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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SUE ELLEN
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SUE ELLEN
We want to remind you again - and again - how vital each Queen is to the Red Hat Society. You are the bedrock of our Sisterhood - the stars in our sky. Because all of us at Hatquarters recognize the value of good leaders we greatly appreciate all that you have done and will do in the future to keep the RHS thriving. Thank you!
The beginning of a brand-new year - and a brand-new decade is the perfect time to clear up any and all possible Membership misunderstandings between all of you and Hatquarters.
This broadcast from all of us at Hatquarters, is probably the most important one I have ever written. It is absolutely essential that every woman who currently participates in a Chapter of the Red Hat Society, hears and understands every word. Misinformation - some of it caused by innocent misunderstandings, much of it deliberately manufactured and spread to harm us - has damaged the RHS by severely curtailing the income below the level we need to keep this sisterhood going. The best way we know to repair this damage is to simply lay out the facts for all to see and understand. Without apology, we now require that every Member of the Red Hat Society pay her fair share, whether she is a Queen or a Member. We all benefit; we should all contribute.
Queens, we need you now - to help get the unvarnished truth out to every woman who participates in a Chapter, regardless of where she is, including our international Chapters. Because at least 20% of our women don’t use computers, Hatquarters cannot possibly keep in touch with each of them in the way that we would love to do.
Please ensure that every woman in your Chapter reads and clearly understands this message.
Please pay your Queen’s annual dues on time.
Please make sure all Chapterettes also pay on time.
When you host events, small or large, check that registrants are true Members, except in the case of allowing potential new Members to attend one event.
The majority of you have paid your dues willingly - even cheerfully - and we acknowledge and appreciate your high ethics and fair-mindedness. However, we have encountered Queens who pay only their own Membership and allow non-Members to join her group and pay nothing to Hatquarters (although many do pay Chapter dues to the Queen herself!). This is grossly unfair to all of those who, by paying their dues, support the RHS. Some have told us that their Chapters “voted” not to pay dues. This is not an option. It is imperative that all Queens and Chapter groups operate in unison on such things.
I like to refer to paying one’s fair share as “contributing to participate,” a far gentler term than “pay to play,” but, really - both phrases are identical in meaning. The identical list of benefits is offered to every Member. If anyone cannot, or chooses not, to take advantage of every one of them, it doesn’t matter. Each will benefit in her own way. Every contributor is a “brick in the wall” of what we have built and are working hard to maintain.
The RHS is not a charity, but nevertheless, we believe (know) that this Society does a great deal of good around the world for so many women who have gained a whole new lease on life because of our very existence. Every woman who pays dues is a true part of reaching out to other women in friendship and encouragement. From now on, everyone within official RHS Chapter groups will be a Member in the true sense of the word. Either she is a Member or she is not a Member and must not pretend to be. Neither may she dress in such a way as to deliberately send a silent signal that she is one of us.
If you encounter any objections, remind Chapterettes that you are supporting Hatquarters by relaying this message.
**BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP:
The concrete benefits of Membership, described in this link, are substantial.
A former Queen recently dropped herself and her entire group out of the RHS; she didn’t see why her ladies should pay to belong since they get “nothing” out of it. This Queen had many women in her “chapter,” but not one of them was a paid Member. She freely admitted that, as Queen, she had used our website a lot - to find Chapters in other towns, to connect with Hatters when they travel, and to locate other Hatters with similar interests.
She went on to say that, although their group was severing all connection with the RHS, nothing will change for them. They will continue meeting and behaving just as they have been, because, the Queen writes… “we have become very important to each other. In a couple of cases, ladies have told me that our group literally saved their life by providing a fun outlet after a personal challenge that they didn’t think they could overcome. We meet at least once a month in a different restaurant, and always cause a little stir - people wanting to know about the red hats we wear…”
It sounds to us that this Queen and her friends have gotten a great deal out of her Red Hat Society Membership – some of the benefits tangible and some intangible.
