President's Message

Patter Goes Online

At the February meeting, the Chesapeake Region Board members present voted unanimously to take Patter online and discontinue the print version.  This is a huge change, which the Board discussed at great length.

The primary driver for this decision is cost.  The region pays nearly $1500 each month to publish and mail Patter.  The combined revenue of a quarterly stipend from PCA National and advertising fees do not fully cover the publishing costs, which means Patter loses money for the region.  Like all board positions, Jan Borchardt, our Patter Editor, is a volunteer and offers her many long hours free of charge as did all the editors before her.  The difficult economic times are causing advertisers to reexamine their expenditures, and in some cases, discontinue advertising in Patter.  We understand and deeply thank our sponsors past and present for their support and wish them continued success in the future.

The May issue of Patter will be the final print version.  It will also be our first scheduled online version.  Starting with the June issue, Patter will be available online only via links on the web site at pcachs.org.  Region members are increasingly relying on online resources for their information resulting in significant growth in our web site traffic over the years.  We will continue to expand and improve the web site to accommodate member's needs as well as provide valuable exposure for our sponsors.

With all this in mind, there seems to be no better opportunity to switch to an online Patter.  The success of this change will be enhanced by accurate member records.  I will be sending out monthly reminders when Patter is online, so it will be important for each member to visit the National web site, pca.org, and update his or her email address.

I'm looking forward to this change.  It will present new challenges to the region, but I'm confident it will prove to be a benefit in the long run.

Andrew