State Coordinator
ABATE of Washington
Happy New Year!!! One year as your State Coordinator. It has been a very exciting and educational. We have had many Challenges. We have overcome those Challenges and accomplished many goals. ABATE of Washington has many talented individuals. Each year ABATE of Washington has done relatively the same events and projects. With the experience of those that have been around and have done those projects we have completed them with relative success. Each year, we set these projects up and while we have the people who run them we improve and accomplish our goals. If those people are not available we sometimes have to start from scratch and if they are gone we have no record of how they ran the project.
This month at the January Board Meeting several management forms, Committee Chairperson Workbook, Chairpersons Planning Guide, Chapter Planning Guide, and “E” Chapter Guide (extension) will be presented. By using these management forms and many others we can establish a written record of who, what, where and why. Several of our members are HR managers and project planners, they have expressed there frustrations over not having these kind of tools in ABATE. I hope that the Board of Directors will see the advantages and benefits of these tools. Along with these tools I propose that the Board establish a new position, Management Deputy Coordinator, (or Management Vice President) they would be in charge of Training, Orientation of new members, Chapter Management programs, STEAM and other training as needed.
Membership has grown over the year. We have several new Chapters and several of the Chapters that have grown have been instilled with new hope and enthusiasm, they are continuing to grow. The Chapters that have Chapter Representatives are doing better. We have some Chapters that have been inactive and have declined, they have offset our growth. We need to work with and help these Chapters. The Management Officer would be in charge of tools to assist on reactivation of these Chapters. Next, we have many areas in the State of Washington that do not have Chapters; we need to encourage Chapters to extend new Chapters to cover all of the State. Chapters need to work, assist, and participate with each other.
As we grow, we will need to change how we are organized and create new positions to keep our members and Chapters informed
This coming year we have much to accomplish. Our first major event is Black Thursday, January 22nd. This is when we meet our elected Legislators and let them know what ABATE is and the issues we are working for. (See the Flyer in this publication). I encourage you to come to support our cause to preserve our freedoms and rights to ride.
We have much to look forward to and great things to accomplish this coming year and beyond.
Let’s Get Err Done.
Mick Gillispie
State Coordinator