Intangible benefits are those things that words fail to adequately describe, yet they are the most precious of all. The quotes which follow represent only a tiny sample of the thousands of encouraging words we have received from our Members over the years:
“I no longer feel invisible.”
“I have met so many wonderful women I would never have met otherwise!”
“I have had so much fun!”
“I have tried activities that were new to me and visited places I never thought I’d go.”
“I have rediscovered playing dress-up and being silly.”
“I have been blessed by the kindness and support of Sister Hatters when I endured hard times. I have not felt alone.
“I have stopped fearing the aging process and embraced a new stage of life.”
“I get out and about a lot more than I used to.
“It’s fun to interact with others when we are in public places. People know who we are and they love us!”
“Knowing that my Membership helps to keep the Red Hat Society strong gives me a sense of pride and belonging. It feels good to know I am helping to reach other women who need what we have found.”
“Growing up, I never had a sister. Now I have thousands!”
These benefits are not objects that can be held up and displayed. They have to be experienced to be fully understood. Surely you know exactly what I mean. These are the reasons we proudly proclaim, “There is magic in the hat!”
Anyone who believes, along with the Queen mentioned, that Membership in the RHS is worth “nothing” is free to sever connections with the RHS. But these women must not continue to pretend to be a part of our Sisterhood. If they find that they miss it and want to rejoin, they will be warmly welcomed back.
I have often been asked what was in my mind when I founded the first Chapter of what became the Red Hat Society. At the time I was not thinking beyond gathering my own little group together for fun and friendship. I wish I could say that I foresaw all that it would become – not just in numbers, but in significance to us women of a certain age.
I am often overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and appreciation from those of you who want to give me credit for what we, as a group, now share – a Sisterhood without precedence and beyond compare. I am fully aware that it took all of us…and it still does!
Ladies, we deliberately keep our dues low enough to allow most interested women who want to join us to do so… honorably.
Now, to those of you who are willing to invest a few dollars a year to keep the Red Hat Society going and growing, let’s all get back to loving and supporting each other – and have all the fun we can with all the other Members wearing red and pink hats, whom we so are thankful to have in our lives.
In friendship,
Sue Ellen
The beginning of a brand-new year - and a brand-new decade is the perfect time to clear up any and all possible Membership misunderstandings between all of you and Hatquarters.
This broadcast from all of us at Hatquarters, is probably the most important one I have ever written. It is absolutely essential that every woman who currently participates in a Chapter of the Red Hat Society, hears and understands every word. Misinformation - some of it caused by innocent misunderstandings, much of it deliberately manufactured and spread to harm us - has damaged the RHS by severely curtailing the income below the level we need to keep this sisterhood going. The best way we know to repair this damage is to simply lay out the facts for all to see and understand. Without apology, we now require that every Member of the Red Hat Society pay her fair share, whether she is a Queen or a Member. We all benefit; we should all contribute.
Queens, we need you now - to help get the unvarnished truth out to every woman who participates in a Chapter, regardless of where she is, including our international Chapters. Because at least 20% of our women don’t use computers, Hatquarters cannot possibly keep in touch with each of them in the way that we would love to do.
Please ensure that every woman in your Chapter reads and clearly understands this message.
Please pay your Queen’s annual dues on time.
Please make sure all Chapterettes also pay on time.
When you host events, small or large, check that registrants are true Members, except in the case of allowing potential new Members to attend one event.
The majority of you have paid your dues willingly - even cheerfully - and we acknowledge and appreciate your high ethics and fair-mindedness. However, we have encountered Queens who pay only their own Membership and allow non-Members to join her group and pay nothing to Hatquarters (although many do pay Chapter dues to the Queen herself!). This is grossly unfair to all of those who, by paying their dues, support the RHS. Some have told us that their Chapters “voted” not to pay dues. This is not an option. It is imperative that all Queens and Chapter groups operate in unison on such things.
