THSCC Forums

Many apartment complexes have rooms that renters can use/ reserve. Anyone out there that rents care to look into that?

I agree with Mary that the monthly meetings serve a useful purpose. Its an opportunity to bring up topics for discussion. Its an opportunity for folks to "see" the club if they are trying to decide if they want to join.

Of course the biggest reason to have the meeting is to give the officers something to do. In general they just sit around all year and have "officer" meetings where they drink away our profits or buy car parts.

The Captain

Why have meetings?? Here's some thoughts..

If you want a club that runs great events, you have to care about contributing to that club. If you didn't contribute something to make it a great event, you kept it from being as good as might have been otherwise.
When enough people just want to come and run and go home, there won't be any more good events.

Tarheel is a club. It is not a public service group, a service you subscribe to, or a government agency that your tax dollars fund to give you a service. That means, as a club, it is a group of people with a common interest, that all must work together to reach a common goal.

Every member needs to contribute in some way. They need to be informed and aware of our various programs. Old members need to meet and welcome new members. People who go to meetings are much more aware of and informed about upcoming events, past events, and other programs that Tarheel offers. There is someone sitting next to them to explain what a TT or an HPDE is. People that go to the meetings have the chance to visit with old friends and welcome new ones. If the veterans are doing their job, they look for and welcome a new face each month and offer their help when the newbie comes to an event.

If you look at the inside front cover of our newsletter, you begin to get the idea that it takes a lot of people to make this organization work. And you are absolutely right. I see most of those faces at club meetings.

I have made some great friends at the club and I care a lot more these days about the friendships than the driving. I know many veterans that feel the same way.

If Tarheel ever becomes an organization that consists solely of people who pay $20, take 4 runs and go home, it will die. Those not involved in helping run things in some way will never know how many countless hours are put in every day of every week by those that do. Meetings are one way that people become more involved, informed and plugged in.

The people who run the club every year, and I don't mean just the senior officers, all make sacrifices so that every one can have a good time. That's what it takes. And when those people have served for awhile, there needs to be a new crop to take their place. Where does the new crop come from? New members, that get involved, go to meetings, make friends, and care about more than 4 minutes of driving each weekend.

I realize some of you live too far away, work on weekdays, or for other reasons can't get to the meetings. But if you feel like you've been on the outside for awhile and can't get plugged in or haven't made friends... come to the meetings and see what the old timers have known for decades.

And for those reasons, we need to continue to look for ways to make the meetings fun, light, entertaining and informative.

One last thing.... there have always been core members of the club that understand this concept and continue to remind the new generation that's how it needs to be. A few names come to mind-like Mike Dishman, Emmie Fisher, Ron Spencer, Bowie Gray, and many others. They have reminded us often through the years of the importance of the social aspect of this club, and the importance of contributing more than the bare minimum. The new crop of folks that comes in will need its own leaders to adopt this understanding and remind the rest of the club from time to time just how important that is.


Miles Beam