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This Mays commodore message will be my 19th, all the messages each month are packed with my personal thoughts, current events, the club’s accomplishments, the club’s pride and my conviction that I have for this great organization we call the Gilford Park Yacht Club. They are all on the website for your reading or binge reading, if this is the first time you are visiting the website there is a lot of information, take time to know your club by visiting the web site often.
May Day the first of May is an important day for many people around the world celebrating spring time and honoring workers around the world. In the USA we celebrate Labor Day on Monday, September 2, 2019. The destress call - Mayday, Mayday, Mayday as we are all familiar with has nothing to do with May or any day in May. It comes from the anglicization of the French word m’aider meaning “help me”. For the Gilford Park Yacht Club, we celebrate Memorial Day on May 25th with our annual beach party. Don’t forget the May 11th Mother’s Day breakfast at the club May is the start of our summer season the river is alive with activity. I Don’t have a large immediate family base but since my bike was stolen and my unfortunate accident with a table saw I have discovered that I have an extend family base called the Gilford Park Yacht Club. I would like to thank all for their outrage over the theft of my iconic bike and the concerns they had for me over my table saw injury. Thank you Have a great month and hope to see you at the club and at our Memorial Day Beach Party. Your Commodore Ed Horton As I have stated in a past commodore’s message; the Gilford Park Yacht Club is not a short-term investment but a long-term investment into an organization that share in common likes, boating, fishing, hobbies, and a place where we help each other and support each other through a friendship bond. We support our Community, both fire and police departments and our veterans and as members we all get to share in all the pride that comes with being a Gilford Park Yacht Club member in what we have achieved since we opened and reopened. We’ve come a long way since the club started back in 1936 and since we re-opened after Sandy our members have stayed with us through the good times, the hard times and the difficult times. The club has become a way of life and our membership has grown. I am proud to say we have members that have 50 years of continuous membership, we are putting together a list of members with 25 years or more of continuous membership to which they will receive a 25-year pin and a certificate for their years of service at a one of our general meeting. We have existing members approaching 25 years and now new members working towards their 25 years of service as they reach this Plateau we will dedicate a meeting once a year to them so they can receive their pin and a certificate. I am very pleased to find out from our financial secretary that our membership knows the true value of what the club has to offer and again has supported the club by paying their dues. We are at 90% paid dues for this new physical year starting April 1 and these members added one more year of service towards their 25-year pin. In that 10%, we have lost people due to illness, moving away and the worst through death. The rest I am hoping is that It just slipped their mind and will pay. Unfortunately, by paying late they have already lost their position on the boat slip seniority list and have lost their privileges to the club and have accrued additional late fee charges. There are bylaws that exist that prohibit ex-members coming back into the club through any means such as coming in as a guest through another member or by any reciprocity agreement we have with any other organization and this will be enforced. I am asking our members to help to police in this matter. Fortunately, we have a waiting list of 40 plus people that are waiting eagerly to join and start experiencing all the club has to offer and still that view is spectacular. The Board of Trustees thanks all members for their support. Your Commodore Ed Horton. This is my own personal tribute to a member that I knew who helped me as a new member and many others to integrate into the club. It is sad that our new members did not get a chance to know him, laugh with him, joke and dine with him. But those who knew and there are many I believe have the same feeling that I have. He was a member, a trustee, and most of all a friend first. Every now and then someone at our club stands up to the plate and hits a home run every time over and over again that person also never looked for praise or recognition for the work he did, Ron Hemmer was that person. He was a trustee for many years and in charge of the newsletter. All though some never got to know him personally he came into every member’s home through our newsletter. Once a month everyone got to see his work and what it took to produce the monthly newsletter. We got to see the serious side of him, funny side of him, and keeping the membership up to date with the goings on at the club. When we were sleeping, he was on line gathering information to share with us. For me, I could not wait for the newsletter to show up in the mailbox. I would start reading it on my way back to the house. Every morning during breakfast my wife and I would share reading it and laugh and enjoying its contents. It was always kept nearby and would be read over and over again and for reference for that month and we could not wait for the next month to come. Ron passed on 2/19/19 although his physical presents is gone the memory of him will remain with us forever. If you would like to know more about Ron about his life beyond the club please click http://smithfamilyfuneralhomes.tributes.com/obituary/show/Ronald-Frederick-Hemmer-106894367 Thank you RonI would like to take this opportunity as your Commodore to put a challenge out to the members of the Gilford Park Yacht Club. After reading below If you are already on board that’s great, don’t stop, if not, consider coming aboard.
