December 2023 Newsletter

Membership News and Renewal

Now is the time to renew your membership for 2024. No Increase will be made this year. Please see the discussion below.

1) Please renew before the end of December 2023 to avoid the $25 late fee.  You can renew online HERE.

2) Be sure to sign, date, and witness as needed on page 2.

3) Be sure to include the address label clipped from the cover of your NRA magazine, or a photocopy of your NRA membership card. A copy of your NRA membership can also be printed by logging into the NRA website.  It must show your NRA expiration date and your name.  (Current NRA membership is required for ACGC membership because that is how we get our insurance.)

4) Please make sure to update your email address on the renewal form.  

 5) The renewal process will start after January 1st. and can take a month to complete. Don must verify that all members are in good standings with the club and the NRA. This is the reason that it takes so much time. The gate code will not be changed until Martin has heard from Don that all renewals have been sent out and all members should have received their new credentials. Typically, Martin will change the gate code on or just after the February meeting. 

Dues Increase Discussion

A couple of months ago at one of our monthly meetings, the question was posed on what our normal treasury balance was  and was it time to discuss the possible increase of the dues to keep up with the rising cost of owning a range. As we are all aware, things are not getting cheaper. 

An email was sent to see how our membership felt about the possibility of an increase. We received a total of 25 responses ( this does not include all the members that spoke up at the monthly meeting ) and the overwhelming feeling was that an increase would be needed going forward.

With that said, the overwhelming concern was that we not out price ourselves and cause a large  loss of membership. I can assure you that there is not one officer or match director that wants to lose any members. 

So, now that the membership agrees that there is a need, How do we move forward? The first step is for the officers to get together and determine what our hard costs are. We will need to determine what we think future inflation will cost for things like taxes, insurance, range maintenance ect. Then we will need to determine what future improvements will be needed. From that we can develop an idea on what we need every year to keep our club solvent. 

At some point in the early part of next year, we will report back to the club at the meetings and via email, what we have determined our yearly “ Cost of doing business” is and what we feel our surplus cash on hand should be. We will also give information on membership numbers so that we can break down a per member cost. 

Please keep in mind that Air Capital Gun Club is a membership owned club. That means that everyone has a say on what we charge to be a member. 

I personally think that there are other ways to reach our goals without having to increase our membership by large percentages. I like the idea of trying to reach out to the youth groups and get them involved in the shooting sports. When children are involved in sports, parents get involved. That would increase our membership. 

This is just one idea, but my hope is that it sparks other ideas from the membership.

Christmas Party / Swap Meet

We are having a Christmas Party and Swap Meet this year also. Graham Pankrats and he son have been gracious enough to allow us to use their events center at no cost to the club. We would like to send a special thanks to Graham and his family. The date has been set for Wednesday December 13th starting at 6:00 - 8:00pm. 

Location:

11296 SW 104th Terrace 

Augusta Ks. 67010

Arrow on the attached map shows the approximate location. 

In keeping with tradition, there will be Pizza, snacks and drinks supplied by the club. 

There will also be tables available for you to bring all your goodies that you want to sell or swap with other members. 

Remember, this would be a great time for you to get your renewals into Don Neice and save yourself and stamp!

New Website

The website has been coming along slowly but it is making progress. I sent a link out to all the officers and the match directors ahead of the November breakfast meeting so that they could give their feedback before the site went live. With the help of the web designer we have made several revisions and continue to make more.

One of the cool new items on the website is the ability to fill out and submit the membership renewal through the website. We do not have a payment option yet but at least all the paperwork can be done online.  The addition of this feature has caused a copy of wrinkles so I chose not to have it launched until after the first of the year. 

Range Maintenance

Early March we will need a few people with broadcast spreaders to help put down per-emergent herbicide on the ranges to keep weeds at bay.

There are few other improvements needed and we will compile a list of volunteers to help with all these items. It is because we have a great membership that the range has been in as good condition as it is. I encourage everyone that has not helped in the past to get involved. I know that I have had a sense of pride whenever a prospective member visits the range and remarks how nice the range is. I am quick to tell them that it is because we have such a great membership.

Please contact Martin at (316) 706-1912 if you can and will help out with these items.