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++ CURRENT & TIMELY NEWS ++
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Membership Renewals
As you should all be aware at this time, we have now completed the shift for Membership Renewals to be on a calendar year basis each January rather than as it used to be with a different anniversary renewal date for EVERY member. New Members who join at any point within the calendar year will pay the same $20 for that membership, then renew again in the following January....if they pay for two years on their initial signup, then the club will provide them with Name Badges at no additional cost. Replacement Name Badges for members who desire remain at $10 each.
In further news concerning Membership renewals, the Online Renewal Form has been repaired and is now working properly again...this was a particularly challenging issue as it surfaced right in the middle of our renewal transition process!
The Forums are FIXED!!!
Your webmaster has FINALLY found the solution to our long-standing Forums software glitch which has prevented any New Topic posts or Replies for over two years now!!! After many hours of research and MANY dead ends, the fix went into effect on the 6th of April 2024 and now we have our Forums back in-service. Stop by to say hi, introduce yourself there, or ask for technical assistance....this valuable tool has been under-utilized for far too long!
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WE HAVE MOVED! (again...)
Well, at least our mail has. Please update your records to show our current mailing address as:
1424 Montecristo Ct.
Denton, TX 76210
And from our Membership Director - Please notify your bank if you use auto payment for payment of your membership dues. Thank you.
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RECENT Email SCAM!
A funny thing happened to me last year....I got an urgent email that fooled me completely (initially). It came into my inbox as if it was from Bill Trendler...and the title was "Need to talk ASAP". I didn't notice that my email client had incorporated the email address with Bill's name in the signature of the email, and much later that information became critically clear....Bill's REAL email address shows him as WILLIAM not as Bill. Fortunately, I wasn't in a position to respond immediately so I replied with a proposed later contact time AND GOT A TIMELY RESPONSE from "Bill" to keep the conversation going. Ultimately we got together on the allotted time and then "Bill" revealed to me that he wanted to surprise the board members each with a $100 Amazon gift card...and if I would kindly get them, scratch the covering off the PINs and email him a photo of same, he would gladly reimburse me. Again I claimed a timing conflict and then I called William to compare notes on "Bill's" plan.
He laughed and confirmed it was a scam, but what REALLY hurt was the laughter from my wife when I told her about this scam later...it turns out that this is a really old ploy and nearly 15 years ago my wife used to get a similar request from her "CFO" (who's office was just acrass the hall) requesting an urgent wire transfer - same deal, when she walked across the hall to confirm the details he denied having sent the request.
...and just to put the icing on the cake, later that same week I got not one or two but THREE suspect emails from one of my Trek community members asking if I had an Amazon account! Turns out HER email data had been harvested and there was a rather lengthy list of folks who were approached from "her email account".
So to steal a quote from the Hill Street Blues, "Let's be careful out there".
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NEW EMBROIDERY OPTIONS
Safari International has recently received permission to use the Safari Motor Coach lion logo from REV Recreation Group, owner of the Safari brand. We thought now would be a great time to update our ability to order embroidered items and have partnered with the company LogoKick to do just that. Read more about it by clicking HERE.
