Happy Thanksgiving

Hello,

I hope you had a great day yesterday, however you chose to spend it, and for those of you with the remainder of the week off, enjoy the long holiday!  I'm keeping today's email light and fun, filled only with congratulations and thank yous, so please join me in celebrating the following accomplishments.

1) The following BBRFC individuals were selected for the 2012 Washington State Loggers 7s program, a select side of high school athletes who will represent Washington State throughout the region, and eventually at a tournament in Las Vegas:

Ryan Glendenning
Nick Lewis
Osumu Pitoitua
Tosi Tonuao
Brett Woods

These five players will join with 23 others from 8 teams around the state.  Thanks to all who tried out, and Congratulations to those who were selected.

2) I'd like to formally announce the addition of two new board members.  Tom Cusack and Mark Baca will be filling the Member-At-Large positions.  Tom has many years of experience playing for the Buffaloes, and both of his children played for our youth teams.  Despite hanging up his boots he's still interested in helping the club out!

Some of you may know Mark from around - he's been seen at many a match and social.  Mark has enthusiastically stepped into the role with several goals in mind, including better documenting our club's origins, and helping move forward with our Vision fund and goal of owning our own fields.  You can reach them at tomcusack@buddbayrugby.com or markusbaca@buddbayrugby.com.

3) I'd like to thank all our board members, administrators, coaches and volunteers, both past and present, for the work they do to make this club function.  Just last week I spent some time with a past treasurer and a past president as we all attempted to get our club's taxes sorted out (they're due next week!), proving that there is no end to the dedication from these individuals.  It's through the efforts of our administrators, coaches, and giving parents that this club keeps rolling forward and producing Select-side members, state and league championships, USA Eagles, etc, and who knows what new accomplishments will spring forth next season!  So if you're ever at the pitch and see one of these hard working volunteers, please help me thank them for their hard work.

4) Finally, I'd like to give a big congratulations to the Vision Fund committee and thank them for working so hard to drive us towards our goal of owning our own pitch.  BUT - I can't say why yet!  Save the date and come to our big event on December 23rd to find out all the exciting details!

Have a wonderful holiday, and spread the word - Rugby season starts soon.

-Kyle

Winter is upon us

Hello!

Along with the first bit of snowfall today comes lots of news - so be sure to read all the way through!

• Save the date for the evening of December 23rd!  Can you think of a better way to start your holiday weekend than spending the evening with your rugby family raising money for the vision fund?  Budd Bay's quest for our own field is about to get a big push forward, and we'll be kicking it off at our Holiday Party.  Stay tuned for further details - but book the event on your calendar!
• Barbarian practices begin at 6pm on December 6th at Skyhawks Park.  Practices will be Tuesday and Thursday.  Please remember that we have a new registration process that is now open online.  
• The Steelheads will have a "Recruiting/Intro to Rugby Session" on December 13th, 6pm, at Skyhawks Park.  Regular practices will then begin on January 3rd, Tuesday and Thursday, 6-8pm, again at Skyhawks Park.  Please remember that we have a new registration process that is now open online.  
• The Buffaloes will be resuming their regular season play on January 17th, also at Skyhawks Park from 6-8pm.  For those of you that haven't finished paying for the fall portion of your dues, please do so so that you are eligible to play again in the Spring! You can log in and pay your dues here.

In other news, the club still does not have a Treasurer.  Please, if you have any ability to help out, we are in desperate need!  We cannot go into our Spring season with 'Business as Usual' without having a financial accounting of our situation.  Things like field costs, travel costs, equipment costs, dues, fundraising and donations all need to be tracked and accounted for, and without a treasurer, we can't do so.  Not only does this leave us in a poor situation come tax season, it also means that we can't continue making purchases for players if we don't know how much money we have!  

Finally, often around this time of year we put together a gear order.  So far, I've not received any requests for gear.  Any particular items that people would like us to consider?  In the past we've done team T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, bags, blankets, umbrellas, etc.  Keep in mind that we typically need to do a bulk order  to be able to get a decent rate, but if enough people want a certain item, we'll put an order together!  

That's all for now, enjoy the lovely rugby weather!

-Kyle

Coffee Sales

Hi All,

This is a reminder that coffee sales are due this Thursday.  I will swing by practice (Skyhawks Park, 6:30-8:30) on Thursday to collect order forms and money.  Use the links below to get order forms, find out more about coffee, or order a bag online.

Document to track coffee sales: www.buddbayrugby.com/doclib/Fundraising%20Coffee%20Order%20Form.pdf
Additional information about the coffee itself: www.buddbayrugby.com/fundraising
Link to our online store where you can buy a bag or two: www.buddbayrugby.com/store

If you don't want to attend practice, you can snail-mail your info in.  Email me for the address.

*Upcoming Events*
The Buffaloes have their final game of 2011 this weekend.  Head up to Seattle to help them take on the Quake!
Stay tuned for a Vision Fund Fundraising event coming up very soon.

-Kyle

Coffee

Hi!

Recently I sent out a post about our upcoming Coffee drive. For those of you that have been out selling coffee - great! I will collect all sales at practice on 11/10 - that's next Thursday! So get out there this week and make some sales! If you would rather mail in your order and money please feel free to do so, send me an email and I'll give you my address.

I do not have an exact date on when the coffee will be returned, it typically takes about 1-2 weeks.

We will do an additional drive starting in January for those of you that haven't sold anything yet. Hopefully this will give the Barbarians and Steelheads a better chance since they will be practicing at the time!

If needed, here are some links:

Document to track coffee sales: www.buddbayrugby.com/doclib/Fundraising%20Coffee%20Order%20Form.pdf

Additional information about the coffee itself: www.buddbayrugby.com/fundraising

Link to our online store where you can buy a bag or two: www.buddbayrugby.com/store

Lets raise some money!

-Kyle

Emergency Board Position Needed

Hello all,

Recently our newly elected Treasurer stepped down due to family commitments. This means that the club is currently without anyone overseeing our financial situation. As you might imagine, this is not a good long term (or even short term) plan for driving our club to success. The treasurer tracks deposits and expenses, making sure that our accounts are balanced, we remain in the positive, and we are able to file our taxes.

The success of the club, including our ability to pay for fields, new equipment, social events, and travel costs, as well as retain our 501c3 status (and not have to charge everyone taxes!) is contingent on our treasurer!

PLEASE - consider helping out Budd Bay Rugby if you are able.

Our new enrollment process has greatly simplified much of the treasurer's responsibilities, and we have software (Quick books) available for use. In addition, we are open to new accounting methods (preferably something web based) so if you have a particular skill-set with different tools, please don't hesitate to reach out.

As Budd Bay continues to evolve into a Pacific Northwest rugby powerhouse (stay tuned for more exciting updates on this topic later) we need to be financially accountable for our growth. I would hate for us to be forced to cut expenditures on our players simply because we don't have an accurate portrayal of our current monetary situation.

So again, if you have any interest or availability, please let me know. We do not have rigid criteria for this position, just a willingness to help out the club that we all love so much!

-Kyle