[ SHOWGSD-L ] Blanche Beisswenger Memorial Hero Dog Award retirement-long
- From: VPREZHMF@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:01:52 EDT
I had to wait until the April Board voted and granted my request,before I
posted this Helen
To All GSDCA Board members,-------------4/5/09
With the April Board coming up, I'm sending this to all Board member for
their consideration and approval.
I am writing this letter to the Board , to request that the Blanche
Beisswenger Memorial Hero Dog Awards be retired. Iâ??m requesting this for
several
reasons. The most important reason is that it is not accomplishing what
Blanche created it to do. Back in the early years, when the GSDCA was
relatively small in numbers, â??approximately 1100 members. Blanche created
her Hero
Dog award ,in hopes that it would draw attention to, and create interest
for the many people, who owned a GSD ,but didn't know that there was a Parent
Club that they could reach out to for activities ,information ,and
companionship with common interests. Now we have a website for anyone to find
information-Times change
Blanche was a remarkable woman ,with a M.S. in Library Science. In
addition to being the Corresponding Secy for the GSDCA ,she had the
responsibility of sending the gold GSD award pins out to the conformation and
obedience
members. She also sent out all the membership cards ,along with a
welcoming letter to the new members. She answered her phone 24 hrs on any
question.
The AKC knew her well, as she was a judge for the Dog Writers Assoc. When
a member had a question regarding the AKC, Blanche knew, or could get the
answer in record time. But she had a real interest in increasing the
number of members, and felt this Hero Dog award might be one way to do it. I
was
membership chairman then , and continued on for the next 30 yrs, so we
worked together to bring the membership number up to 6000 by 1985, when I
became President. During that time, Blanche would have 20-30 Hero nominees
during the year. All verifications were done by her personally ,by phone.
Sheâ??d
bring nomineeâ??s names to the Board, to brief them on who & why she had
decided should be the winner. The Board never voted on them. It was
Blancheâ??s
baby. All the Board did was ratify her choice. There were no computers
then, of course ,so Blanche would have personal contact by phone. So even if
they didnâ??t win, these GSD pet owners had a contact that they could call,
and get answers.. Blanche kept tract of all her nominee contacts, and she
felt that 85% of them eventually joined the GSDCA. She had so many nominees
over the years, she decided to have two awardsâ??PET & SERVICE
When I took over in 2001 ,after Blanche passed, I had to make new rules and
regulations, because Blanche had told me candidly, that some people would
exaggerate, or just plain fib about what heroic thing their dog had done.
They would actually make up a story. So ,with that in mind ,I requested
verification for everything. I also added another division â??the Good Will
Ambassador. The program went along great for the first 5-6 years ,with 2-4
nominees for each of the three divisions, but it didnâ??t bring in any new
members..And these last few years ,Iâ??ve literally had to beg for people to
nominate.. Last year ,I had two PET, one SERVICE,& one GWA. This year I have
one
Service ,one GWA, and no PET, so Iâ??ll pull up last yearâ??s 2nd place PET.
This is not what Blanche wanted. The program is not producing new members
Times change With computers and web sites, people interested, can get all
the information they want and even join. People are far more interested in
dog shows, futurities, health, the Peta threat & legislation. Plus the AKC
instituted their own HERO DOG AWARD( which is going on now). and some
Specialty clubs are doing their own local Hero Dog .Weâ??ve had a wonderful
nine
years.. It was a labor of love for my old dear friend, but I think if
Blanche were here, sheâ??d say â?? Donâ??t run it into the groundâ??time to
move on â??
Respectfully, Helen Miller Fisher
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