The club held an election last week, and everybody lost.
A lot of people had been nominated for the club’s 2012 board. Almost everyone in the club had ideas about who would make a good board member, and in every case it was someone other than themselves.
So we compiled a list of all the nominations, printed out a ballot and everyone voted. And every single ‘winner’ in this election has declined to serve on the board next year. Who ‘won’ the election? Who cares. We all lost.
There is no board. And without a board, there will be no club next year.
The Christmas Dinner Dance on December 16 will be our last club function. We’ll be donating our treasury funds to a charity and filing the papers to formally dissolve the organization. The Boots ‘n’ Buckles Dance Club, which has held dances every Friday night for the last 26 years, will come to an end.
It’s a shame, because it wouldn’t take much to keep the club going. We need about 6 people to stand up. Six people willing to work about 3 hours each month. Six people who care enough about the club that they’re willing to share in the responsibility to see that things are done – simple things like making sure the chairs are stacked up and put away at the end of the dance, and depositing the admissions money in the bank.
Board members don’t have to be there at every dance. They don’t even have to be members of the club right now. If you’re not a current member, but are willing to serve on the board, you can become a member and join the board on the same day.
Nobody serves on the board because they ‘want’ to. Everyone would much rather enjoy the dances and have other people do the work. But we’ve just run out of other people willing to do the work. Everyone is busy. But they’re busy because they make choices, choosing to spend their time on this activity rather than that. And unless about six people choose to stand up for the club, the club will come to an end.
Think about it. Ask yourself if you’d prefer to see the club fold, rather than spend about three hours each month doing the work needed to keep the club going. That is the choice you have, the decision you must make.
You have until the end of the dance on December 16 to decide. Contact Tom Garcia or any other board member if you can help out.
Update, December 10, 2011
At the dance last night a number of club members volunteered for the 2012 board. We’re out of the woods.