Notes from the President

Hello YPNGers –

I can’t believe it is already June.  Where did the first half of 2012 go?  It feels like yesterday I wrote the last “Notes from the President” when I was talking about all the fun things we have coming up for 2012.  Hopefully you were able to partake in many of the fun events we’ve had, but if you weren’t able to, the good news is we have even more coming!

My favorite YPNG event of the year so far has been Monte Carlo Night.  I hand it to Jenna and her committee for doing an amazing job providing a great event.  And thank you to Snap Cubby for capturing a lot of fun memories in the photo booth.  There were definitely some good pictures again this year.

I also had a lot of fun volunteering for the California Festival of Beers through YPNG for Hospice of SLO.  I’d like to thank Lola Red Design Group and M3 Marketing Solutions for helping YPNG get some cool new marketing materials that we were able to use for our booth.   And Left Coast Tees printed a custom YPNG shirt for us while we volunteered that got a lot of attention.  Why were we at a beerfest you ask?  All proceeds benefited Hospice of SLO, which was enough for us to say yes to providing volunteers and helping out, but Hospice was nice enough to allow us booth space to get some exposure for our group with the attendees.  So it was a no brainer.

We have a lot for the rest of 2012 so I won’t go on about all of them because they are all great and I can give you a ton of reasons why you should attend them, instead just go check out our calendar page and find some that sound like something you’d like. We have a little something for everyone, whether your want to network socially or professionally, or just hang out and have a good time. Maybe some events aren’t for you but I am pretty sure there are a couple that you’d enjoy since we try to reach a wide audience.  I HIGHLY recommend coming to the YPNG Movie Night in August, which is outdoors at the historic Jack House on a big screen.  If you haven’t voted yet on which movie you’d like to watch, you can vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/12MovieNight

Here’s when I get a little sentimental….YPNG has been a great experience for me and I look forward to more great adventures and meeting many more great people.  I’d really like to thank all of the current and past directors and committee members for all their work and dedication.  There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people do not see and it is all 100% volunteer, no director or member makes any money.  All of these amazing volunteers make it possible to have so many unique events each month, which helps showcase what a great community we have. 

We have some new members to the Board of Directors for YPNG.  I'd like to welcome Share Pearl (Socials Director), Hilary Hirzel (Secretary) and Jaimee Frankian (Treasurer) to the board. They all bring something special and unique to YPNG so we are lucky to have them aboard.  It's all part of the process, but its bittersweet to get new directors because that means we lost some directors as well.  Joni Martinez, Erin Borger, and Jess Hawley all retired from the YPNG Board after serving their terms.  All three were an integral part of helping YPNG grow into what it is today.  Sad to see you all go, but glad I had the chance to work with you and get to know you all better! I look forward to hanging with you ladies at future events when you get to kick back and be a spectator. 

After the social last night I took the time to really think about just how many people I’ve met and stayed in contact with throughout the last four or so years I’ve been involved with YPNG. Whether professionally or socially, it is pretty amazing how many YPNG people are involved in my day to day life.  It all started playing softball with a group of people I didn’t know and it turned into years of fun and lifelong friendships and business connections.  I know, I know, it sounds like an infomercial but it's true.  I wouldn't expect everyone to have the same experience as I have had, but our goal is to help you enjoy the YPNG community and its people, whether its meeting 1 person or 100 people, it is whatever you want it to be, we just hope you have some fun. 

My goal is to start writing this “blog” once a month to share my thoughts and talk about events and anything YPNG related.  As part of my blog I thought it would be fun to highlight one member each month that stands out to me as someone who exemplifies what YPNG is about.  Whether it is giving back with volunteering time or just coming to events and having fun.  This month I’d like to name Audrey Bigelow as June’s Outstanding Member.  Audrey is YPNG’s Sports Director and has done an amazing job organizing softball, which is not an easy task since you are dealing with over 70 players.  While organizing softball, Audrey and her committee have helped start a volleyball pick up night, and they’re already planning a volleyball beach day for the summer.  Audrey also volunteered at our Hunger Awareness fundraiser for the food bank this month and regularly attends events and helps out. So thank you Audrey!

Over and out,

Ryan Baker
YPNG President
info@ypng.org