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President's Messageby Jeff W. Lewis, President,
It's that time of year when the membership comes together for our annual meeting, which includes an election to determine who represents the membership on the Board of Directors for HWFC. Throughout our history the Board has played a critical role in the decisions we've made as an organization. It has acted on behalf of the membership to help determine where we're going and what we are going to be. One of the responsibilities the Board undertook several years ago at the direction of the membership (just as we were preparing a move from the Quail Street location), was to hire a General Manager. It was decided by the membership (through a bylaws change) that the GM would report to the Board. When it came time to search for a second GM, the Board created a committee composed of Board members, staff, and working members and their first task was to explore the nature and scope of what the position should be. After many meetings and much discussion it was determined that a traditional GM position is appropriate and necessary for a variety of reasons, but especially so that the membership is properly represented. The membership chooses a Board and the GM answers to that Board. It is vital that as many members as possible make their voices heard either by voting for the candidates they prefer or by becoming candidates themselves for the Board. There are four seats on the Board up for election and the four Board members whose terms are up are George Broeckx, Linda Lawrence, Virginia McEwen and Howard Brent. Another issue that will be decided on by the membership at the annual meeting is the proposed reset of our store. The membership had requested last year that we investigate a store reset in order to come to terms with our steady growth. At the recent Budget meeting (2002) and elsewhere between Directors and members, a question has been raised as to whether we should or need to grow. There is not full agreement among the Board on this issue and I want to be clear that the ideas expressed here by me represent a promotion of growth. We have, in terms of sales and membership, grown every year we have been in existence. The only year we faced the possibility of not growing was the year we moved from the Quail Street location (October 1995). Our sales had been maximized at that location and if we hadn't moved we would have had a net loss for the year with no real prospects for a turnaround. A business like ours, which maintains dozens of employees and hundreds of working members, must enjoy some growth in order to keep pace with rising costs such as health benefits and salaries and energy to name a few. In addition to the practical realities of maintaining a healthy business I believe we have a moral imperative to promote what we do and what we are. We are an alternative in our business practices (member labor) and in the healthy products we carry and we, as well as the larger community we are part of, should continue to benefit from our success. We have enriched thousands of people's lives with what we do and how we do it as our mission statement directs us to. Growth and success bring challenges and we have always risen to those challenges and hope we continue to do so. |
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