Greetings All:

Ah, the summer's over and it's time to get back in the swing of the regular Progress meetings.  The break over the summer is nice, but I miss the camaraderie found at our regular meetings.  This is an element of Progress that we underestimate as to its importance. True, we all get that nice warm feeling in our hearts when we work on donating our proceeds to our charities, and by doing so help the less fortunate in our communities to enjoy a better life.

What about us?

I don't think we recognize, nor tell the potential new members, how much good mental health we get out of our association with such like-minded members.  By belonging to Progress our lives are much more complete and healthy.

Another part of Progress is the National Office/Administration.  We are familiar with our Zone Governors and hopefully our VPs, the Secretary-Treasurer, Past National President, National President and President Elect and of their roles, as well as the newly defined roles of our Directors.  All Progress members and clubs work within the guidelines of our National bylaws and our Bluebook.  These two documents guide the club and provide a sense of direction and cohesiveness.  Without this framework we would be a bunch of individual groups still doing good service for our community, however the possibility of the group being able to survive on its own for the long term would be slim.

In order to keep our club on solid strong footings, periodically we need to update our processes.  A couple of years ago we updated the bylaws, however, it was noted then that we needed to do an in-depth thorough revision.  Your National Executive also notes that the Bluebook needs freshening up.  We welcome interested Progressians to get involved in this process over the next year.  I envision two separate committees each, with 4 to 6 members, working on these two projects.  If you have good ideas on how to help move the organization forward and have the time and interest to work on a National Committee, please let me know.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the National Convention in Canmore and am excited as I look forward to the future of Progress.

Yours for Progress,
Al Gordon