2016 is here and for that means reminding everyone to renew membership to the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club. Most of everyone should fall into one of the three categories.
- Eastman employees – Dues are automatically deducted from your first paycheck, no further action needed
- Retirees – email me at tim@tehcc.org to confirm your contact information
- Affiliates – Complete the form, include the required payment, and mail to the provided address
That’s it! Still debating? My easy response is that your membership fee is a cheap trail head fee. That’s 7.5ยข/mi for the miles of trail our club maintains on the AT. I just ran the preliminary numbers for 2015 AT maintenance. People volunteered over 10,000 hours over 347 outings to maintain our 134 miles of trail. Large portions of our club revenue, well over half if not close to 80% goes to trail maintenance activities. This is mostly tools and materials needed to maintain one of the most popular sections of the AT. Your little bit of dues does help.
The bulk of the remainder of our dues revenue is for our web hosting. Our Trail Wiki continues to grow. 2015 has some renewed focus along with exploring new capabilities that have been added. Early next year I hope to have a customized searchable list so you can find the trails near you that match your desires.
Membership in 2016 is looking to be a good year. We have commitment to continued focus on our event calendar. I personally hope to lead at least one hike a month. With five to ten more people with that level of commitment, we would have a really full calendar. That would be 1% of our membership leading hikes, not that many. I also have some ideas of weekend camping and hiking trips that I may explore if there is enough interest.
So please renew today! Still not convinced, contact us at chair@tehcc.org or tim@tehcc.org and let us know what you think.