membership drive

NPR does it. Jerry Lewis does it. Now MDRA is hopping on the bandwagon.

A lot of non-profit groups take to the air waves to drum up membership and raise funds. We at MDRA have none air waves (insert your own fart joke here) that we are aware of, so we're raising awareness via ye olde blog. I promise I'll make it entertaining.

I'll kick off the membership drive via a story from board member Norm, which he shared at tonight's MDRA meeting. And I'm paraphrasing here...

"At the Mudball last year I was being my usual witty conversational self (I think Norm said "loudmouth", but its membership drive and I'm getting all hoity-toity on ya) and chatting with various passers-by at the registration table. A group of guys ran by and I shouted out, "How many of you are MDRA members?" One guy, out of five, enthusiastically responded,"I am!" To which I (and I = Norm, remember?) responded, "Well get the rest of those yahoos to join MDRA!"

I couldn't have said it better myself. MDRA has all sorts of killer classes, fantastic coaches, and we can get you discounts on shoes at several MN retailers. I should clarify, we can get you a discount on running shoes. If your thing is next season's Ferragamos, you're on your own.

Over the remainder of our first ever membership drive, I'll outline all the reasons you should remain an MDRA member and all of your yahoo friends should join. Perhaps by friday, you'll have recruited a couple of yahoo friends yourself. And really, how cool would that be? The economy is less than stellar (insert editorial sobbing) and you are in the position to save the runners you love a few bucks while supporting local runner-centric businesses.

And when the economy turns around, your new MDRA friends will owe you a solid - like some surf & turf or a treadmill or something.