by Rev. Eric “Bear” St. Pierre
President, Guns Save Life
I am beyond excited to assume the role of president of Guns Save Life.
It is my goal to continue this organization’s growth and expansion. However with growth comes new challenges.
One of the most pressing challenges we face is making time to serve you, the members. It is very important to me and the GSL Board of Directors that we maintain professionalism in our service to current and future members. Part of that professionalism means having the time to meet your needs.
As many of you know, through John Boch’s time at the helm of GSL, we experienced some staggering growth. The membership of GSL basically doubled from 2010-2012 then nearly doubled again from 2013-present!
The success and rapid growth has shown us the limitations of our completely volunteer army.
Both our treasurer, Larry Shurbet and our corporate secretary Tammy Williams have done admirable work in their respective roles. Unfortunately, I’ve learned both are buried in GSL work – requiring far more volunteer hours than should be expected of any volunteer.
Together their responsibilities include processing new and renewal memberships, sending out new member welcome letters and notices to those members needing to renew or have passed their renewal date. All of this is done on top of their Treasurer and Secretary duties – and on top of Tammy’s full-time job and Larry’s other personal responsibilities.
This has caused some backlog processing memberships. If you’ve signed up for a membership in the past year or two and wondered why it took four to six weeks to process your membership, now you know why. Tammy and Larry selflessly continued to do work without compensation because they love you and they love GSL – and believe in our mission.
It is because of our tremendous success and growth that the GSL Board has decided to meet these challenges head on; by establishing GSL’s first paid position of Executive Secretary.
As we continue our path of success and growth, we are transitioning into maintaining a very limited paid staff, and this new Executive Secretary position is merely the first as we continue to expand and serve our members faithfully and responsibly.
Thank you and may God bless America and Guns Save Life.