INTRODUCTION
Hello, I am Bob Fredell. You recently elected me to the ABANA Board of Directors. My wife, Mary, and I are long time members of ABANA and The Guild of Metalsmiths. We are hobbyist blacksmiths dating back to 1980, or so.

One of my assignments as an ABANA Board member is to chair the Member Services Committee. This means that you will be hearing a good deal from me in the year to come. You see, one of my tasks is to write these letters to our chapters, to ABANA members and to the blacksmithing community at large.

The Member Services Committee has the responsibility of reaching far beyond simply the writing of this letter. In future letters I will write to you about the mission of the Member Services Committee and how we are to meet our goals. This means communication with you, blacksmiths around the world. It also means communication from you to us so we may serve you better. A communication procedure will be set up soon.

LeeAnn is also going to organize a section of the Central Office files so that each chapter will have its own file with the original chapter application, by-laws, etc. We will also be sending out a complete and updated list of chapter requirements as many of you have asked for clarification. We hope to have this information together and to you by March, 2001.

A special message to chapter newsletter editors. We give a big thanks to the editors who have been publishing the Chapter Liaison Letter in their chapter newsletter. How nice it would be if all editors could find space to publish our letters. Let the watch word be communicate. More on this topic in future letters to the chapters.

MEMBERSHIP LISTS
Those persons who make the short and long range plans for ABANA find your membership lists to be so very useful. These lists help us to identify potential ABANA members and to answer the continual question as to the number of blacksmiths within the reaches of ABANA. The next step for us is then to see how we can increase ABANA membership. These lists are for ABANA internal use only and will not be used for any other reason.

A requirement for ABANA Chapter status is to annually send to ABANA a copy of the chapter membership list. This seemingly small detail is easy to forget, especially when chapter officers change frequently. With this reminder, please send a copy of your membership list to ABANA, PO Box 816, Farmington, GA, 30638. You may also send LeeAnn a copy of your list in ASCII format (text with tabs) as an attachment to an e-mail if you wish. If you choose this option please put your chapter name and the words 'membership list' in the subject line and e-mail it to: abana@abana.org. Thanks!

INSURANCE
Liability insurance is the most frequently asked question that we receive. You can help us provide a useful service to chapters by giving us information on your chapter insurance. We will then compile this information and share it with chapters. Please send us the name of your insurance company, coverage, price basis (per event, per person, blanket and riders for special events.) Include other information that you believe may be useful to other chapters.

We will inform you about the results of this survey. Just when we will get back to you depends upon when we hear from the chapters. This is a top priority item! Thanks to the Indiana Blacksmithing Association and the Western Reserve Artist Blacksmith Association who recently sent in their insurance information. Have a safe and happy holiday and best wishes for the new year!

Bob Fredell, Chairman
Member Services Committee
3500 45th Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
H. 612-721-2298
bfredell@qwest.net