President’s Corner  

Greetings Turner Members,

       

              Another year has passed and we welcome in the New Year with high expectations of a better economy and more jobs in the Fox Valley area. Here at Turners we are trying to hold the cost of food and drinks down to our members and give them somewhere to take their family and or friends for a good time.  Stop out and support your club.  Ask Ed Heriaud about catering for small events.

                 A recap of 2009: The new, wider bar was installed with new equipment behind the bar, new tile around the bar and carpet entry way completed. The clubroom was remodeled to match the bar area with an entertainment/storage area built at the north end of the bar.  Aurora hosted the American Turners National Softball Tournament which was attended by Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Covington, Kentucky Turners.   New round tables that seat 8 people were purchased for the lower level in hopes of increasing rentals and possibly doing catering for small events.  Total seating capacity downstairs is approximately 220.  Finally, 2 garage doors were added to the patio for the smoking area to keep the cold winds out. The board is continuously trying to make Aurora Turners the best in the Fox Valley.

As Aurora Turners Members, you should be proud of our society for being a leader in the Fox Valley for our sport programs and gymnastics. The flag football program increased 20 percent over the previous year. The fall Big Shots basketball program was at capacity with over 200 children (boys and girls) enrolled. The second round of Big Shots Basketball will be even larger starting in Jan. 2010 with over 220 kids in the program. We are now taking registration for the first time for Turners T-ball.  This program will be held at Turners on the flag football field in the evenings. This program will fill up fast, so get signed up soon.  These programs are for all kids in Aurora and the surrounding area. Tell your relatives, neighbors, and friends about these great programs Eric Petre has organized. Kim Swann also had a great year in leading our gymnastics program.  I am proud of our girls and coaches for keeping the tradition of Turners alive.  This year along with many others our team gymnastic girls received many ribbons for competing in competitions around the area. Hopefully the kids in our programs will have great memories and be future Turner members.

At the December General Membership Meeting the Membership Committee had 3 openings for 2010. During the meeting no one accepted nominations and 3 existing members resigned. Six members are now needed for the membership committee. We will open nominations at the January 7, general meeting. The next membership sign-up is in the clubroom or gym at designated areas by a membership committee member anytime they are present at Aurora Turners from January 8, 11:oo pm until March 3, midnight. They must follow all guidelines to be put on the waiting list.

I would like to thank everyone who gave up their time to come and vote for the election at Aurora Turners even though no voting by ballot ever took place. A motion was made at the Dec. General Membership meeting to cast a unanimous ballot for all the candidates.  After the Nov. General Membership meeting there were 6 accepted nominations for Board of Directors. On the day of the deadline of the Nov. newsletter Gail Brussow withdrew her nomination. So at the time the newsletter went out there were 5 running for 4 positions. Within 7 days before election Jim Buckley withdrew his nomination and Turners had already sent out absentee ballots and was in the process of printing 200 ballots when it left the election with everyone running unopposed. This is why no election was needed. The members elected are as follows: Vice President Ron Moeller, Financial Secretary Joe Browning, Board of Directors Rick Darfler, Mary Haskins, Craig Sniezek, and Steve Bristol and Entertainment Chairperson Tyler Atkinson.

Any Member with 3 full years of membership must attend 4 general meetings in the previous year to be eligible to run for a position on the board. Please attend general meetings if you want to be a part of this fine organization. We are looking for good people to lead Turners into the future.

  Thanks to everyone who made the kids Christmas party a big success.  All the volunteers did a great job!                          

                                                                    Happy New Year,   

                                                                    President, Mike Seppelfrick