USATF Georgia Association


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USATF Georgia News & Notes - 12/22/13
 

Dear Georgia Members,

The holidays are always a hectic time of the year for everyone.  Amidst shopping for Christmas gifts for friends and family, and planning that special holiday dinner, we forget that the season is also a time for giving.  The old saying "it is better to give than to receive" never meant so much when you consider how many organizations need our support.

Georgia Food Bank Association -  Give a present that fights hunger and feeds hope. Donate, volunteer, participate:  http://georgiafoodbankassociation.org/find-your-food-bank/

Wounded Warrior Project - 'The greatest casualty is being forgotten". 

Your generous, tax-deductible donation to Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) enables us to help thousands of injured warriors returning from the battlefield and helps provide assistance to their families. http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ 

Toys For Tots - The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. http://toysfortots.org/donate/Default.aspx.

The Women in Transition (WIT) program serves as a safe haven providing quality transitional housing to homeless women and their children. In 1987, the YWCA of Greater Atlanta opened the city's first emergency night shelter for women (both single and with children). Since then, the YWCA has provided material aid, transitional shelter, and residential support to over 10,000 women.  More info at  http://www.ywcaatlanta.org/women-transition. 

 A little closer to home - The Murray Sanford Memorial Scholarship Fund -  named for our former president and officials chair.  This fund will benefit Georgia Association initiatives. To donate, please donate via Paypal to treasurer@usatfga.org, or you can mail a check to the Murray Sanford Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o USATF Georgia Association, PO Box 723186, Atlanta, GA 31139.

This holiday season, please be generous by supporting these great causes. 

 

USATF 2013 Annual Meeting Wrap Up
Your Georgia Association officers recently got back from the USATF Annual Meeting in Indianapolis the first week of December. We had very productive meetings and an opportunity to network with associations across the country.  Here is a quick recap on items of interest.

Membership, Club Registration and Sanctions:


  • Permanent membership numbers have been issued in an effort to save money. This means that the card you received recently is the only card that will ever be issued, and the only time it will be replaced is if it is damaged or lost. The one issue noted by those attending the annual meeting is that the cards do not show an expiration date. Some ideas were tossed around about providing some means for affixing an expiration date on the cards. There was no definitive solution at the time. More to come.

  • Club membership entry - coaches will no longer be able to enter their own email addresses for all of their athletes. They will have to enter the information of each youth athlete separately. It is important for liability purposes as well as being able to reach this constituency.

  • Club Memberships versus Organizational memberships - these will be separated going forward as they are two distinct groups.

  • Online Sanctions: New feature coming - event directors will be able to filter and pull up all of their sanctioned events at once on the national calendar.  

       

Association Accreditation Requirements 

  • As a member association, we are required to meet certain accreditation standards on an annual basis.  In 2014, much of the information that has been manually reported to the National Office, will be pulled from existing USATF databases.  Membership numbers will be pulled from the membership database, club registration numbers will be pulled from the club registration database, sanction information will be pulled from the sanction database, association championships will be pulled from the national calendar.  This is a concerted effort to streamline the process.

Special Awards/Age Group Awards given to Georgia Athletes at Annual Meeting:

  • Outstanding Lifelong Performance Award - Phil Raschker (W65), Marietta, GA. Phil has competed in 16 World Masters Championships and has earned 85 gold medals, 23 silver medals, and 9 bronze medals. She currently holds (16) world records.   She has won the overall Master Athlete of the Year Award for 14 of 32 years of competing.
  •  Women 75 Plus - Jeanne Daprano (W76), Fayetteville, GA
  •  Men's Master's Ultra Runner of the Year: Joe Fejes, 47, Hoschton, GA. 

 

Georgia members attending the USATF Annual Meeting in Indianapolis gather for a quick breakfast.  Back Row:Tricia Jenkins, Eric Merriweather, Jacqui Collins, Vernika Reeves, Gwen Loud-Johnson,Tony Dunning, Sonja Robinson, Jim Norvill, Mike Judge, Tom Shinnick, Ian Dube.   Front Row: Jean Williams, Jacquelwyn Anthony, Bob Brier, Marlene Atwood, Linda Bommicino, Inez Finch.


Please contact marleneatwood@usatfga.org, VP Communications, with any questions regarding this communication.
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