As we move past the midpoint of summer, it's beginning to feel like the 2009-2010 Ski Season is just around the corner. I'm happy to say that over the past few months we have recruited our committee chairs and worked together to complete a lot of the planning. I'm excited to share some of this with you. Most importantly, I want you to know that we're ready and raring to go!

Some of you may not know that in addition to the elected Officers of the club, the "Council" includes the chairpersons for the six official Standing Committees. This season, the members who will lead these six committees and help with many other initiatives are: Larry Thomas for Instruction, Craig Anctil for Competition, Mary Ellen Kazar for Entertainment, Frank Garcia for Membership, Tage Haun for Safety and John "Ski" Czyzewski for Trips. Each and every one of these individuals is committed to doing their part to make this a great year for WASC! We also have a group of dedicated members that have volunteered to lead some of the other important club events and functions. Elyce Rivera will run our three street fairs; Ellen Earl will head up our Open House; Rob Anderson continues as our Webmaster; Tage Haun will continue as our Historian; Maryjean Butler will take care of our Hospitality efforts; Jack and Carol Myers have volunteered to run our Birthday Party; and Deena Altman and Kathi Wolder will once again plan our banquet!

Of course, these "courageous" members can't always "go it alone;" there is a lot to do! I hope that each of you will take advantage of at least one of these great opportunities to get involved. If you already know what area you'd like to help out, or want more information before making a commitment, just pick up the phone or drop an email to the appropriate Chairperson.

Trips: As Bobby G. always says, "the next best thing to skiing is talking about it." Well I agree, so let's talk about the ski trips we have planned for the coming year. To help us decide on where we should ski this coming season, the Council sat down and developed a set of guidelines that we tried to apply as we evaluated our options. These included: a) pick great destinations with club friendly accommodations; b) offer a variety of skiing experiences; c) spice it up with a little change; and d) leverage what has worked well in the past. We've put together what we consider (and we hope you'll agree!) a great combination of trips.

• Stratton, VT - December 11-13
• Belleayre, NY - January 10
• Blue Mountain, PA - January 24
• Club Outing at Mount Snow - February 5-7
• Hunter with the Ski Bums - February 10 (Wednesday)
• Sun Valley, Idaho - February 19-26
• Windham, NY - March 7
• Alta/Snowbird, Utah - March 17-21
• Joe's Mystery Bus Trip II - March 24

Our trip leaders John Ski, Larry Thomas, Kathi & Lance Wildstein, Paul Yanicak, Cathy Nevins and Joe Tag are putting together the packages and details. In the meantime I hope you'll mark your calendars and start making plans to ski with your WASC friends!

In addition to our ski trips, we have many other Club events coming up. To make sure that you don't miss any of your favorites, check out the WASC Club website calendar. On the subject of Calendar, there are a number of very important upcoming events which we will need a lot of member support for. Please plan to pitch in and help out with one or more of those listed below:

Street Fairs: Based on our success at drawing in new members at past fairs we are going to participate in three this year:

• Westfield FestiFall Street Fair on September 20th
• Summit Street Fair on October 11th
• Cranford Street Fair on October 18th

Come help talk up the club and encourage people to come to our Open House. If you're available to assist, please reach out to Elyce Rivera, who is organizing the fairs for us, and let her know. It's a lot of fun, so come and join us for one!

Cheesecake Sales: They're back, the greatest cheesecakes in the East, that is. Let's each try to sell at least 5 cheesecakes this year! Order forms will be available at every meeting beginning with the September 3rd Summer meeting and can also be downloaded from our website.

Open House: The WASC Open House will be held on October 29th at 7:00 PM. This year, our objective will be to talk with everyone more and talk at everyone less. We will need a lot of help whether it is in an official role, or engaging our guests in conversation! Our job that evening is to help sell why it's great to be part of our club.

One last initiative I want to share with you is regarding club racing. As many of our long-time members know, WASC has a long tradition of racing. I have asked Craig, in his role as Competition Chair, to develop ideas that will re-ignite this passion once again and inspire more of us to race, and to race more often. More to come on this in the coming months.

Closely related to our rich racing history is our tradition of passing our club trophies on to the new winners each year. Much like the Stanley Cup in hockey, by adding new names and passing them on they become an important and enduring part of our club legacy. Unfortunately, many of our trophies are looking pretty worn out and tired. So with the help of Cathy Nevins and Craig Anctil, we are evaluating what it will take to restore those trophies that need it. In October, we will present this Trophy Restoration initiative as part of the 2009-2010 budget, and I ask that you consider supporting this project. Preserving our trophies will play a big part in helping to sustain our "racing legacy" for future WASC generations.

In closing, we've accomplished quite a bit already, but we still have a lot to do. It's up to all of us to pitch in and help make our club great. Thanks to those that will help make this a great year. And if you have not been contacted yet, have faith-you will be called upon!

I look forward to seeing you soon and kicking off the new season!

Mark Mintz
President, WASC
Phone: 908-305-1965
E-mail: Mark Mintz