LSAA Message to Members
Hello Alumni!
I am Reuben, a new member of the alumni committee who has been tasked with recruitment. When I began my efforts to recruit I noticed several recurrent themes:
- Many were reluctant to pay the RM50.00 lifetime membership fee and wanted to know what the RM50.00 went towards
- You did not know what role the alumni served
I am here to answer these questions one by one but for those of you who need an executive summary of what was decided at our most recent committee meeting:
- It was decided that the lifetime membership fee be suspended (until such time or on such term(s) as the Alumni association may decide), meaning membership to the Alumni association is now free upon registration on our website at http://www.lodgian.org
- Those who wish to receive a Membership card that entitles them to certain benefits such as discounts at participating outlets need only pay a one-time fee of RM10.00
- Those who have previously paid the RM50 can request a full refund of their membership fee or choose to donate it to the LSAA. In recognition of your support of the LSAA when we needed the funds the most, you will receive the Membership card free of charge – even if you decide to request for a refund.
How the LSAA Spends its Funds
The LSAA spends its funds in administering the society. Thus far we have spent on things such as:
- Costs associated to hosting the EduFair at Lodge e.g. refreshments, promotional posters
- Bank charges - bank administration charges, cheque book application
- Registration charges of the LSAA as a society
- Membership Cards
- General Expenditure - receipt books, stationary
The LSAA funds will also be used to fund AGM Costs/Dinners near the end of the year.
We also wish to clarify on the utilization of the LSAA funds:
- LSAA's funds were not used to buy the Ipod that was given as a prize for the logo contest. The Ipod was donated by a sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous.
- No funds are utilized for the committee meetings. We spend our own money and time.
- No funds are utilized for organizing small social events such as bowling, Aikido demo, etc. We are merely facilitators and everyone pays their own costs if any.
All accounts will be posted up on the LSAA website at http://www.lodgian.org for all to see.
Suspension of Membership Fee
When founded the LSAA had no money of its own and therefore its only source of revenue was from the membership fees collected.
Along the way the Committee came up with the idea of hosting the EduFair to raise funds for the LSAA and this has proved to be sufficient to make the LSAA self sustaining.
The Committee therefore has decided to suspend the imposition of the membership fee (until such time or on such term(s) as the Alumni association may decide).
For those who have already paid their membership fee, we will be contacting you personally to pass you your membership cards (if you reside in Kuching) and process a refund if required. For those registered but living overseas, we can hold on to your cards for safe-keeping until you return to Kuching. Else, you may contact the Committee to arrange for your card to be posted to a local address.
Being a part of the Alumni
Although we recognize that all of you are already alumni of Lodge School, we strongly encourage you to join our network to keep abreast of developments of the LSAA and the events we organize.
You may do so by heading over http://www.lodgian.org and hitting on the Register button.
We always welcome feedback especially if you have any suggestions in how the LSAA can develop our alumni network.
Membership Cards
Membership cards are available at a fixed price of RM10.00 each and are only open to registered Lodge School Alumni members. Please contact me at reuben.yap@gmail.com.
The benefits of those holding membership cards are listed below:
Participating ‘Lodgians for Lodgians’ Sponsors:
- Five Loaves - 10% off food and beverages upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Jase's Tea Room - 10% off drinks only upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Seishinkan Dojo (Aikido) - 10% off quarterly fees upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Atelier - 10% off food only upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Gamelan - 10% off food and beverages upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Hale’s Kitchen – 10% discount off cake orders only upon presentation of your LSAA card
- Nasi Padang – 10% off food only upon presentation of your LSAA card
If you are a former student of Lodge and wish to participate in the ‘Lodgians for Lodgians’ scheme, feel free to contact Ai Fen at events@lodgian.org.
The Alumni’s Current and Future Direction
The Alumni's Mission is 'to preserve, promote and foster the goodwill and interest of past and present students'.
Currently as mentioned above we have the 'Lodgians for Lodgians' initiative, to show our support for our Alumni and their business ventures. We plan to organize activities at our sponsors’ venue as well, hence the LSAA can serve as a platform for Lodgians to promote or introduce their businesses.
We also have the EduFair (running for the 2nd time in 2 years) whereby we organise for Ex-Lodgians to be Guest Speakers to share with the current batch of students their personal experiences in their chosen professions, their experience studying overseas, and to address any questions/issues students may have.
We are actively trying to organise Events & Activities to bring together the Alumni, and along the way perhaps give back to society with various charity projects in the pipeline.
One such example was our joint event with the New Century Lions Club of Kuching Emerald where several of our alumni made contributions to the SSPCA Animal Shelter. Full details of this event can be found here.
In time we hope to be able to introduce Mentorship programmes/ Internship placements with our working Alumni, and also set up a 'Big Brother' network whereby the recent school-leavers can contact fellow Lodgians overseas who may be able to help advise them on settling into their new country of residence/ tertiary course.
Of course, we still encourage feedback from the Alumni and if you have anything you would like to see the LSAA do or have an idea that we can assist in, feel free to drop us an e-mail at events@lodgian.org or message me or any of our Officers on our Facebook page.
Warm Regards,
Reuben
