November Membership Meeting: On Thursday night, November 19^th the membership meeting was held at the Greene Township Building. There were 14 members and 8 Board members in attendance.

We discussed the following important dates at the meeting:

December 12^th 2009 – Last day of hunting in PA

December 13^th 2009 – First day of our snowmobile trails being open with snow

December 17^th 2009 – Wales Sno-Drifters membership Christmas celebration meeting

January 17^th 2010 – PA Gamelands trail opens with snow

January 23^rd 2010 – Wales Sno-Drifters’ Poker Run with snow

January 30^th 2010 – Wales Sno-Drifters’ Poker Run if there is no snow on 1/23.

Trail Fund Raiser:   The one thing for sure is where you have snowmobile trails; you need good grooming equipment to maintain the trails for enjoyable riding.  That has been our goal!  We are approaching the end of the DCNR Grant process which will supply 80% of the cost of our proposed new "Pioneer" UTV groomer.  We are still short in having our necessary 20% match ready.  To close the gap, we are initiating a fundraiser based on the PA lottery number (similar to what we did two years ago). 

For a donation of only $10 (that’s only 32 cents per day).  The cardholder has 31 chances to win from $30 to $100 during the month of March 2010 – Total potential give-a-way of $1500.  We have attached a couple cards with your newsletter that we hope you will buy or sell to support our new groomer.  Several members are planning to give them as Christmas gifts.  You have until the end of February to sell the cards.  Sold card stubs can be mailed to our PO Box or brought to any club function or meeting. 

If you need more, just contact one of the Board of Directors.  We sure could use your support!

Charity Drive: The first collection for the area food pantry was taken at the November meeting. Those present donated $62.00 for the Greene Township Food Pantry. We will be taking donations again at the December meeting. If you don’t think you will be able to attend this meeting but would like to donate, you can mail your donation to; Wales Sno-Drifters, Inc., PO Box 7223, Wesleyville Station, Erie, PA. 16510. Your donation will enable the food pantry to buy $34 of food with each $1 donated. Last year we raised $500.00 – how much will be raised this year? We’ll have to wait and see. The club will add its contribution to the membership gifts and the total will be submitted for matching gifts and presented to the food pantry.

Acknowledgements: Again this year, Off Road Express has generously agreed to underwrite a portion of our trail grooming cost. Their contributions will go toward fuel for our grooming activities. At today’s gas prices, it will cost $50 each time the grooming sleds are sent out or $100 to groom the "Wales Loop". When you are in at Off Road, remember to tell them Thanks! If you’re looking for a sled, keep in mind that Off Road has a large selection of late models sleds priced to sell – all makes and models. Check them out!

Trail Work: What a difference a year makes! When we placed the trail signage last year, we had to contend with lots of deep snow and the storage barn parking lot needed to be plowed out (remember all the snow we had last year???). This year it felt like a perfect fall day when we placed the signage on 11/21 and 11/22.

All trails other than the Game Lands will open (with snow) after hunting season which ends on Dec. 12^th. As mentioned above, snowmobile riding in the Game Lands is not permitted this season until January 17, 2009.

Membership: This year’s membership drive is now over. To date, 65 members have renewed plus 2 new members have joined. Thank you very much for your support. It would be great if we could get all of our 114 members to return this season. If you know anyone that has not renewed, gently remind them it is not too late, for after this, they will no longer be receiving the newsletter or be considered a member. 47 (70%) of our 2009-2010 members have granted us use of their E-mail addresses for club correspondence so far. This saves the club $20 every mailing; monies that can be used on trail improvements! Thanks! If you receive your club info by regular mail and have an email account, please consider sharing it with us to reduce our postage bill. Email your address to me at Tbowers3@roadrunner.com and I will add you to our list.

Poker Run: Keep Saturday, January 23rd 2010 in mind for our Poker Run. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will have plenty of snow like we did last year, but if there is no snow that day, we will try again on 1/30/10.

Don’t drink & drive Ride defensively

Ride to the right Know and use hand signals

Ride at a reasonable speed Stay on the trail

Carry current registration & insurance Wear proper gear for safety & warmth

Pack a safety kit Be sure to check your sled’s fluid levels

For more safety tips, visit snowmobilers.org.

Sunshine Person: Please note that Mary Ann Matasowski has volunteered to be our sunshine person. If you know of any of our members that have fallen ill, please contact Mary Ann at (814) 825-2067.

Next Meeting: The next general membership meeting will be held Thursday, December 17^th, at 8:00pm at the Greene Township Building. Please take note of the week earlier date due to the Holidays. Come join the meeting and tell us all what you think the weather will be like this season. The recent snowfall is certainly encouraging that we may have another great riding season.

SNACKS, SNAX, SNAQUES…however you want to say it, please plan to bring your favorites to the December meeting to share as our December meeting is our Christmas celebration meeting. The club will provide the beverages.

Come and join us at the meeting.

T. Bowers