It's time once again for the Annual Hiley July 4th Potluck Bash. This is a Combination July 4th Celebration, July Birthdays, and the Ever Popular Anniversary Party. The festivities begin after Becker Cook-off on Sun July 4th. There is plenty of room for RVs with limited hook-ups. Please bring lawn chairs, beverages and swimsuits. All are welcome to come anytime during the weekend. Some are already scheduled to arrive on Fri evening. Questions please call Kim Hiley @ 210-286-4275 or email kdhiley@yahoo.com. Looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating July 4th and the Freedoms that we're so Blessed to have Thanks to our TROOPS !!!!!! God Bless them ALL !!!!!!!
From Elton Homesley:
The great Marathon Texas chili cookoff weekend is coming up next weekend (July 3rd and July 4th). Both days have a Lloyd Goldwire bronze trophy. Saturday (July 3rd) is the Cowboy CCO and the trophy is a bronze cowboy hat. Sunday (July 4th) is the Mustang CCO and the trophy is a running mustang. July 4th weekend this year is the Marathon homecoming weekend and there should be a great crowd in town. There is another big dance on Saturday night out at the "Post" and everyone is welcome. See the Trails or the CASI website for more details in the "Upcomings" listings. There is a cooks party planned on Friday night at the Marathon RV park. And on Saturday Boomer Kingston will be our Emcee. Hope to see a lot of you there.
NOTES FROM THE SUMMER BOARD MEETING
Over the next few days I will report some of the actions taken during our Summer Board Meeting which was held on Sat July 26. We had 13 guests attending the meeting. Thank you to all of you who took the time to attend this meeting.
Jim Ezell present a 4 point Recommentation for the Board to consider. This plan will be addressed at the Great Pepper's Meeting in Sept. We would like all of our members to consider this plan. We would like some feedback. Also, we would like for the Great Peppers attending the Annual Meeting to be prepared to discuss this and vote on it. I will post this plan more than once over the next few weeks.
4 POINT RECOMMENDATION FOR CASI
After working with or serving on the CASI Board of Directors for the past 15 years, I have observed the criticisms, obstacles, shortcomings and successes of our organization. I have been fortunate to be involved in the great growth and stabilizing of CASI as it evolved into what it is today. I have a great love for CASI and wish to remain active wherever I can be of service.
With my recent retirement, I have had a lot of time to reflect on some of these things. I am submitting this document to the Board of Directors as a suggestion for change. It is something that is not originating from the Board, so I will bear the criticism of authoring it. I would just ask that you give it your consideration, modify it and pass it on to the Great Peppers as you wish.
Problem One: Membership Roster
We have long been criticized for the small number of physical members we actually count in our official roll. It is my contention that our membership number should be reflected as the number of cooks that cook in CASI sanctioned events. Each time a person cooks in a CASI event, he pays a fee to CASI and I believe should be considered a CASI cook. This would raise our active membership to somewhere between ten and twenty thousand cooks without any cost or extensive bookkeeping. The number would be approximate, but it would better represent who is out there cooking with CASI. The members who pay dues would be considered as “sanctioned cooks” and have the benefits of ability to cook at Terlingua when so qualified and receive the Terlingua Trails.
Benefit:
This would give us a more realistic number of people cooking CASI and lend greater stature to the organization. It will be easier to raise funds for CASI with the greater numbers that are actually participating. This will be a formula and timing for the Board to determine. It will greatly help sponsorship as we have been fortunate to raise what we have with our relatively small representation. It will require no additional effort.
Problem Two: Great Peppers Meeting
We are running out of hosts and locations for the annual Great Peppers Meeting. Most of the larger pods have now hosted the meeting and few have a tendency to repeat. I am proposing that we establish a permanent location for the meeting. The meeting would remain in the same place, but the pods hosting it would change each year. A committee established by the Board would administer the framework of the meeting, but rotating pods would have the opportunity to be the designated hosts and provide whatever ambience and personnel they can contribute. No pod would be expected to make any financial commitment.