We take a lot for granted the planet we call earth and its natural resources; clean air, fresh water to drink, fertile land to grow our crops and our oceans. All the above are affected by man and only man can make a change. Members of the Gilford Park Yacht Club depend on all of the above for their existence, one that is mostly taken for granted is our back-bays and our oceans. The Gilford Park Yacht Club uses the ocean and the back-Bay waters to swim in, to fish and crab in, for boating and that view from our building again is spectacular, it is spectacular until we see “oh look there is a plastic milk carton floating by, a plastic bag, oh look there is several cigarette butts floating by”. We use these waters let’s not abuse them. Don’t let this problem become an eye sore to our view and the club’s way of life. Back in the day dumping garbage in our oceans was the norm and now it is coming back to haunt us and invade our beaches. Plastic also enters the ocean and our back-bays through natural disasters like Super Storm Sandy. I believe it was a thousand times worse back then, as it is now, but still a problem. Some of the plastic that we see in the back-bay’s ends up trapped with nowhere to go and somewhere along the line will end up either killing wildlife, wrapped around our props, clogging our water intakes, tangled up in our crab traps, end up on our back-bay beaches. I believe we are all conscientious in the recycling of our plastics but for some reason all does not end up at the recycling center, it ends up on the ground where rain washes it into the rivers that carry it to the ocean. Like in the phrase if you see something say something, I also believe it applies to if you see it and it’s safe to pick it up both on land and on the water do so. The Gilford Park Yacht Club can do their part by the policing of ourselves on land and in our local waters and on our beaches. We can clean up our little corner of the world but there is a bigger problem that exists. For years the problem has been ignored and now we are playing catch up. www.4ocean.com -- 4ocean “is a global movement actively removing trash from the ocean and coastlines, inspiring individuals to work together for cleaner oceans, one pound at a time”. If you have time check it out. I am not advocating anyone to join or commit money to any local or global organization but just too make a commitment to yourself and as a club member to be aware of this problem. We are the starting point for all plastics therefore it puts us on the front lines of this problem and therefore we should do everything we can to keep plastics and garbage from entering our waters. We need to stop kicking the plastic bottle down the road expecting someone else to pick it up or making it someone else’s problem. It’s here and now. If you can kick it, it can be pick it up. Remember we want to keep that view spectacular. Your Commodore Ed Horton PS Plastic has made our lives easier, but as always where there is good there is always the opposite bad. In Decembers meeting the Board of Trustees (B.O.T.) officially announced the increase in your dues for the upcoming dues year April 1st ,2019. There is a bylaw change which reduces the time you have to pay your dues it is now 90 days from April 1st, after that you will be removed from the membership roll. Also, if you pay late you will be charged an additional $25 Per month starting May 1st. There are other consequences involved for late payments please read your dues notices and bylaws for these consequences. Your dues are now $450 and boat slips have all gone up $100 for all slip holders. All members have to understand that by joining Gilford Park Yacht Club they become an integral part of its existence both in the present and in its future. Joining G.P.Y.C. is a long-term investment that means all must and mostly be involved and share in its principles, support the club through their dues and support all activities throughout the year. All of what I said above is essential. Your club can not exist without your support. These increases came with a lot of thought and compassion taking into consideration all of the different stages of life that encompasses our membership and what it takes to operate the club and nothing was taken lightly. It is the responsibility of the B.O.T. to make the best overall decisions about the current and future direction of the Club. To not look into our finances and not make these hard decisions would be a failure on the B.O.T.’s part and would be failing the membership. This would happen regardless of who is in office. This Commodores message is to Address any questions not all but what I think might come to mind. Before Sandy our dues were $185 a year, we had it easy, we had no mortgage, we had a small loan, we had a money market certificate which was the clubs nest egg in case of an emergency and a reserve of money just sitting in our daily accounts. The bar and kitchen were well established. After Sandy it was a totally different game. We lost bar and kitchen revenue for 4 long years. Our parking lot was also our emergency fund whereby we could always get a collateral loan on that parking lot. ALL AVENUES to obtain any type of collateral loans are gone almost forever. We need to move away from credit cards because as you know paid interest money is money you end up not having. We need to become our own bank and become self-sufficient and to do this we need a reserve of money. By our bylaws we only have two ways to raise money, its either by increasing the dues or assessing the membership when needed. Assessing the membership is not the way to go