A Chapter in Your Life: Toyohashi

Writer(s): 
Richard J. Marshall, Toyohashi President (1995-1998)

All JALT Chapters are warmly invited to submit a 900-950 word report (in English and/or Japanese) describing their many fascinating special activities, challenges, experiences, achievements, and opinions. This month, Toyohashi's president, Richard Marshall, and founding president, Nozawa Kazunori outline how their chapter fought back from the brink of death.

Chapters, particularly smaller chapters like Toyohashi, are organic entities. They have life cycles like any organic entity. They begin to exist, grow rapidly at first, and evolve into mature and stable entities. They go through mid-life crises, and either develop into a stronger chapter or wither away and die. Toyohashi has experienced all of these phases except death, although it was in the intensive care unit for some time.

When I became the president of Toyohashi, we had an average membership of around 30 members and monthly meetings were well attended. We had a full slate of officers and a number of people willing to serve as officers. We had a wonderful centrally located place to hold meetings and sufficient funds to bring in attractive speakers. Everything was going well. Appearances, nevertheless, can be deceiving.
Slowly, we were unable to replace the members we lost. The revised chapter grant formula resulted in Toyohashi receiving a smaller grant from JALT. Hence, we had to cut back on meetings. We lost our meeting place. Fewer people were willing to serve as officers. Year after year, the same members served as officers. For some, it was not by choice. They wanted to give up their positions, but no one was willing to replace them. Gradually, the cohesiveness which held the chapter together in its early years disappeared. Two years ago, we touched bottom. We had only 13 members. Unless a miracle happened, it was probable that Toyohashi would lose its chapter.
Fortunately, things began to improve. Over the last eighteen months, several long-time members began to take responsibility for the running of our chapter. People who had never served as officers volunteered their services.
In the past, we had not placed much emphasis on recruiting new members. This changed.
Members began to ask their colleagues and friends to come to meetings, realizing that they had to contribute to the success of the chapter or lose it. The last few months have been good ones. Our membership is up substantially. In October 1998, we had 33 members, more than in years. New people have volunteered to serve as officers. We have a new president. The future looks bright for Toyohashi.
So what have I learned from Toyohashi's travails? When I became president, I thought my job was simply to ensure that we had a speaker for our meetings, a place to hold the meetings, and that the various reports JALT requires were filed on time. I was wrong. That is the smallest and least important part of a president's job. A president's main job, particularly in a small chapter, is to cajole, persuade, frighten, (whatever it takes) the members of the chapter to realize that a chapter will only be a success if all the members contribute to its success.