In the long run, the line in the sand will disappear. Closing ourselves off to others, who are not involved in the same organization is counter productive. If the requirement was upgraded to the next level, the restriction would target everyone who did not serve on a chapter or state committee. Pretty soon, your circle of influence is so small, you become a high school click.

At the same time, people need to keep in mind, that CCA is a successful model that has been duplicated in seventeen states. A successful model in Fast Food, is MacDonalds. They try and duplicate the model and the results in every city.

The CCA model is still dependent on the actions and committment of membership. If noone wants to serve on a banquet committee to raise money, or if the committee threw out the successful approach (another model) then the banquet committee would likely fail. It all comes down to the individuals who are willing to work with others using the cca model, to accomplish the goals that are set forth by the State organization.

Since raising money, beyond membership dues is one leg of the organization, there must be more people to form other legs of the organization. There must be an adequate number of people in Government relations, membership, communication and in management, for each of those legs to support the organization and move it forward. How large it is, and how well it functions, will determine, how well it moves in each direction and how fast.

Since there is turnover within the positions, the organization must continually recruit for committees, the board and in management. Most of them are volunteers, who serve, based on their own abiility and time available. The largest challenge to individual members, is to work along side and under other people in an organizational structure (for free). That means you dont all get to be the boss and it also means the boss also gets to do just as much grunt work as anyone else. We each find our own way of contributing our time or our money in some way to support one leg of the organization and help keep it strong and moving in the general direction.

Not every chapter is as strong as another chapter, due to the level of membership, participation and cooperation. The model of each chapter is the same. Recruit members and raise money thru banquets. Gov Relations functions within each chapter is dependent on volunteers working on selected activities in the local watershed and with local governments. Local chapters, who have volunteers, who serve on state committees will have better lines of communication and more influence, as to projects and priorities. A case in point is bottom fish in Puget Sound. Shellfish in Puget Sound. Industrial Pollution in Puget Sound. It can be and should be more than gillnets in the Columbia River. You could find a Dam being proposed in your area, or you might want to swing the hammer, to make one come down. It could be water shortages or habitat renewal in your area or projects like bird nests on man made Islands. Culvert repairs and egg box programs are just part of the possibilities in any particular area. It just takes people who are willing to make a plan and make it work. Each activity in addition to the goals of the organization, creates a purpose for people to join the organization.