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++ PAST NEWS ARCHIVES ++
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SAFARI INTERNATIONAL NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Our Past President Bill Trendler posted a very timely request for your consideration on the front page of the website more than a year ago (the article first appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of the Trails on page 14 under the title, “Looking for a few Officers”). In my reorganization of the website layout shortly after assuming my new role as Webmaster, I moved that short article from the front page to the News page, keeping it intact and retaining Bill Trendler’s attribution. You may recall having seen it, as it was titled in bold red letters “SAFARI INTERNATIONAL NEEDS YOUR HELP”.....today I’m taking down his original request article as our needs have just increased significantly. In its place I post the following:
As we approach the close of 2020, with all of the impacts that it has brought to our society and to our RV lifestyle, one of the additional impacts has been on the Executive Board upon which we depend for guidance and leadership of our Safari International organization. We, as a group, are in trouble and our only path forward will depend on the strength and willingness to work that our membership can provide. We have been carrying an unfilled Regional Vice President position for a year now....and our Executive Vice President has sold his rig and can no longer fulfill his position.....and our President (as you will read in the upcoming Safari Trails) has resigned, so HIS position is now vacant....AND our membership rolls continue to decline as folks age and time takes its toll. The Executive Board, in accordance with our Bylaws, is in-process of assigning an Interim President and Executive Vice President to ensure continuity. However, we desperately seek a response from you, our members, to the very real NEED for some several folks to step up to fill the openings on the Board and help lead us through this challenging time. The past glory days of factory-sponsored support are long gone. If we are to remain a viable organization, we are dependent on you, our membership, for the talent, skills, and determination which you hold within our group. Once our leadership positions are refilled, we can realistically confront the issues of an aging demographic, shrinking rolls, and failure to attract new membership that have all combined to challenge our current existence. Don’t let me sugarcoat this – SAFARI INTERNATIONAL NEEDS YOUR HELP! !!!
*********UPDATE as of 12/15/2020********
Our Interim President and Interim Executive Vice President positions are now filled!!! Two Past Presidents have stepped forward to keep our Executive Board functioning for an interim period as we identify, nominate and conduct an election to fill our Board positiions through the normal process. Bill Trendler as Interim President, and Ken Brunner as Interim Executive Vice President have agreed to stand in the gap for us for a one year period if needed....if we haven't resolved the open positions on the Board by the end of a year, we have a much larger problem to deal with! They have established a working group committee to assist them in developing a realistic plan to move forward. Watch this space for more information as this process continues to unfold.
Until the Nominating Committee Chairman position has been filled, please utilize the online Contact Us link in the Menu at the top of this page to send your thoughts, ideas and suggestions on how you can help move us forward through this challenging time. I will ensure delivery to the Executive Board and would welcome any phone calls on the topic if you would prefer that medium.
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WEBSITE UPDATES
In November, our website hosting contract came up for renewal at a significant increase in cost...this was both good and bad! Bad in that the cost was going to triple - good in that it encouraged me go do an industry analysis of comparative service providers. Our NEW hosting provider is a long-established US-based company who has a great reputation in the industry....AND charges less for MORE resources provided - with a notable increase in website responsiveness. The transition was accomplished over the weekend of the 7th of November and as you read this, our website is now completely moved into its' new electronic home on the new server.
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FACEBOOK GROUP
If you are a Facebook user, you will be interested to know that we have a pretty active private group page that you can ask to join. We have about 175 members. Click on this link below and answer 3 quick questions. One of our administrators will approve your access.
Click HERE to get started.
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PARKING ETIQUETTE
Safari International is proud to announce that we are partnering with a host of other industry leaders in support of the Escapees Club and their efforts to establish an overnight parking etiquette standard.
Click HERE for a printable / down-loadable copy of the guidelines.
Thank you.
Ken R. Barker
President, Safari International
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SAFARI TRAILS INFO
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FORUM CHANGES
We now have a new category in our Forum...actually, THREE new categories. All are viewable by non-members, however, only registered and signed-in members can post to these new categories. The parent category of Classified Ads has three new sub categories - Safari Motor Homes, Safari Related Items, and All Other Items. This last category is where a member may post other brands of Motor Homes, Toads, BBQ’s, Pop-Up Awnings, etc. If you have it for sale, we have a place to advertise it!
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RENEW ONLINE
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NEW CONTENT
Safari International has a number of manuals, brochures and files available for you to read or copy. We have added a "Manuals and Files" menu item in our Members area and are continuing to collect these items from our members. You can help us by emailing your scanned digitized PDF files to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. PDF files are the preferred file format that we can easily upload....other formats can be converted to PDF if needed. If you are a member of Safari International, please take a moment to sign into the members only area for more information and to review the additions made to-date. Come join and participate in this feature.
We have also added some more history files. We have added the Post-Monaco Sahara and Zanzibar to the history files. Please go to the Members area and select History of Safari Motor Coaches to check out this new material.
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