The State of the Carder Steuben Club
From David Goldstein, President

I want to take this opportunity to bring all of you up to date on what’s happening with the Carder Steuben Club. Last week we had our first Board meeting of the year. I am pleased to report that both our finances and membership are in good condition.

During 2009, under the leadership of Alan Shovers, my predecessor, we grew our membership and increased our reserves. These increases took place in a down economy, a period when most other clubs and not-for-profit organizations are losing members and having financial problems. I think the increase in membership is largely attributable to continued interest in Carder Steuben and the fact that the blog, which Alan is still running, helps attract new members to our Club.

During 2009 Lon Knickerbocker, our Treasurer, and Dick Weerts, our Secretary, did outstanding jobs in getting our membership list and dues records synchronized as we switched the end of our membership from September 30 to December 31, giving our members an extra three months.

During 2010 we will be making several donations that are important to our Club. We are contributing $2,000 toward a project to restore the Hawkes signs on the old Hawkes Building in Corning and $1,000 (which will be matched by a very generous donor) to the West Virginia Museum of American Glass in Weston, West Virginia, which has a small but growing collection of Carder Steuben.

We are planning to redevelop our web site, www.cardersteubenclub.com, to provide many new features such as searching by pattern, color and cut, as well as shape. We also hope to add the line drawings to the website. In addition, we are implementing procedures to assure that pictures submitted as proposed additions to the web site are authenticated and added more promptly.

Planning for this year’s Symposium is well under way under the leadership of Scott Hansen, who has run the last two symposiums. Save the dates of September 23-25. Although the formal symposium begins on the 24th, there are many activities scheduled for the 23rd, including a small glass show and sale which will focus on Carder Steuben.

At the business meeting held during the Symposium we will elect the Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Webmaster and a Director. If a member is interested in any of these positions, please email Dick Weerts at rrwfl@gmail.com or me at elvidant@aol.com

Our Board normally meets every three months. We have a face to face meeting at the time of the Symposium but all other meetings are normally done via conference call. You would be surprised at how much material we can cover in what is usually a two-hour call.

Happy Hunting,

David Goldstein, President