Hi ya all:

Shell Clubs are folding and aging.  Unfortunately young people are NOT
getting into hobbies.  They are too busy working full time and with families

Our club membership is close to 100.  Several are snow birds we only see in
the winter.   We gain several members every year at our Shell Festival where
we promote our club A LOT!
 We have a membership table run by our membership chairman who sets up a
nice display, we run club videos, and give out info about the club and hand
out old newsletters.     Members talk to guests to the show all weekend.
Sometimes they try us out first at a meeting...so we make sure our Jan.
meeting is a REALLY good one.  We also hand out flyers about shelling trips.

We find new members are impressed because of our interest in giving 2-3
scholarships to students in Marine Biology in Florida.

We also get out into the community by giving programs at schools, women's
clubs, churches, libraries, etc. and that draws interest into our club.

Getting information about our club and meetings into the newspaper each
month draws several phone calls.

Some clubs are folding because they "Can't get along!"   Good grief!  No one
is going to agree about everything.
We just agree to disagree and get on with it!    The President doesn't run
the club.....the club runs the club and their talents and ideas and
abilities are amazing!

Jim Cordy, Pres. Astronaut Trail Shell Club
Bobbi Cordy, Shell Festival Chairman for 26 years!



Jim and Bobbi Cordy
Merritt Island, Florida
Space Coast Shell Festival Jan. 21-22 2006
 in Melbourne
ATSC Sponsors "It's Better In the Bahamas Shelling Trips"

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------