Santa Clara Valley Canary and Exotic Bird Club
Peterson Jr. High School, Sunnyvale
El Camino and Ham Streets
Next meeting: May 15, 1983. (Happy Mother's Day on the 2nd)
Pot Luck 1 P.M.
Meeting 1:45 P.M.
A - G Hot Dish
H - P Salad
Q - Z Dessert
Please bring your own table service
Next Board Meeting: At the home of Bud & Lucy Reller, Redwood City. Friday, May 27 7:30 P.M.
Condolences to the Gillios on the death of John's mother and to Geneva Jacobson on the death of her husband, Emile, after a long illness. No matter how well prepared we think we are for these losses, they are still painful. John, Jan, Geneva, we're sorry you hurt. We've all shared your pain at one time or another. God Bless.
The world of birds lost a champion last month when Gerald Perkins died after a mercifully short bout with cancer. Jerry was only 59 but he had FIFTY years experience with all kinds of birds. His talent for organization, his energy and willingness to work and his wry, deadpan wit were a joy to all who knew him. I assure those who were not fortunate enough to know him that your world is better because he lived - and now poorer because he is gone.
MANY THANKS: to Howard Hansel, Ron Mercer, Bud Reller, Tony Frietas and Frank Taveras for all their hard work in moving our staging from the Storehouse to the facility Barry Cohen made available to us. Barry absolutely refuses all compensation for the space. May the warm glow of a good deed done ease your sore muscles!
Ruth Indiveri would like to exchange information and/or experiences with anyone about Kakarikis. She's just started with them & could use a buddy!
PROGRAM: May... Glenn Mitchell on finches, followed by question and answers leading to round table discussions on problem solving. Bring along your problems and we'll all try our best.
THANKS, also to Bertha Andrews, Ron Mercer, Leon DeLisle and Ron Fournier for their donations of birds to last month's raffle. Good work! I think the copy of the Bird Sign-up sheet for this month is out-dated but it shows that George Santos and Joe Jacintho have signed up for May. If somebody else has signed a subsequent list, please don't forget... And anyone who can join in, welcome!
WELCOME, also to new members:
Annie & Adam Meckier, Cockatiels & Parakeets
Frank & Darlene Cortese, Canaries, parrots, finches, cockatiels & doves
Anthony DiBond, Canaries
Congratulations to our own little Margie... Zeller that is! After a working lifetime of dedication to Rehab. Mental Health Services, her contributions to the mental health of Santa Clara County have just been honored when the new ZELLER CENTER on So. White Rd. in San Jose was named for her. Super, Margie! Now, the rest of you, please DON'T GO THERE to get cured of your "feather fever"! That would never do. If Marge is over her flu bug by meeting time, she has promised to bring along the official parchment so we can all see it.
Thanks to all of you who took the time and trouble to call or write to let us know that the print was too small last month. I agree! I had trouble reading it last month! It was accidentally reduced to 66% of the original instead of the 75% I had ordered. This month it will be reduced only to 75%. If that is still too small for comfort, we'll have to have a much shorter newsletter. The budget just won't allow this many pages at full size. It isn't so much the postage as it is the printing costs. Meanwhile, please get out the magnifying glass and read the last page of last month's letter, it's important. I'll type it in caps next month.
We have a letter from Mr. D.W. Pickett of London, England, who is chairman of Hackney & Stoke Newington Cage Bird Society. That society is 50 years old now and their members breed Yorkshire, Border, Gloster, Norwich, Red Factor and Lizard canaries as well as Budgies, British native birds and foreign birds and they would like to establish exchange of information communication lines with anyone who is interested. Mr. Pickett and his wife hope to visit California in the near future and to know some of us local bird freaks in advance! I'll send them a copy of this month's newsletter by way of acknowledgement for this letter and hope that some of the rest of you will establish some lines of communication. (Don't you wish we were allowed to breed some of our native birds?) Note to the other local clubs with whom we exchange newsletters... any letter writers among you, please join in.
AND SPEAKING OF THE BUDGET: A chart with the break-down analysis of why we're in financial difficulty is enclosed. As you see, each member is receiving an out-of-pocket (the Club's pocket) value of $20.05 in each year's fixed expenses in return for the $12.00 dues. Obviously, we can't go on this way! During the early years, those members had built us such a nice cushion that it took several years of this inflation to make us sit up and take notice. I had hoped to print the entire Budget committee report this month but there is just too much that has to go in.
Possible solutions:
The Board recommends increasing the trophy fund. Sponsor the Grand Awards for $25.00 still. Also request sponsors for Division 1st: $15.00. Division 2nd $10.00. Division 3rd: $5.00. Contributors to be acknowledged in catalogue.
The Board also recommends a charge for the July BBQ. Steaks will be $3.00 per INDIVIDUAL member and $7.50 for guests. Kids will still have hot dogs for free. Sorry, Kids. We've enjoyed that free steak for a bunch of years now but where else could we get steak dinners for $3.00 apiece today? That still will only provide the proverbial drop in the bucket of the Extra $2600 we have to raise this year.
Pat