Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:25:40 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: Candy Madigan <candymadigan at mindspring.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: WSFA and hosts
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

I actually like it the way it is.  If I were to ask for any help, it would
be in getting my house clean enough that people can come into it.  And
getting the sodas put away afterwards, but I really don't think it is
WSFA's duty to act as my maid service.  And I have noticed that if I ask
for any help ("Could you get that platter down for me?") no one has ever
even so much as wrinkled their brows at me.  I guess I wouldn't kick people
out who came early to help me clean, but I tend to feed people, and more
likely than not they'd end up getting fed rather than doing much in the way
of work.

Hmm, what would be useful and not make WSFA into my cleaning crew?

I guess the bathrooms and vacuuming downstairs and moving chairs into
position.  The rest of the house should stay my job.  And frankly, if the
bathrooms, vacuuming and chairs stay my job, that's not really a problem.

I'll tell you one thing that would be nice, would be if someone would
provide the ice cubes.  If I had two people who regularly come to the
meeting each volunteer to bring a big bag of ice, that would take that
particular headache off my shoulders.  With two people, if one happens to
stay home that particular night, then I would still have ice for the
drinks.  Although if I am relying on someone to bring ice and they know
they aren't going to make it, it'd be nice if they let me know so that if
*both* people weren't going to make it, I'd know I needed to send my poor
beleaguered husband out for ice.

.At 11:04 AM 10/18/2005, you wrote:
>At 08:12 AM 10/18/2005 -0400, Samuel Lubell wrote:
>
> >So far, I've not heard any real options for an alternative meeting place.
>
>How about a library or community center?  I've been in clubs that met in
>both sorts of places.  They are either free (libraries used to let 501c3
>orgs use meeting rooms free here in Maryland), or very inexpensive (the
>Potomac Community Center charges less than $20 for a room for an evening).
>Main issue there is the time...both of these sorts of places tend to close
>up about 10pm so we might have to move the meeting back to 8pm, then
>adjourn to a nearby restaurant or something for the socializing.
>
>Some restaurants have party rooms that they will let groups use in exchange
>for the business.  Pizza Hut in Frederick does this once a month for the
>Mensa folks up there.
>
>If someone else volunteers their home, that would certainly work, but given
>the thundering response to the request for a location for the last Fifth
>Friday Party, I'm not hopeful of this.
>
> >Both the Gillilands and
> >the Madigans, like previous hosts, are extremely generous in allowing
> >us in their homes once a month, preparing the place and the food,
> >and, all too often, cleaning up the mess we leave behind.  It's a lot
> >of work and Alexis has been doing this for decades.
>
>Very true, and both are deserving of much thanks, along with all the others
>who have done so in the past (the Ginters, the Olivers, and I'm sure others
>while I was "away" or before I joined).
>
>I wonder if it might be a good idea to lighten the load on the hosts,
>whether things move or not?  A "party committee" might share the burden of
>preparation, setup and cleanup, and make life easier on the hosts (not that
>they are complaining, but maybe we shouldn't wait until that happens?).
>Any task split several ways is easier, and I'd be happy to volunteer to
>help clean up (you *don't* want me setting up the "menu"...).  In another
>group I'm in there's one person who is in charge of this, and acts to
>coordinate the volunteers.  That person is NOT in charge of doing the
>actual work though, so if there aren't any volunteers, there's no
>food...which is fair IMO.  Anyone with special needs can volunteer and make
>sure they are met.  If the hosts *like* doing some or all of the work, they
>can certainly volunteer to do so anyway (Candy seems to enjoy making
>cookies and I'd *never* want to discourage that! ;-).  This might also be a
>way to "audition" folks for con suite manager...if they can't coordinate a
>meeting's food, they probably can't do a con suite either, right?  If they
>find they hate managing volunteers or dealing with food issues, they should
>probably not volunteer to run a con suite either.  Comments?
>
>-- Mike B.
>--
>=============================================================================
>| I didn't really say all the things that I said.  You probably didn't read |
>| what you thought you read.  Statistics show that this whole thing is more |
>| than likely just a hideous misunderstanding.                              |
>============================================================================
>=

Candy
(301)345-6635