AVA CHECKPOINT1

May brought bad news to the American Volkssport Association and to volkssporters across the United States with the death of our President Ted Ballman. Ted and I had worked together on the Executive Council for seven years and were only two months away from a major step in planning for the future of our association. We will all miss Ted, but we cannot let his death weaken our resolve to ensure the future vitality of the AVA. Ted was a strong supporter of our upcoming strategic planning. It is incumbent on all of us -- from Executive Council members to state and club officers to the volkssporter -- to move forward with Ted’s initiative to guarantee our future.

In accordance with our bylaws, Nancy Stenger is now our president. Please give her your full support during this trying time. The National Executive Council will be conducting a telephone meeting on June 8 to discuss the process for electing a new vice president. Our bylaws task the Executive Council with electing that vice president. Everyone will be kept fully informed on this process and will be notified of when and how the election will take place.

As I mentioned last month, our initial strategic planning conference will be held in San Antonio on Saturday, July 8. This conference will include the Executive Council and the National Headquarters staff. Since we have no funds allocated to pay the staff overtime and because their attendance at the conference is required, we will adjust the office hours so that we will only work the staff a normal forty hour week. To make this happen, we will close the Headquarters on Monday, July 3 as well as on the Tuesday, July 4 holiday. I am sorry if this causes any problems for anyone, but the strategic planning is important enough to risk those problems.

As some of you have experienced, we have had problems with our event stamps and with our data entry of sanction requests, after-action reports and YRE/Seasonal participation reports. We are working to identify and correct the problems, but we need your help in this effort. If you encounter any problems with your events -- wrong stamp, no stamp, reports you submitted not found at the Headquarters -- please give us your support in getting these problems corrected. It is especially important that you check to be sure you have received your event stamp. Do not wait until the last minute to do this because we cannot get you a stamp with just one day to react. Also, be assured that we will not penalize the club or any volkssporter because of these problems.

One quick plea. We have one month left on the third year of our Millennium Fund campaign and we are just under $9,000 short of our goal. If any of our clubs can spare a little more for this fund, we would really appreciate it -- or if any of the volkssporters in your clubs would like to send a little more, it would be great. We really would like to meet our goal again this year.

And finally, just before the Canadian Volkssport Federation convention, Lynn Clark, our English-speaking, IVV Vice President and former AVA President, had a mild heart attack. Lynn is doing fine now and is at home recuperating. We wish her well and ask that all our volkssporters keep her in their thoughts and prayers.

Thank you for helping us renew The Spirit of Walking across the United States.

Enclosed. The following items have been sent with Checkpoint: a Recognition awards packet; financial report; Millennium Fund chart;handbook on “Attracting and Keeping New Members”; an officer’s update form and a revised copy of the New Balance sponsorship request form.

Special Meeting. A special meeting of the National Executive Council will be held by telephone on Thursday, June 8, 2000 at 10 p.m. EDT. The purpose of this meeting will be to decide how to proceed with the election of a Vice President for the National Executive Council.

Event Stamps. Startingwith July events, all event stamps will be mailed to the official club address. An officer’s update form is enclosed if you wish to change the address.

Late Newspaper. The June edition of The American Wanderer has been delayed. The paper was ready for press at the time of Ted Ballman’s death. The front page and related matters had to be completely re-worked. Hopefully the paper will be mailed by June 2. We appreciate your understanding in this difficult time.

Website. A reminder: The AVA staff is not the official provider for the AVA Website. If you have any questions concerning the site, kindly contact Wendy Bumgardner, walking@teleport.com

(Webmasters note: Likewise, do not email Wendy about things such as The American Wanderer, Volkssports Associates memberships, AVA forms, how to form a club, AVA Executive Council matters, etc. Those are items that should be communicated to the AVA Headquarters by mail to AVA 1001 Pat Booker Rd. Suite 101, Universal City, TX 78148.)

Quarterly Reports. Please be sure that when preparing your club’s quarterly report, that you include both the club and event numbers. Any deviation from this procedure will delay the process. Thank you for your cooperation.

Event Sponsorship. New Balance sponsorship requests must be received at least eight weeks prior to the event. They must be sent on the revised (enclosed) form. They may be sent to us as early as you wish. You will receive a postcard confirming our receipt of your request. We cannot accept faxed requests. If you wish to have promotional “goodies” sent for your event, please indicate in the proper space on the form. We receive many “thank yous” addressed to New Balance. All of them are passed along to our fine sponsor. Please do not contact New Balance directly with any questions or concerns. Instead, Rob Gale can be reached at (210) 659-2112 or AVAPR@aol.com .

Recognition Award Packet. Please read this packet carefully and note that all nominations must be to the appropriate Regional Director by November 1.

New Walker Program

Starting Point USA Year-Round Event Book