For the past two years WVMTR has made a donation to the Meeks Mountain Trail Alliance to help develop the trails in Hurricane.  MMTA is raising money for a trail head and I would like for the board to consider sponsoring a step which would have our logo or name on it permanently as a reminder of our involvement and support of the trails.  A step is $1500.  Several of our members are involved and using the trails and it fits our mission " to encourage running and the healthy, positive qualities that running encompasses. We do this by hosting races, non-competitive club runs, social events, assisting other organizations with running events, and in general just running around having fun!"

You can find details on the trailhead project here.

https://www.meeksmountaintrails.org/sustainer

Full disclaimer, I am also on the board of MMTA. 

I think this would be a great idea. Especially as we are trying to build memberships. I support this.

I propose closing the money market and moving it back to savings in order to reduce our fees.

I believe this is a great idea and we should support every honest trail opportunity.  

I do think we have the funds to support trails and trail building.  We should set aside part of our annual gains to support these places, but I would want to see the money used and not just go from our savings account to their savings account.  We have passed the test of surviving multiple years without event income so I don't think there is an argument that we can't afford it.

The question I do want to ask is if MMTA can afford to host a race with a $7,500 prize purse why do they need our donation?  What specific project are they going to complete with the donation?  

I have a question and would be willing to head up this endeavor. Stickers...I have the cool golden foot sticker on the Echo and I get compliments about it almost every group run or race. I know this particular sticker is just for BOD members, so I am not advocating a re print of this particular one. I just have see the boom in sticker growth in our community and if we want to get more members how about getting some bling for those willing to put them on their bumpers, water bottles, coolers, etc? It is my understanding Trilogy, Sasquatch, Dirty Dog (once upon a time), and other WV races pass out or sale stickers to put word out. Just a though. Share your opinion... 

@daniel the specific project for the $1500 is the trailhead https://www.meeksmountaintrails.org/sustainer   The money would be used to fund the trailhead and WVMTR would get recognition on a step for it.

The $7500 prize purse for the 100k is funded entirely by the City of Hurricane. The mayor has been supportive of the trails and the 100k and sees them as part of an overall wellness and economic initiative and is willing to financially support it. 

I just wanted to give you an update on the WVMTR website. As you know, I rebuilt the site many years ago, but as it was my first time building websites, there were some bugs still in the background. I spent by Thanksgiving Break 2021 making lots of behind-the-scenes changes. Nothing really visible from the front-end, but it should keep the website working smoothly much longer into the future.

• Renewed the website (parent) theme license to receive all the latest code updates. Need to keep the code up-to-date to prevent malicious attacks, and broken website features.
• Built a proper child-theme without overwriting the parent theme. Now we can update the parent theme when needed without losing any modifications that were made (e.g. specific font colors, new page types, other style changes).
• Started remaking some of the menus for results and photos pages. Previously the menu was hard-coded to each page, which means that I had to update the menu on every page when a new results year was posted. Now I can change the menu in one location and it updates everywhere on the website. Old menu example https://wvmtr.org/races/frozen-sasquatch/photos New menu example https://wvmtr.org/races/frozen-sasquatch/results/
• Removed the links to the old website versions. Without being maintained and updated, they were access points for malicious attacks. Nearly all the information is located on this website now. I still have the old website files in case something is missing (e.g. Highlands Sky or WV Trilogy aid station splits).
• Removed the embedded RSU registration pages. Registration links now go directly to RSU (or USU). It's best practice to keep website visitors on our website, so if I can revisit this function in the future, then I will.

Another useful process that I just implemented was crowd-sourced race photos. I wanted to get Sasquatch photos from this year, so I created a free Dropbox account and made a request for runners to submit photos of the race day. I gave the link to Dolin and he sent it to all the runners in a follow-up email. I know that people usually put photos on Facebook, but it's important for us as a club to maintain our own documentation, including photos. I'd like to do this with all the races/events. That way no individual person is responsible for taking photos, but we can still document the day! https://wvmtr.org/races/frozen-sasquatch/photos/2022-photos/

All race directors have access to the WVMTR website to make changes as they need. If you need assistance or just want me to do it, always feel free to email me. Remember that RSU (or USU) is separate from wvmtr.com, so any updates need to be made in both locations.

@arhodes5 I certainly can appreciate all your time and hard work that went into the website.  Thank you.

@asdolin BOD stickers??? I need one!

@arhodes5, thank you very much for all that you have done and are doing to keep the website up-to-date.  It is very much appreciated.

I move that we donate $1500 is the trailhead/steps program at MMT.  

I believe this aligns with our mission and that we currently have the funds to help.  Now that we have a WVMTR event on the trails of MMT (Muddy Mutt), we should commit another one-time financial support to aid the good works occurring at Meeks Mountain Trails.

@arhodes5 So much of this is over my head. Thank you for doing this, it is much appreciated.

Posted by: @asdolin

I have a question and would be willing to head up this endeavor. Stickers...I have the cool golden foot sticker on the Echo and I get compliments about it almost every group run or race. I know this particular sticker is just for BOD members, so I am not advocating a re print of this particular one. I just have see the boom in sticker growth in our community and if we want to get more members how about getting some bling for those willing to put them on their bumpers, water bottles, coolers, etc? It is my understanding Trilogy, Sasquatch, Dirty Dog (once upon a time), and other WV races pass out or sale stickers to put word out. Just a though. Share your opinion... 

@asdolin, I'm not quite sure I'm following your question for the board.  Do you want to take on a WVMTR sticker program?