The USEC held it's annual members meeting on October 6, 2007 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A quorum of the USEC membership was present.
At the meeting, roll call of the membership was taken (there were 28 USEC members present, including the five Directors), the minutes of last year's annual membership meeting was approved, and reports were given by the USEC Officers.
The 2007 USEC election results were announced as follows: Wendy Steuerwald was elected to fill the three-year Director term (Position A) that was up for regular election; Erika Wepner was elected to fill the one-year Director position (Position B) that was vacated by resignation earlier this year; and Jacqueline Murtha was re-elected to both the Treasurer and Clerk positions. Congratulations to all of those elected!
Ute Molush announced that she will be attending the annual IFEZ meeting at the end of October 2007. She is in the process of working with the USEC Board and the IFEZ to finalize the USEC's Associate Membership agreement with the IFEZ, and will hopefully have the agreement approved and signed on behalf of both organizations during the meeting.
Jacqueline Murtha advised the members that in August 2007, the IRS granted the USEC 501c(7) tax status. This is not exactly what the Board had hoped for, as it does not allow for donations to the USEC to be taken as deductions by the persons making the donation. It does exempt certain income of the USEC, such as membership fees, from taxation. The USEC Board will continue to review its options and, if possible, pursue the more beneficial 501c(3) designation in the future.
Wendy Steuerwald also shared some very exciting news at the meeting. As you may know, she has been in communication with Dr. Jean Dodds regarding thyroid issues in the Eurasier, and Dr. Dodds has agreed to include the Eurasier breed in studies to try to identify genetic markers for thyroid problems. The USEC is extremely excited about this opportunity to work with Dr. Dodds on such an important health issue confronting the Eurasier. We will provide more details soon, and as they continue to develop.
After the Annual Meeting, the new USEC Board of Directors met, and the following officer appointments were made: President - Ute Molush; Vice President - Gisele Kusmik; Secretary - Erika Wepner; International Relations Officer and Database Administrator - Wendy Steuerwald.
A reminder to all our new USEC members who would like to have their Eurasier included in the USEC Member Gallery. Please send your pictures to the USEC Webmaster, at webmaster@useurasierclub.org . Send up to 3 head shots and up to 3 body shots and we will pick one of each to be part of the Gallery. Please also include your Eurasier’s full registered name, the name of the photographer, your full name, your state of residence and your written permission for your pictures to be used by the USEC.
The USEC is always interested in the health of our Eurasiers. Periodically, the USEC Secretary sends out a health questionnaire to its members for information on a variety of health issues or concerns. If the health of your Eurasier has changed, or if you'd like to submit a new or updated form, please contact the USEC Secretary, Erika Wepner for a questionnaire or more information.
The USEC Board of Directors would like to thank all of you have joined our group of dedicated Eurasier owners coming together to support the positive future of our favorite breed. The USEC is currently over 90 members strong and is still growing! As the USEC is intended to be a club of it’s membership, if you have a particular area of interest for which you would like to volunteer your time, please indicate this in an email addressed to the USEC Secretary, Erika Wepner and we will contact you as the need arises.
The USEC Board is pleased to announce that on November 6, 2006, during the 10th Anniversary meeting of the International Federation of Eurasier Breeding - World Union (IFEZ) in Fischingen, Switzerland, the United States Eurasier Club was accepted as an Associate Member of the IFEZ-World Union. The USEC is the first non-European club to be accepted into the IFEZ!
The IFEZ is a network of European Eurasier Clubs with the common goal of breeding healthy Eurasiers. Recently, the IFEZ became the Eurasier World Union. The IFEZ represents more than 6,000 Eurasier friends, which is more than half of all Eurasier club members in Europe. Health data of more than 12,000 Eurasiers is stored in the IFEZ database. The associate membership with the IFEZ will enable the USEC to provide data to and receive data from that database upon request. This data exhange will allow the USEC to obtain information on all breeding-relevant data, suggestions concerning proposed breedings, health information, and calculations such as inbreeding coefficients, which help to determine the suitability of mating two particular Eurasiers. For more information about the IFEZ, you can visit the IFEZ website at the link provided in the USEC Resources/Links section.
The USEC's acceptance into the IFEZ is an important milestone for the USEC, as it confirms to us that we are proceeding in the right direction towards our goal of protecting the health and welfare of the Eurasier breed here in the United States.
The USEC Board would like to extend a very special thank-you to two of our Honorary International Members, Mrs. Annelie Feder, Eurasier Club Weinheim Germany, and Mr. Lothar Mende, Eurasier Judge and Liaison between the IFEZ and the FCI. Together, they represented the USEC in its application for membership with the IFEZ.
