CgarDan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2006
- Messages
- 5,976
This is just my opinion and I hope that some of you can chime in and say what you think about it.
In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend.
I myself contribute a lot to different charities throughout the year so the money aspect has absolutelly nothing to do with it. I feel that donations are acts of free will and should be that way without being tied to any attendance. Also HERFs are meant to be avenues for people who enjoy cigars to get together and spend time with each other while partaking in their hobby. Tying a charity contribution in order to attend alienates some participants and takes away from the HERF with emphasis on "donating". Also think about some new people who might hear of a certain HERF and want to come see this as their first experience they should be able to join and see it without having to pay anything to any cause.
There is a point that companies are a lot more willing to send things if there is some charitrable contribution involved. That is a great point and it should be used not as a mandatory donation at the door, but an option to partake in drawing for prizes that companies sent if a contribution is made.
Another thing to consider is having choices of different charities availbale to participate in. Not to say that any of the choices are more worthy than any others, but having one choice of charity is at times similar to having one political choice for a presidential candidate - just too limiting in my view.
There is another thing that might have shifted HERFs towards charity donations and that is the fact that many times you see people who are there just for the freebies and not true BOTLS wanting to learn from others and share in their experiences. My suggestion is something like a mandatory entrance fee that is a credit towards anything that can be bought at the establishment that is attended. In this case the proprietor will get some business in return for letting us use the space and those of us who come to the HERF and want to spend some time in the establishment will be spending some money there anyways so the credit is not an extra mandatory cost associated with attendance but simply a way to limit the amount of poelpe who are in it just for the freebies alone.
Once again this is just my opinion and not in any way an attack or discreditation of how some HERFs are set up or ran. I would like to find out what the majority thinks about the issue. My opinions have been wrong before, but unless one asks and hears what people have to say he or she is just living in an information vaccuum.
In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend.
I myself contribute a lot to different charities throughout the year so the money aspect has absolutelly nothing to do with it. I feel that donations are acts of free will and should be that way without being tied to any attendance. Also HERFs are meant to be avenues for people who enjoy cigars to get together and spend time with each other while partaking in their hobby. Tying a charity contribution in order to attend alienates some participants and takes away from the HERF with emphasis on "donating". Also think about some new people who might hear of a certain HERF and want to come see this as their first experience they should be able to join and see it without having to pay anything to any cause.
There is a point that companies are a lot more willing to send things if there is some charitrable contribution involved. That is a great point and it should be used not as a mandatory donation at the door, but an option to partake in drawing for prizes that companies sent if a contribution is made.
Another thing to consider is having choices of different charities availbale to participate in. Not to say that any of the choices are more worthy than any others, but having one choice of charity is at times similar to having one political choice for a presidential candidate - just too limiting in my view.
There is another thing that might have shifted HERFs towards charity donations and that is the fact that many times you see people who are there just for the freebies and not true BOTLS wanting to learn from others and share in their experiences. My suggestion is something like a mandatory entrance fee that is a credit towards anything that can be bought at the establishment that is attended. In this case the proprietor will get some business in return for letting us use the space and those of us who come to the HERF and want to spend some time in the establishment will be spending some money there anyways so the credit is not an extra mandatory cost associated with attendance but simply a way to limit the amount of poelpe who are in it just for the freebies alone.
Once again this is just my opinion and not in any way an attack or discreditation of how some HERFs are set up or ran. I would like to find out what the majority thinks about the issue. My opinions have been wrong before, but unless one asks and hears what people have to say he or she is just living in an information vaccuum.
