The latest news about Points, Clinic, Banquet and more

To our members,
The pandemic continues to alter our daily lives in ways that none of us could have predicted a year ago. Despite all the challenges, we have seen the equestrian community come together and support each other as we all work to create a new normal. Even though it has been an extraordinarily challenging year, in keeping with our mission to "educate," SAHJA was able to move forward with handing out a record number of scholarship awards to graduating seniors, thanks to support from generous donors. We hope you enjoyed our scholarship recipient highlights on social media!

And although we have had to get used to new procedures to protect each other, we have been able to successfully restart competitions. We are sure we speak for all of you in saying a huge THANK YOU to our show managers! We appreciate you so much and even more so because of all the efforts you put into getting the show season restarted and in all the protocols you implemented to keep us safe. The 2021 season show calendar is being finalized and will be available soon.

However, it is inevitable that there are adjustments that we will continue to have to make. We have had to make some very hard decisions regarding our annual clinic and awards banquet and we wanted to make sure we could provide you with as much information as possible about the options we are developing and how you can help.

The Clinic
First, our yearly clinic grant from US Equestrian Trust was not received as the Trust had more urgent priorities this year. We have been so fortunate that between the grant and our fundraising efforts, we have been able to offer the annual clinic at a very low cost or even free over the last decade. In light of the challenges due to the pandemic as well as the impact to revenue from memberships and shows, the board has decided to defer the clinic to a date sometime in the early spring. This will give us the opportunity to look at creative ideas and formats that will take costs as well as health and safety needs into consideration. With this in mind, we are creating a member volunteer committee headed up by our Vice President and head of education initiatives, Karine Brooks. Click here to sign up to volunteer to join the clinic committee.

Points
The past 2 months has taken it's toll on our support team and we are working feverishly to get all of the points updated. Please stay tuned for an email in the next week with further information on how to review your points and submit any issues for review. Once the review period is complete, we will announce our official 2020 season top 10.

The Banquet
It is important to SAHJA to celebrate our members and all your achievements each year. Because of our wonderful divisions sponsors, we will be able to confer year-end awards. However, because of restrictions for indoor events due to pandemic control guidelines, this year's award banquet and fundraiser will not be held in person. Instead, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting an online auction fundraiser as well as recognizing our top 10 award winners in a variety of ways on social media. Please watch your email and check the website for more information on how to access the online auction, recognition and more in the coming days.

Auction Items Needed
The annual fundraiser is very important as part of helping SAHJA fulfill it's mission and even more so in light of lower than average revenue and the loss of the aforementioned grant. Auction donation items are needed! Please email us at [email protected] if you are interested in donating. More information will be available on our website in the coming week and we are excited to share that our online auction partner provides us with wonderful opportunities to recognize and promote our donors.

Barn Baskets
We are unable to conduct our annual raffle online, however, we hope all of our amazing barns will continue to put forth their creative efforts for their annual barn baskets! These baskets will join the online auction and be featured in their own category. Barns will also be able to recognize up to 5 donors per basket as well as share their logos and business links. Please email us at [email protected] and let us know you will be contributing a barn basket! Each barn that donates a basket will also be featured on the SAHJA website and on social media.

We hope that you and your families are safe and healthy,
Sincerely
SAHJA Board