The first major revision
of the SAW By-Laws has been sent to the membership for a
vote of acceptance or rejection. This is the first
time that the By-Laws have been thoroughly gone over to
find what needs to be changed and updated. Some of the
major points that have been changed deal with the Board
of Directors - Allowing for the inclusion of business
members on the BOD, and for Local Chapters - No longer
requiring 100% SAW Membership for Local Chapter status,
but now 30% SAW membership. Voting should be completed
by the end of February.
Even more picnics are
being planned this year. Virginia and New York groups
are planning a picnic in their areas. We encourage many
of these gatherings, as anytime that scrollers get
together a fun time is had by all.
Rick Hutcheson was
awarded a Lifetime Membership in SAW at the Branson, MO
picnic this year. Rick's efforts on the behalf of SAW
and of the entire scrolling community have been
unfailing. He was nominated by Carl Roscher, IL, for
this award. President Jim Barringer presented Carl with
the first ever Member of the Year award. Carl is a
Charter Member of SAW, a past president of the
Chicagoland Scrollers, and has been a participating
member in many of SAW's activities.
This year has seen many
updates in the benefits of being a member of SAW and in
particular in being a member of a Local Chapter of SAW.
The Board of Directors has negotiated a contract with an
insurance company that covers not only SAW in its
activities, but each of our Local Chapters. SAW has also
received our final notification of our 501(c)3 status as
a not-for-profit group. This standing also affects each
of our Local Chapters. The web site has seen many
updates with the addition of a Pattern Maker software
that allows members to create their own word patterns
with a variety of possible fonts to use. The web site
has also had a Proportion Calculator program added to
it. Each Local Chapter has been given free web space to
use for their group and several have all ready taken
advantage of this benefit.