every time we need money for any type of emergency, it’s already too late. To ask for a lot of money from each member is not fair for anyone to come up with a large sum of money at one time that’s why we plan to increase our reserve money slowly over several years through this latest increase. All money will not go towards this reserve some will go to the operation of the club, reducing credit card balances and other items that I will mention below. We went for an SBA loan because the insurance money wasn’t enough and in order to get the SBA loan, we had to prove we could pay it back. That’s when we went with raising the dues to $300 a year. We had start up which also exceeded our expectations. Bar stools, furniture, resupplying the bar with glasses, and lavations. We had to start from scratch with the kitchen pots, pans, utensils and a whole lot of other items. Now looking forward we have unexpected costs: Yearly elevator maintenance contract, yearly fire inspections, third party security system, water systems checks all come with a cost and go up every year. We have yearly Maintenance on HVAC equipment and other equipment and we have a yearly cleaning contract. Our insurance requirements have increased. We had unexpected costs over the last couple years we had to pay $17,000 to fix the docks and pound down the outer poles. Approx. $1000 to fix the ramp, we had to purchase a $7,000 bubbler system to replace the deicing fans. We had costs for professional services that went beyond our expectations. We need to pay off the credit card debt. Future costs we will have to rebuild the ramp and fix the building break water. To make the club a quieter place sound proofing will be required. As I mentioned above being a member of GPYC is a long-term investment and requires everyone to support the club in mind, body, and sole and your Wallet. We are very fortunate to have our club opened year-round. Your Commodore: Ed Horton It seems that the last month and the first month of every year December and January seems to be the two months that almost everyone takes a moment and thinks as individuals where they have been, where they are at the moment they are in and where they are going from there. Some add to their bucket list and some start checking things off. Others make New Year’s resolutions, some are kept, some are not.
If I may as your commodore speak for the club, you all know where we have been, we have come from the depths of hell not knowing if the Club was ever going to come back, not knowing how many members we were going to lose as a result of not being there or losing our connection to the past, present and future. Although it seemed like all was lost, the optimism of the board of trustees at the time and the optimism of the of the membership help us survive that ordeal. The moment we are in is now like in the Phoenix Rising although we did not come from ashes as I said we did come from the depths of hell. We got up, dusted ourselves off and we moved forward. We now stand on 81 pilings sitting well above where we came from and a shining example of what can be done when everyone comes together in a joint effort. As I said in the past, we should only look to the future and never look back only with fond memories. We have been open for 2 1/2 years. We have had some growing pains since we opened the club and all has settled down and now, we look to the future. The future looks very bright the people that are on the waiting list want to be part of this club because they see what we did in the past years as a club and they want to be part of it. The kitchen and bar are running well and all of the club’s events are filled to capacity. We are keeping up with the traditions of the club and we are adding new ones. In the near future and much further into the future the club needs to become independent we need to be ready for anything nature throws at us or whatever comes our way. There will be changes in the upcoming year these changes are a must and need to be implemented for our future success of the club. It is very important that everyone have the same optimism, the same optimism that got us here today. Have a Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and a prosperous New Year Your commodore Ed Horton Remember, Family first everything else is secondary!
The Holiday Seasons for the next 2 months are upon us be safe in all your travels. Buckle Up! - Every Trip! - Every Time! Drink Responsibly! Remember Buzz Driving is Drunk Driving! Always have a DESIGNATED DRIVER! Become informed check GPYC website! Wishing all Happy Holidays See you at our club Day light savings ends November 4, the saying goes Spring ahead Fall Back. With cell phones you don’t have to concern yourself with changing the time it is done automatically. You still have to change the Microwave, bedroom clock, the stove, your car clock, your thermostat, your wrist watch and finally adjust for the time in your mind. I would like to thank Diane Moellering for chairing the children’s Halloween Party. Diane and her shipmates did a fabulous job, she had approx. 30 children. Also, I would like to thank Carol McDonald and her crew of helpers with their continuing support to the sun shineclub, all monies go to all children’s activities. Upcoming events: Adult Christmas Party Children’s Christmas Party and New Year’s Eve. Your Commodore: Ed Horton My intentions with this commodores’ message is not to give a testimonial to a few but a tribute to the many generations of men and women over the past 80 + years who built and moved the Gilford Park Yacht Club in a direction that got us where we are today.
