Re: OT: Club Membership

Janet and Shan,

1.  Our membership dues are $3 a year
2.  Yes, it is.  but we have to pay $50 a year extra to the AIS because not all our
members belong to the AIS.

3. NO, it is not a requirement of our club and I do not believe it should be.  At
this point in time my AIS membership has expired.  I injured myself doing my
internship over 3 years ago (my
major is Horticulture) and I did not renew my membership in the local or the AIS.  At
that time I had at least 1 more year on a 3 year membership to the AIS..  My local
club at that time was doing nothing but business meetings and there were no
educational programs being given at any of the meetings.
I had injured myself badly enough that I doubted I could ever have 1 flower bed much
less doing anything with my major so everything was put on hold.  I have been in
clubs all my life and I believe that clubs are suppose to not only support the
membership and increase the knowledge of all of the members, whether they are brand
new or have been in for several years,  of that specialty club whether it be Iris or
Roses or whatever.

As far as membership in the AIS, I believe that this will come about for most members
of an Iris club as long as they are not pushed.   If someone has brought in a new
member, that new member may have just bought their first Iris.  They are not ready at
that time to belong to the AIS; all they own may be that one Iris that they just
bought from someone in the club, or they may remember with fondness Iris that their
mother or grandmother had in their yards.  They go to an Iris show and are invited to
attend meetings.  The last thing they need is AIS membership pushed on them.  They
may think that paying $5 for an Iris is extreme, so why pay for 1 year membership to
the AIS.  I think that for the first year or so, let the new club member learn the
ropes from helping with the shows the club gives, seeing other members gardens that
they have been invited to, and attending meetings that have educational programs.

Some members may never join the AIS, but they will still be valuable members if they
do nothing else but support the club in the club's endevers and love Iris.  Isn't
that what specialty clubs are for?

Other new members will grow in their interest of Iris and will become members of the
AIS.  My husband and I are both joining this year through the Aiken's special in
their Iris catalog for AIS
membership.  We were going to join anyway and their offer just seemed to make it
better.

This question that you both have posed to the Iris L list was a serious one a few
years ago for our local club.  Several of the members decided that some of the brand
new members that joined the club shouldn't be allowed to stay because they only owned
an Iris or 2.  They decided that these people were not professional enough because
they didn't belong to the AIS so they shouldn't be allowed to join even the local
club unless these people joined the AIS immediately.  Now let me point out that time
that these so called professional people were not commercial Iris growers, or
hybredizers, nor did they do much showing in the club's Iris shows.  But they did
belong to the AIS (no fault of the AIS).  The hybredizers and connercial growers
didn't say much either way, but I took the side of the club members that said give
the new members a chance.  More than one member pointed out that being an Iris lover
starts with a person falling in love with a certain
Iris that they see blooming in someone's garden or yard and that a new member may not
own 1000 varieties of Iris if they just started that year.  This discussion got so
heated, it almost distroyed our club.  That is when I decided to quit; there were no
educational programs at that
time so there was really no reason to continue.  Some of these members that demanded
AIS membership told me that the reason that I took up the cause of the new members is
that I was not an AIS member.   Little did they know that I already belonged to the
AIS before I joined the local club.   I was quiet about my membership, a lot like
some of  Iris-L, there but just not saying much.  A lot of members quit the club for
a while because of that or just paid their dues but didn't attend the meetings.
Things got so bad that a new club was proposed.  I was opposed to that because I
belonged to a specialty club before that split over some issue (I don't remember what
as I was only a kid and a junior member of the club, no voting priviliages) but then
there were 2 clubs of the same specialty in the same city.  As a result, the parent
club would not recognize either club and never did.  That was a very bad thing for
the members that were trying for certain things like a national specialty show (sort
of like a regional Iris show but  the people come from more than just a region to
exhibit in this type of show).

I had a chance to talk to some members of our local club and they told me that
meetings were starting to have educational programs and that they met on a regular
basis of 8times a year.  When I belonged before, they met when they felt like it, one
year they only met 2 or 3 times for a whole year.  Now things are a lot better, there
is an educational program everytime we meet and this next year, we are going to start
judges training classes for those who want to go.   Maybe it doesn't sound like much,
but I think that the members that continued to stay and improve the club should very
much be commended for their efforts.

4.  Our Iris sale and action is suppose to be open to the public but I really believe
at this time it is more for the members of the club.  Our club doesn't trade as much
as a lot of people in the club would like.  There is a drawing every meeting and the
person's name that is picked gets a new iris up to $45  so that way even a new member
can maybe get a very recent introduction.  A few months ago our club went from 1 name
to drawing 2 names per month at each meeting.  After a person's name is drawn, they
can't put their name in for the rest of the year in order to give other members a
chance to get a new cultivar.  You may find out that unless a time and place are
agreed upon and everyone brings something to trade that that doesn't always work.
Some people take advantage of people that are very generous.  It is best to try to
work out maybe with 1 or 2 people in the club that you become good friends with.
These people and yourself will be much better satisfied with the trades that you do.
One of the club members that joined the first time the same year as I did and we have
continued to stay in touch even when we didn't have the club.  She has been very
generous to me and although I don't have as many Iris as she does, I try to trade in
other plant life and other things I have so that she will not feel like I am trying
to take advantage of her.  This year, we are going to buy different new cultivars and
in a year or two (or as soon as there are babies) we will trade our new varieties
with each other.  It works out very well because we are friends.
Hope this helps you out.
Sincerely
Linda Owen Simmons
janet & shan wrote:

>         I'd like to do a little survey to enlighten our club members (and perhaps
> myself). If you would like to respond off list, that's great. You can reply
> to  <shan@montana.net>.  Or if anyone finds it interesting, I wouldn't mind
> following the thread. Just a few questions:
> 1. How much are your club membership dues ?
> 2. Is your club affiliated with the AIS ?
> 3. Is AIS membership a requirement for club membership ?
> 4. Are there any tangible benefits (free iris, discounts, etc.) to club
> membership ?
>         Thanks in advance  Janet & Shan - Big Sky Iris Club



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