Region 8 NEF Liaison Report for May, 2008

By this time, most of you know what a tremendous success our NEF luncheon and auction was at Forum in Colorado Springs!!! Region GR8 is as always ‘great’!!! Thank you to chapters for the auction items; thank you to members who purchased raffle tickets and thanks to those who joined in the fun games!!

And speaking of the raffle, let me explain, that there has been a change in the way we can credit your donations. You know how “Uncle Sam” is and the rulings that we must follow! Your contributions to the Ladder Club are considered a ‘charitable’ contribution because there is no potential prize or tangible item to gain from this. For tax purposes, this contribution can be listed as charitable. The annual raffle has cash prizes that you possibly can win…therefore those dollars cannot be added to your Ladder Club (which is charitable under the 501(c) 3 stipulations) total. These contributions can be classified as a business expense for tax purposes. It is sincerely hoped that your support of NEF will continue in either form because both are financing the program updates for both adult participants of the programs and the continued endeavor to promote construction to the future leaders of the industry through the K-12 programs.

The new two-part CDS program will be unveiled at the Las Vegas Convention in September. If you are interested, a text can be purchased prior to that date and you are invited to attend a review session given by the text writer. Immediately following is the testing for that text. Please understand that the review is NOT a study session…you will need to do your studying before you attend this review to be prepared for the real test. If you have questions, please contact me or NEF.

The 2008-09 CAD/Design problem is on the NEF website. It looks like a great experience for our high school students. Please contact schools in your area to let them know what is available and how to participate.

Remember…. INVEST in yourselves by participating in any of the certified courses available. The stats are that about 13% of the region has passed one or more of the courses and 42% of those attending Forum had received certifications!! Let’s work on these numbers to increase them for next year. And INVEST in the future of the industry by continuing your support of NEF either through the Ladder Club or the annual “fun-raiser” raffle.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Liaison!!