04/25/2024
A letter from the Rivendell Trails Association Board of Directors:
Dear Friends of RTA,
In these post-Covid years, as a society we have experienced a great "stepping back." Covid forced us to slow down, reassess our priorities, and focus on the things in life that are the most important to us. We are prioritizing spending time with our families, working on hobbies and interests we truly love, and taking time to relax, unwind and rest. Gone are the days of over-committing and running ourselves into the ground with the world on our shoulders. No doubt this has been a good thing for our collective mental health. However, this stepping back has taken a real toll on small, local nonprofits that depend on volunteers and people "showing up" in order to fulfill their missions. In general, people are far less inclined to show up in the post Covid era. This phenomenon is well documented. Volunteerism was on the decline prior to Covid, and has tanked since 2020.
RTA is no exception. At our last annual meeting prior to Covid, over 100 people came to support RTA and connect, eat, and converse. Since Covid, our numbers have dwindled each year to just 10 people who came to last year's meeting, and most of them were close relatives of Board members. We worked hard to put together what we thought would be an inviting program, and to get the word out early and often that this annual meeting would be a re-boot for RTA. We hoped the 2023 annual meeting would be the start of a rebound year, when people would start showing up again. Alas, it turned out to be the most sparsely attended RTA annual meeting there has ever been. There was a LOT of leftover lasagna.
RTA is down to 4 Board members (we are supposed to have 11) and has been for the past two years. Two of us have been on the RTA Board for close to 10 years (it's meant to be a 3 year term), but we both have felt we couldn't step down because there was no one to fill our shoes. Leaving would mean the end of RTA. Each time we have lost a board member, we have attempted to replace them. We have had a few new recruits join, and shortly resign, citing lack of time and energy. We have approached many about joining the Board, and been told the same by all: "I want to support you, and I am happy to pitch in on specific projects, but I don't have time to commit to being on the Board."
This response is quite reasonable, and the intent here is not to guilt trip or call anyone out. In fact, the remaining Board members feel much the same. We are all busy, with full time jobs and families, and simply cannot commit to keeping this going anymore, especially with so few of us to spread the work among. In short, we are beyond burned out.
In June, we will be holding a very scaled back, casual annual meeting. There will not be a dinner or auction. At this meeting, we might be seeking your ideas for how to sustain RTA, or at least the Cross Rivendell Trail, into the future (although it will not be the current Board members who sustain it, as we all plan to step down by the end of the year).
Alternatively, perhaps it will turn out to be a goodbye party and a celebration of nearly 20 years of good times on the CRT. Stay tuned for date, time and location.
With gratitude for the many years of support from you, our members and friends,
The RTA Board