Everyone has to understand, no one person alone got us where we are today. We are not individuals that act independently but a group of individuals that act as one towards a single goal, the club. OBVIOUSLY, our forefathers don’t have a clue who we are but we do know who they are and we know what they did for the Gilford Park Yacht Club. We know we would not be here today if it wasn’t for their insight, their dedication and just think they passed on without ever knowing the seeds they planted would turn out to be what we are today. To all the commodore’s going back more than 80 years, to all the Board of Trustee members and there are many, to all the club members that stuck with the club thru the very hard times in the past and most recently and finally for all those that stood up to the plate and took a turn at bat and did what they could, when they could, many times over all added to our progress again all without abandoning ship because they knew that the club as a whole is bigger than any one or group of members. After all that the club has gone through especially in the past 7 years, the club as a whole is thankful to one another that no one abandoned ship in fact people were asking MAY I COME ABOARD. Without these members holding on there would be no club if they chose to abandon ship. There was a increase in membership, and those who joined when we had nothing to offer them, knew the secrets the club held which is its history, generations of families, community involvement, a fun place to be part of and that view is spectacular. With the increase in participation, our new members are making the club their home away from home, again because they know that the club as a whole is bigger than any one or group of members this is the true tribute we as members can give each other. So as a member of the Gilford Park Yacht Club you have a choice, that is to have the same insight as our forefathers had and plant more seeds and watch them grow into a bigger and better club that will carry us into the future or to plant seeds that will germinate into weeds and choke out our club as we know it. You need to figure out for yourself is it better to lift a finger to help out or stand on the side lines and point fingers at those who are doing. Just walk away from negativity and gravitate to the positive. Generation after generation inherits the club and when we pass it on to the next generation we must pass it on better off then how we received it. This can only be done when we all work together with one common goal, the club. Your commodore Ed Horton Thank you for having the confidence in me to continue on for a second term.
I would like to start this new year with a message as I did in my first commodore's message, with a thought. If we are looking side to side and seeing the same, then we are standing still. If we are NOT looking forward then we are looking back and they are just memories. Looking back isn't going to help us in the moment we are in. So, the only direction we can go in is to move forward that’s where we will find the solution to the challenges we will encounter. My theme throughout this year will be to make the club your home away from home, a place to have fun, relax, enjoy the festivities of the day and each other. I will also as last year still maintain the club’s traditions, Work on projects to make the club a better place, move the club forward and never stand still. Everyone has to know that any success of any organization does not come from one person or a small group. Nothing can happen without you the membership. Like in a choir when everyone participates and sings their part of a song, their harmony together goes to a successful and a rewarding performance. Our club is no different, when everyone plays a part in its operation, chips-in and helps out when and where they can, the end result is a club in harmony and rewarding for all. Thank you to all who have patronized the bar and kitchen throughout the year, participated in the different events and volunteered at those events during the past year. I am counting on these same members to continue on with their support and hope that by your example, all our members will join in and see the value that they will add to the club. Remember your club is your home away from home, see you there. Your Commodore, Ed Horton My fellow members, as I said in my first commodores message that It was a privilege and an honor to have been elected as your new Commodore. In that message the quote that was stated “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success” this truly happened this past year.