Benefit:
The use of the same location each year would allow for economy derived from increased ability to negotiate the needs of the organization. Problems could be solved by working with the same facility and gaining familiarity with our needs. Better communication would be available. Rates could be negotiated on a longer term basis. The membership would be more comfortable knowing where the amenities are located and what is offered locally. Transportation could be planned and improved on with the same destination each year. I am confident that we would be able to attract funds from sponsors for the meeting and defray our costs. I can solicit local sponsorship funds if I know we will be there for more than one year.
Pods hosting the event could be one or many. It would give all interested pods the ability to host the meeting and better introduce themselves to the general membership. Being under no financial obligation would ease the tension of underwriting the process. More social functions could be solicited from the locale to enhance the experience.
Problem Three: Increased Scholarship Funding
The CASI Scholarship Fund has been a great success. There have been many calls for increasing the funding and either giving more scholarships or increasing the individual amounts. There has also been a misconception that CASI itself gives more to charity than it actually does. At the organization level, CASI only gives about $50,000. per year to charity, by means of scholarships and awards from the TICC stage. I feel this is not an adequate representation of the good we do because all our claims are based on funds donated by sanctioned cook offs. CASI is not so much the charity as it is the enabler operating as a sanctioning body. As such, it is entitled to satisfactory funding to entice people to cook and seek participation at TICC.
It is my proposal that we assess an additional $1.00 per cook at all CASI sanctioned events to be remitted to the CASI Scholarship Fund.
Benefit:
All cooks, as earlier described, would be participating in funding the CASI national program. The money would be going to a good cause that I believe most members support. We have no competition, as the only recourse would be to go to a less significant Tolbert event or pay the $350.00 fee plus $50.00 membership to cook ICS. This will increase the CASI Scholarship funding by about $20,000.00 per year. The cook that cooks 12 times a year would be out an additional $12.00 and all cooks would share in the Scholarship Fund. I believe this is a proper use of our international status.
Problem Four: Recognition of TICC Champion
There has long been a criticism on many fronts that CASI does not properly reward or recognize the Terlingua International Champion. I was tasked by the Great Peppers several years ago to pursue a way of funding a prize for the winner similar to what is awarded by ICS. I have not been comfortable until this time to make a recommendation to facilitate this. Such funding has to be assured and not subject to a sponsor’s whims or presence. It has to be a fact of CASI life and a goal to work toward. It should be something the winners are proud of and not subject to negative publicity.
With the adoption of the three preceding points, I feel like we can confidently develop a reward system that could take any number of directions. This could also be scaled in on a limited basis and expanded. I believe this would be a benefit to CASI and not detrimental to its charitable giving. I believe we can adequately stress that this is for TICC only.
Example One: Awarding of $10,000.00 to TICC winner. This money could be all cash or divided into some cash and an amount to be utilized as a travel budget for the winner.
Benefit:
Savings from GP meeting derived from efficiencies and acquiring meeting sponsors. Increased interest in cooking as more cooks have incentive to qualify and cook at TICC.
Increased revenues for TICC as more cooks qualify and they and their followers spend money there.
Sense of satisfaction by TICC finishers that they are rewarded and recognized for their success.
Ability of TICC winner to travel and represent CASI in their winning year.
Increased exposure for CASI as prize is publicized.
Greater income for Scholarship Fund by more people cooking and funding aided by additional assessment.
Greater giving at the corporate level by CASI
Close
As I stated earlier, these are suggestions for review, revision, and response by the CASI Board of Directors. As Chairman of the Sponsorship Committee and a past CASI Officer I feel like I have the insight to make these recommendations. They will be controversial I am sure, but I feel like it is time to move to another level. I am not campaigning for these changes and I have no horse in the race except where it benefits sponsorship.
Great Pepper's Meeting: Gill Hewlett reported that the registration for the Great Pepper's Meeting is very low at this time. So far there are only 84 people registered. Of these 84 there are 27 Great Peppers, 14 CASI Board and Support Members, 8 guests, 2 Volunteers 4 VIPs. If you have not registered for this meeting, please take time and submit your registration. The form is on our web site (http://www.chili.org/) and I am providing a copy below.
Enough for today. Have a great day!
