Re: Non-member fee

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/2/98 10:40:45 AM Pacific Standard Time,
arabs2go@hotmail.com writes:

<< Does the money go toward paying for 
 keeping track of miles/points and paying for awards for all-year 
 members? >>

No, it goes toward paying to keep track of miles for the NON-members. AERC
keeps track of results and mileage for ALL riders, members or not. That's why
OUR ride entry blanks call it an AERC bookkeeping fee. Whether anyone realizes
it or not, AERC is a focal point for all endurance riding activities. I've
seen it in posts on Ridecamp that endurance would exist without AERC, but if
you think carefully about this, in order for something as widespread as this
sport to proceed in anything that looks like an orderly fashion, there must be
a focal point. Try to imagine what would happen if AERC suddenly disappears --
no goals (year-end awards, mileage, etc.). How many people would put on rides
must for the fun of it? Yes, a few perhaps. Insurance? You're on your own.
Trail advocacy? No national organization with a name to give any clout during
a seminar or to a governmnet representative to promote preservation of trails.
Yes, one or two individuals could go to a gathering to speak for trail
preservation, but they wouldn't have the voice that a national organization
does. Convention (that so many of us enjoy)? Forget it. Without an
organization, who's going to organize and foot the bill for a convention the
size of ours? Wonderful new products, developed as a result of the growth of
endurance riding? Probably would never have been developed, because without
the organization, the sport would not have reached it's size and far-flung
popularity, therefore, no one would have bothered to develop the products. If
you really take time to think about WHAT the organization has given us all,
either directly or as fringe benefits, I believe you will realize what AERC
has done for YOU, whether you are a member or not. Doesn't it really suggest
to you that it would be beneficial to add YOUR voice to the sport and to the
organization?

Barbara McCrary
West Region