I choose to summarize this past year and share with you what we as a club accomplished. The accomplishments under my command were numerous, it’s called leadership, not just leading but hands on leading and giving credit where credit is due. Before elected to my first term I spent months working on an agenda, things that needed to be done. As I got my feet wet I knew that I had to take care of unfinished business. The bar was uncomfortable for most so I set out to get the foot rail installed - COMPLETED. Then it still was uncomfortable so I set out to cut down the height of the bar stools - also COMPLETED. As a result of the above both were done with material cost only, no labor costs, free, done by some members, everyone was happy. We moved on to the next project the mezzanine by closing in the mezzanine 3 conditions were solved: 1) The noise level during our meetings, fixed. 2) The unsafe condition that existed due to it being open, fixed. 3) Now we don’t interfere with the renters upstairs and they don’t interfere with the membership downstairs. Again, done with material cost only, no labor costs, free, done by some of our members. One of the biggest on-going projects I inherited was the lawsuit against the township of Toms River over the Dillon’s Creek jetty. I took it upon myself and I spent hours on top hours losing count over this past year. I spent time trying to figure how we got to this point and how it could be brought to a conclusion. If you missed the July meeting I told the membership it was a complete success, we won on all counts. Although it came with a cost it is over. Making the mezzanine office more efficient and making the mezzanine a nicer room to rent, still a work in progress. Again, free labor our only costs was material. A 5 year on going fund raiser we finish the plaque board mounted just outside the elevator gradually filling up with past family names and the names of new members. The club brought back a bit of history, we rededicated the mezzanine level and rehung Hugh McDonald’s picture and renamed the room. Still In progress and still working on cleaning up the language in the club. We are a family-oriented club. We Started the veterans committee and had our first Veterans breakfast. With all of the above we kept up with the traditions of the club. The club was decorated for the different seasons. The pool tournament and the dart league took place on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The children’s Halloween party, Christmas Party, both annually picnics and Super bowl Sunday, St Patties Day, New Year’s Eve and of course our annual crab contest all a total success. We branched out and we did a meatball contest. Again, fun for all. The kitchen did Mother’s Day breakfast and for Father’s Day. The kitchen teamed up with members and did rib night. Mic night ongoing and a total success. We had a dance night; dance with the D-Cee’s, square dancing came back to the club and for the first time Elvis was in the house. There are still some traditional events I would like to have done like appreciation night but the timing was not there. Maybe next term. I cannot take credit for all of the above. No one person can stand alone, it takes the support of its MEMBERS to get behind you to have success in all of its endeavors. What I did, was to allow what I call the freedom of Idea act that I created in my own mind and that is to move forward on all ideas. There is a saying, you can’t succeed if you don’t try. Don’t let the club’s old way of thinking be allowed to polarized the club from moving forward on doing new projects. The club as a whole by far is more important than anyone or any group of members. The different activities during the year if not for you then let it be for those who choose to participate without comment or controversy. The first job of any commodore is to appoint the elected trustees to a committee. My philosophy was to appoint the right person to the right job, no political favors and to let them do that job without interference from me or anyone else. By doing this they become empowered to take ownership thus their best comes out. Their actions speak louder than words. With that being said I can’t name all but certain people and their appointments stand out. I can say they moved the club in a positive direction. Kitchen is running extremely well and has past every one’s expectations. Trustee Manny Muina taking on the same philosophy and letting Ron Heinzman run with it. I cannot say enough about Ron. Thank you both. Another right person for the right job is trustee Rainer Mullering in charge of Beach, Grounds and also building maintenance. Again, having the same philosophy has put members of the club in charge and left them alone to do their job. With Rainer and his team and their out of the box thinking he has created a very valuable link with some of our members and the Department of Corrections. Trustee John Hogan took an old way of doing communications and brought us into the 21st century. He created GPYC web site, the on-line store. He was the brain child of mic night and was instrumental in the construction of the plaque board. Matt Muina seen around working on the docks mostly on Wednesday (his day off from work) The docks were fixed and maintained throughout the year. Some of the pre-appointed positions where left alone they were working well. An unsung position the bar manager Bob Cavaliere quiet in his demeanor but a lion in the work he does, keeping the bar running smoothly, making sure all paper work is up to date. Staying within the ABC guide lines and making sure your favorite libation is there for you. And other activities too many to count. Diversity in thought is the life blood of any organization. There is a saying, crazy as it may sound but very true; to keep doing the same over and over again and expecting a different outcome is the wrong way to move forward. We need to start thinking outside the box. There is a new generation of members with new philosophies and as they mainstream into the different areas of the club and make it their home away from home we should listen and move forward on any and all new ideas. So, as your commodore for my August message to all may I leave these words with you. All 420 of our members are ambassadors of the Gilford Park Yacht Club and your actions at the club or in the outside world are a reflection on you and thus comes back to the club in a negative or positive way. This past year under my command the club did define who we are by what we’ve accomplished. What truly defines us is that the club moved forward and we are in a better place than where we started off. We have achieved our place in the eyes of our peers and should never look back but only look forward. Your Commodore Ed Horton |
AuthorEd Horton is the current Commodore of the Gilford Park Yacht Club. 
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