Hello Chapter Members.   The days are getting longer, some snow is melting, and it will not be too much longer until we start our 2021 season in April.  In the meantime, here is an update on some things to be aware of.

ANNUAL MEETINGS:   We held our chapter annual meeting on Tuesday evening Feb 2nd via the Google Meet platform.   This meeting was not recorded.  Chapter members will be emailed a copy of the Meeting minutes and Board of Directors reports.   NAVHDA International held it’s annual meeting on Jan 23rd via the Microsoft Teams platform.  This meeting was recorded, and is available to review here.

BYLAWS:   The voting for the revisions to our chapter bylaws was held electronically over a  14 day period ending on February 21st.  The revisions passed by a 94-6% margin.  (66% was required).  Thank you to all who participated.  These changes will allow us to better manage the size of the chapter and continue to hold quality tests and training events while fulfilling our mission statement.

CHAPTER SECRETARY POSITION:  Pete Ness is currently our chapter secretary, now in his 3rd two year term, but is looking to transition out of that role.  This is a very important position in a chapter of our size.  Primary responsibilities include managing the roster, monthly meeting agendas & minutes and coordinating chapter email communications.  We are looking for candidates to interview for this position.  Qualified individuals will be familiar with simple database management like MS Excel, sending mass emails, and online systems of sharing and storing information like the Google G-Suite.  Interested people can contact president@mnnavhda.org.

RAFFLE: Our 2021 Raffle Fundraiser for two Garmin Alpha 200i units was a huge success.  The raffle sold out sooner than we expected and winners were drawn at our Board meeting on 2/16.  Congratulations to our winners Greg Fassett & Dan DelMonico.

2021 VOLUNTEERS:   We are the biggest chapter in NAVHDA both in the size of our membership and the number of test days and training events we hold.   We cannot do this without volunteers, and we could use your help.   If you are running a dog in a test, please consider volunteering on the day you are NOT running.  You can contact the test & event coordinators listed on this page to volunteer.  (Note that your specific test running day assignment is not usually made by the test secretaries until the week of the test, so which day you would volunteer cannot be determined yet.)

TRAINING:  For 2021 Training, we will continue to form small focused training groups like we did in 2020.  If this interests you, please visit our Small Group Training Page and complete the questionnaire by March 15th, if you have not already done so.   Small group training dates are NOT published on our website calendar, but will be organized based on the results of this questionnaire.  You can visit our Training Events Page to see some of the larger scheduled events we have set up and which ones still have openings.  NEW for 2021, we will be doing some OPEN training nights at Kelley Farms on the 3rd Thursday of each month, from April through August.  This is to give people an opportunity to do some training at that venue without having to buy the expensive annual grounds pass for Kelley Farms.  These nights will also be open to non-members to check out what NAVHDA is all about before they make the decision to join.

NAVHDA AIMS & RULES CLINIC:  We still have openings at this 2 day clinic on June 12th-13th at Pineridge Grouse Camp in Remer, MN.  Full details here.

TESTING:  4 of our 7 tests are full with waiting lists.  there are still some openings in the other 3.  If you are planning on testing a dog in 2021, do not wait too much longer to sign up for a test.  Please reference our Testing Events Schedule for all details.

SPONSORS: Thank you to our Chapter Sponsors. 

We look forward to seeing everyone soon at our 2021 Events.

Pete Aplikowski

President