I like to refer to paying one’s fair share as “contributing to participate,” a far gentler term than “pay to play,” but, really - both phrases are identical in meaning. The identical list of benefits is offered to every Member. If anyone cannot, or chooses not, to take advantage of every one of them, it doesn’t matter. Each will benefit in her own way. Every contributor is a “brick in the wall” of what we have built and are working hard to maintain.
The RHS is not a charity, but nevertheless, we believe (know) that this Society does a great deal of good around the world for so many women who have gained a whole new lease on life because of our very existence. Every woman who pays dues is a true part of reaching out to other women in friendship and encouragement. From now on, everyone within official RHS Chapter groups will be a Member in the true sense of the word. Either she is a Member or she is not a Member and must not pretend to be. Neither may she dress in such a way as to deliberately send a silent signal that she is one of us.
If you encounter any objections, remind Chapterettes that you are supporting Hatquarters by relaying this message.
**BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP:
The concrete benefits of Membership, described in this link, are substantial.
A former Queen recently dropped herself and her entire group out of the RHS; she didn’t see why her ladies should pay to belong since they get “nothing” out of it. This Queen had many women in her “chapter,” but not one of them was a paid Member. She freely admitted that, as Queen, she had used our website a lot - to find Chapters in other towns, to connect with Hatters when they travel, and to locate other Hatters with similar interests.
She went on to say that, although their group was severing all connection with the RHS, nothing will change for them. They will continue meeting and behaving just as they have been, because, the Queen writes… “we have become very important to each other. In a couple of cases, ladies have told me that our group literally saved their life by providing a fun outlet after a personal challenge that they didn’t think they could overcome. We meet at least once a month in a different restaurant, and always cause a little stir - people wanting to know about the red hats we wear…”
It sounds to us that this Queen and her friends have gotten a great deal out of her Red Hat Society Membership – some of the benefits tangible and some intangible.
Intangible benefits are those things that words fail to adequately describe, yet they are the most precious of all. The quotes which follow represent only a tiny sample of the thousands of encouraging words we have received from our Members over the years:
“I no longer feel invisible.”
“I have met so many wonderful women I would never have met otherwise!”
“I have had so much fun!”
“I have tried activities that were new to me and visited places I never thought I’d go.”
“I have rediscovered playing dress-up and being silly.”
“I have been blessed by the kindness and support of Sister Hatters when I endured hard times. I have not felt alone.
“I have stopped fearing the aging process and embraced a new stage of life.”
“I get out and about a lot more than I used to.
“It’s fun to interact with others when we are in public places. People know who we are and they love us!”
“Knowing that my Membership helps to keep the Red Hat Society strong gives me a sense of pride and belonging. It feels good to know I am helping to reach other women who need what we have found.”
“Growing up, I never had a sister. Now I have thousands!”
These benefits are not objects that can be held up and displayed. They have to be experienced to be fully understood. Surely you know exactly what I mean. These are the reasons we proudly proclaim, “There is magic in the hat!”
Anyone who believes, along with the Queen mentioned, that Membership in the RHS is worth “nothing” is free to sever connections with the RHS. But these women must not continue to pretend to be a part of our Sisterhood. If they find that they miss it and want to rejoin, they will be warmly welcomed back.
I have often been asked what was in my mind when I founded the first Chapter of what became the Red Hat Society. At the time I was not thinking beyond gathering my own little group together for fun and friendship. I wish I could say that I foresaw all that it would become – not just in numbers, but in significance to us women of a certain age.
I am often overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and appreciation from those of you who want to give me credit for what we, as a group, now share – a Sisterhood without precedence and beyond compare. I am fully aware that it took all of us…and it still does!
Ladies, we deliberately keep our dues low enough to allow most interested women who want to join us to do so… honorably.
Now, to those of you who are willing to invest a few dollars a year to keep the Red Hat Society going and growing, let’s all get back to loving and supporting each other – and have all the fun we can with all the other Members wearing red and pink hats, whom we so are thankful to have in our lives.
In friendship,
Sue Ellen
