<VV> Chapter member - where?

[Vairtec Corporation]

Bruce wrote:
> Could someone tell me which chapter I should join, that is within 200 miles of my location , Mitchell, SD 57301?
>   

Yes.

The chapter of your choice.

It could be the closest one, even if it is a long way away, or any other 
chapter of your choice.

After all, where is a chapter located?

Is it where the chapter address is?  If so, my local chapter is located 
inside a small PO Box 40 miles from where it holds it meetings.

Is it where the chapter holds its meetings?  If so, my local chapter is 
located inside a small restaurant.

No, a chapter is located across the broad region in which its membership 
lives.

Through the years, chapters have come and gone, and chapters have 
altered their geographic base depending on where the members live.  My 
local chapter has, over the past 30 years, migrated northward in within 
its home state.

By joining a chapter, you WILL receive membership benefits, even if you 
are not able to attend meetings.  You will receive the chapter's 
newsletter and other communications.  You will learn of events and 
activities throughout the region.  You will perhaps discover that while 
the chapter may not be based within 200 miles of Mitchell, SD, a number 
of its members -- like you --live closer to Mitchell.  You and these 
members will begin to interact more closely as a result of having been 
drawn together by common chapter membership.

A great example of this is CORSA's Special Interest Groups, which are 
very much like chapters except that they are not tied to geography.  By 
having been a member of Corvanatics, the group serving those with an 
interest in Corvair 95 models, I have connected with like-minded people 
nationwide.  Many of them I have never met, while others I see only when 
I attend a CORSA convention -- and we are like old friends, because we 
have made that connection through the club.

The idea of requiring CORSA members to join a local chapter is, in my 
view, inextricably tied to the debate about requiring chapter members to 
join CORSA.  It absolutely should work both ways.

Choose a chapter and join it!

--Bob Marlow