FYI
Better Community Is Not Free!
Many residents when invited to join RHCA say, "Why should we pay for a community association? It should be FREE!" They also want to know what they get for their money. In addition, I know you have heard "All they do is plant flowers!" If you think we should provide services free...WE DO! The people who work for you and your community do not now and have never been paid.
I agree we could do more and many of you have given suggestions as to what we should do. You could help the seniors more; you should have a neighborhood watch, why not have more social events, why doesn't the newsletter have photos and so on and so no. We have heard it all. I have a question for you "who is going to do that?" Do you think the senior residents who do most of the work now should do more? How many of you would collect the dues, write the receipts, go to the bank to make the deposits, keep the books (an audit is done every month), file the taxes, do the annual reports, write, print and distribute the newsletter, book the hall for monthly meetings, book the guest speaker, manage the website, gather the information that is eblast to the community, and attend all meeting on your behalf to support this community. Oh yes add clean 99th Street and plant flowers; the people who do all of that... do it for FREE. In fact, whatever we have done was done, with little or no money.
Your RHCA Dues do not pay for time; no salaries are paid to the people who do the above important work. The phone bill, gas/transportation, parking, any copies made other than newsletters for RHCA, the scholarships and any of the material /flowers for community gardens are NOT paid for by your dues. The same people who pay their dues do all that with fundraisers and donations! The very same people who deliver your newsletters, work to clean up the community, went door to door to collect dues, went to City Hall about rezoning of schools & park/remapping of ward, got new landscaping/play lot for Abbott Park and did whatever was needed to make this community better are the same people who have done this for the past 57 years.! In fact, dues don't pay the Internet bill for the email that you are receiving right now nor the website or the time it takes to manage it!
What RHCA dues pay for is the church where monthly meetings are held (the church has to pay the gas bill, the electric bill, the security alarm bill, and the insurance) for the nights we meet. Therefore, we pay them for the meeting place. It takes supplies, paper, receipt books, printer ink, membership cards, etc. there are cost that recur every month that must be paid. RHCA refuses to ask the community to pay for our services that you think should be FREE because they are FREE!
When we ask you to join, we are asking you to support our important work by signing up with the Newsletter coupon to contribute only $20.00 per year, per house-hole to our Community changing work?
27 seniors and 5 younger members do all the work of saving our community. However, over 2,000 people live here. I do not know of any significant help that is coming from outside of our community to save this community. (We thank CSU for their help) Therefore, it's up to us. If you don't have $20.00 to give could you maybe volunteer to work on a committee or project? How about attending a meeting? We must create and finance ways to save our community and ourselves. If you don't do it...who will???
What do you get for your RHCA dues...More than you paid for!
Better Community is not free!
Sincerely,
Clevan Tucker
President
