because she's the only founding member I'm sure of, and I wanted
a name recognizable to the masses to make my point, not to provide
historical accuracy. If it's important to you, we can ammend it to
board-meetings-in-Kathy's-living-room.
AERC survived that first real growth pang by raising membership rates,
actively seeking limited corporate sponsorship,
Limited corporate sponsorships from who?
From feed dealers and tack shops at the local level.
I've been in rides where the placing awards were 50 pounds of feed.
Corporate is probably too strong a word, unless taken in the literal sense
(sponsorship from an incorporated entity).
From where I sit (not on my horses back often enough), I would
just as soon
that AERC not spend their hard won sponsorship dollars on
such a select few
riders.
What
sponsorship dollars are being spent on them????
None, apparently, but isn't that the point of all this
discussion? Rolex sponsors a major three day event. Even if
every nationally rated three day eventer bought a Rolex, it wouldn't justify the
cost. Rolex wants to sell watches to everyone who wants to be
associated with three day eventing. Sundowner helps defray
membership costs for our new members - because eventually, most people in
endurance ends up buying a new horse trailer. If the sheik
succeeds in raising the general public's awareness of the sport, the
sponsorship dollars will follow - not to sell endurance riders products,
but to sell everyone who dreams of being an endurance rider a product.
Kind of like those Gatorade things sitting in prominent places at televised ball
games. I can never play basketball like Michael Jordan, but I can drink
the same Gatorade he does while wearing my Air Jordans by Nike.
AERC has about 6000 members.
Close to 5,000
members is closer.
Okay, so
International makes up 6% instead of 5% of the general membership, assuming
there are 300 international members.
Laurie and Revy
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