Now That I Am a Member of this Rock Club

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Click here if you are a seasoned member or past member

This is a message to the newer members of Alabama Mineral & Lapidary Society that have not had a chance to be a part of what this club has to offer.

You are going to have to ask a lot of questions find out what is going on and how to be a part. The place to do that is the "Alabama Mineral & Lapidary Society Members-Only" Facebook group (MO). If you haven't already joined, click the link and go there now and request your invite to join this hidden Facebook group. Everything happening will be posted in this group and every question you ask will be answered.

You have joined a rock club that is led, organized and maintained by the members of the club. Without the members of the club involving themselves and participating there would be no club. No one gets paid; there are no extra benefits for holding office, being a chairperson, or on a committee. Those members donate their time and energy because they care about something they are involved in and want to see it succeed.

People join the club for various reasons. The best reason to join is because you understand the reason this club was founded and you have the same mindset. (About Us)

How can you contribute? Any time you are enjoying what the club has to offer – going on field trips, taking training classes, using the workshop, participating in gem shows, rock swaps, club auctions or even coming to a monthly meeting -- think about the members that didn’t attend. Take some pictures, write an article about your experience and send it to the webmaster and the newsletter. That kind of interaction can do a lot to encourage other members and potential members. The website and the newsletter depend on you for content.

Now, providing content is a good start, but what about how the club puts on that event? What about the way stuff gets done in the club? It takes member participation. Whether you are asked, or you step forward to volunteer, choose to be a part of what you enjoy. Someone at some time has said yes to help in a committee or to be an officer, and it was given to them to do. Now, here comes the real test, can you imagine being that person volunteering for a role in the club, and you had to do it all alone? Of course that isn’t right. Unfortunately that is what happens when additional members are asked to be on a committee to help and they say no. When that happens, of course that member begins to be overwhelmed, develops a sense that no one cares and eventually loses interest. That doesn’t have to happen though. If everyone would do a little, a lot would get done. When we are doing things together and everyone helping out, we can feel good about our role in the club. We share, we learn we overcome.

Can you image what it feels like to spend a lot of time organizing a program to share at the monthly club meeting and only a few people show up? Or organize a rock swap at the workshop only three members show up? What if you were to send out 250 emails to our club members about something taking place in the club and you only got 10 responses. As members we need to reply to correspondence. We need to support and participate in events.

Members need to be in communication to voice your opinions, help decide what the club does and where it goes. To keep the members informed with all aspects of planning and working to provide activities and meaningful club functions. That communication will take place through (MO) on Facebook, with emails, the newsletter and the website. So the first step is to get every member to join MO, open their emails, read the newsletter, visit and interact with the website, and come to meetings as often as you can. Communication is seeing, hearing and responding. If we don’t hear from you, we haven’t communicated. And when you see the word “we” used, this is referring to you and every other member. We all should feel a part and be a part, because “we” are the club.

If you want to have a club that does things, takes field trips, has a cool website and an interesting newsletter, if you want a workshop that is available and has tools that are clean and work well, if you want to learn how to identify rocks and make jewelry, if you want to come to a club meeting that is friendly and educational, if you want to set up and sell your creations at gem and jewelry shows, if you want to be kept informed as a member to everything that the club and the federation has to offer, if you want to have a voice in what, where and when, then guess what -- you are going to have to be one of the members that becomes involved. You don’t have to do a lot, as long as we all do something. Find an area you would enjoy and offer to be involved and do your part. Without you, the club is nothing and why would you want to be in a nothing club.
Your comments and suggestions are needed and welcome in every communication we have.

You can start by going to MO. Introduce yourself and start your rockhounding journey with your club.

Please feel free to share your comments on this article, we would love know how you feel and what you think about club life.

A sincere thank you from membership@lapidaryclub.com , we look forward to hearing from you.

To find out how you can become more involved: email membership@lapidaryclub.com

To contribute content to the website or the newsletter?
email: webmaster@lapidaryclub.com or newsletter@lapidaryclub.com

To join MO on Facebook, email: minerallapidaryfb@gmail.com

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Click here if you are a seasoned member or past member