Maryland Volkssport Association
Minutes of Meeting
Monday, December 31, 2007
Columbia, Maryland

Officers Present: President, Bob Schmick; Treasurer, Kenneth Wilson; Secretary, Steve Arnett; Past President, Dennis Lynch (Freestate).

Club Delegates: Bob Wolfe (Freestate Happy Wanderers), Ron Bowers (CBCW), Sandra Lynch (World Wide Volkssport Tours), John Dye (Columbia), Jim Fons (Annapolis Amblers), Skip Magee (C&O) and Jim Hathaway (Seneca).

Guests: Bob Lumbert

The Meeting was called to order at 1:10 PM by President Bob Schmick

REPORTS

• Minutes from the previous meeting were approved.
• Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Ken Wilson submitted financial statements for August, September, October, and November 2007. There were no major issues since the last meeting. A $1.10 donation was recorded due to a club over payment. The reports were approved as presented.
• Sanctioning: Jim Fons reported he is retiring as the sanction approval person. He reported there have been 41 walks, and one bike in 2007, and that there were 34 walks, and 1 bike planned for 2008. He also reported that 63 YRE walks, and 8 YRE bikes occurred in 2007, and 67 YRE walks, and 7 YRE bikes are scheduled for 2008.
• Publicity: The Baltimore Sun carried a large article on Volksmarching, and the article was copied by the Washington Times. The Washington Post also did an article. Washington, D.C. has been named the most walkable city in the nation, and Baltimore was named number 15.
• Future of the Sport: Participation is till trending down. Bob reported that the Baltimore event the previous week had increased participation from the previous year.
• C&O Canal: Skip reported the events are breaking even due to a couple of people doing the bike multiple times.
• Web Page: Bill reported he had to renew the domain name for MVA. This was $99.99 for five years.

OLD BUSINESS

• Publicity: The proposed publicity book would cost $70 per page, and no one is helping, so this is being dropped for now. Sandy Lynch said she would check prices at Savage. John Dye suggested putting a map on the MVA web page. Bill Guion has a map under the Rediscover Maryland Program. It was proposed this can be made more prominent on the MVA site. Clubs are asked to advertise the MVA web site at club meetings.

NEW BUSINESS

• Atlantic Region Conference: The 2008 Atlantic Region Conference will be held March 14-16 in Martinsburg, WV. There will be 3 walks, plus an event at Antietem Battlefield. The package for the conference is $85.
• Rediscover Maryland: Lorraine Weaver and Bob Schmick have completed the program 4 times.

CLUB REPORTS

• Annapolis Amblers: The Amblers currently have 4 events planned for 2008. These will be Greenscape in Annapolis in April, Severna Park (replaces the canceled Bay Bridge event) in May, St. Michaels in July, and Octoberfest in October.
• Baltimore Walking Club: The club will repeat their "walk around the Beltway" series of events in 2008. The first event will be in Catonsville in January. They will also repeat their walks at the Inner Harbor from the DuBurns Arena in February.
• CBCW: The club has one event planned for Watkins Regional Park November 15/16.
• Columbia: Nothing to report.
• Freestate Happy Wanderers: The club reported they will hold an event in Bowie in February.
• Greenbelt: The Greenbelt club is planning an event at the Beltsville Agricultural Center in June.
• Piedmont Pacers: The Pacers will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2008 with 6 events. They will participate in the 4 state events over Memorial Day weekend. They will hold their normal Augustoberfest event in Hagerstown, as well as events in Morgan Run, Piney Run, and Westminster. They will have a new YRE in Mt. Airy, which will be a 6/10K event.
• Potomac River Volksmarching Club: There will be an event on Bolling AFB in Washington, D.C. April 12th and 13th in 2008. Pre-registration, and photo IDs will be required to get on the base unless you have a Department of Defense ID.
• Seneca Sugarloafers: The Seneca Club will repeat their Kenwood Cherry Blossom event.
• Washington DC Volksmarching Club: Steve Arnett reported this was his last day as president of the club. The club is in the planning process for 2 events in MARYLAND in 2008.
• World Wide Volkssport Tours: There will be a Caribbean cruise sailing on February 16th, 2008, with sanctioned walks in San Juan, PR and in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. There will be a new YRE in Bethany Beach, DE in 2008.
• Checkpoint Items: Bob Wright recommended all clubs check the IRS website for items pertaining to their clubs.

The meeting was closed at 2:01 PM.

Respectfully submitted