Dear Brothers of the Bachelor Benedict Club:
It is my sincere sense of Honor to have been elected President of the Club last week. My commitment to you is that I will do whatever I can, with your help, to make this Club the best it can possibly be.
While I have been a member of the Club for six years and served as Treasurer the past four years, my association with the Bachelor Benedict Club goes back much further than that. I first became aware of the Club in 1957 or 1958 when, while a student at Howard University, I was invited to be the escort for a lovely young lady at BBC’s cotillion. For a guy from Macon, GA, it was the highlight of my life to that point.
As Treasurer, I did not control our funds, I helped managed them. Whatever successes there were resulted from a great bunch of committee chairs who managed their event at or very near the budgets that we mutually established. Without exception, the chairs and their committees were responsible for the successes we had along the way. The officers I worked with and the Personnel Committee members who collectively managed the affairs of the Club had a common goal, improving the life and experiences of the club and promoting CLASS in whatever we did.
This coming year, we have two major objectives. The first will be to get the Bachelor Benedict Community Foundation, Inc. fully up and running and providing charitable support to the Metropolitan Washington, DC communities. A close second priority will be to prepare for our 110th Anniversary with a gala for the 2020 Red Sash Ball. In order to ensure the success of these most important events, we are going to need maximum involvement and support from the Club’s membership.
Help me get the ball rolling by sending me an email identifying one or two committees you would like to work on. The committees are: Initiation Ball, Summer Outing (picnic), Golf, Members Only (stag or drag), and Red Sash Ball. I would like for the newer members to become more involved so it would be helpful to identify yourself as either a member for less than 10 years or a member with 10 or more years in the Club. Also provide a sentence or two on why you are interested in your choice of committee(s).
While we will send out questionnaires from time to time to get your opinion or seek your advice, please feel free to email or call me at any time.
SAVE THE DATE: The Initiation Ball will be at the Sphynx Club on the second Saturday in March, March 9, 2019 starting at 7 PM.
Membership dues for 2019 of $1,000 are now due. The final due date is January 31, 2019. If paying by check, send it to our Treasurer, Ira Carr at: 2921 Greencastle Rd, Burtonsville, MD 20866. You can also go to our website and pay by credit card. This feature will be available starting next week and will have the same deadline for payment. Members and applicants paying by credit card will be charged a processing fee by the processing company. Applications for new membership and reinstatement will be sent out next week. A $50 applications fee will be added for new member applicants and applicants for reinstatement. The sponsor MUST SIGN both applications. Applicants MUST include the full payment with the application.
Sincerely,
James L. Collins, President
Bachelor-Benedict Club, Inc.
Washington DC