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Re: (erielack) Unansered Questions

On Sat, 4 Dec 2004, William Shultz wrote:
> 
> For those people that did not attend, the most telling commentary was 
> when I asked how many members in the room were over 50. More than half 
> of the people raised their hands. Then how many members were over 30, 
> most of the rest raised their hand. Finally how many members were under 
> 30, one person raised their hand.

Even in my narcoleptic state, held at bay only by caffeine, that one moment
stood out for me. 

It is perhaps the single largest long term problem which the ELHS has.

8<---

> We HAVE to start finding ways to encourage younger people to become 
> members. That issue will face almost all rail historical societies and 
> the ones that deal with it have a chance to survive. One place to start 
> is to start motivating current members to have more of a vested, active 
> involvement in the ELHS. Members that actively participate, and that 
> activity might simply be contributing material to be published on the 
> web site or in the Diamond or Extra Board, are the best way to 
> demonstrate the value of being a member to others. And speaking as an 
> O&WHS member, that I believe is one of the not so secrets to success. It 
> wasn't always so, but several years ago forward thinking people made it 
> happen.

Some of us are like a broken record with this. People who participate and
enjoy themselves while doing it become evangelists for an organization. 

I don't understand why so many people are content to be simply magazine
subscribers of a society which is aging itself out of existence! Who will
produce that magazine in 20 years if there aren't enough people left to pay
for it?

I like The Diamond, but it has never been why I joined. I must be in the vast 
minority.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr.    Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
www.bluemoon.net       Internet Access & Web Hosting
www.railfan.net        Railfan Network Services

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