I think you should and the reason is simple -- to support timber framing and the timber framing community.

The guild has had some troubles over the last couple of years, no doubt. We on the board have worked pretty hard to fix what wasn't working and to stay focused on the future.

Here's some of the things that I think are going pretty well right now --

For the first time in years, we are on course to spend less than we earn this year.

We have had two very successful projects this year -- most recently in Pemberton, BC. The Guild's impact on those communities and all of the people involved has been huge. Each time we partner with a community or organization to do a community project like this we are literally building the better world we envision. We are impacting not only our own lives through the process, but also the lives of hundreds and in some cases thousands of others through the buildings we leave behind to be used and loved for decades or centuries.

The apprenticeship program (which is 100% self-funded by the participants and not by general Guild funds) continues to provide high level training to the apprentices and journeyworkers, building an impressive catalog of training materials for our industry/craft nearly from scratch and with limited resources.

The Engineering Council is active in funding research and technical documents that they are using in their efforts to get timber framing recognized and accepted by the building codes.

The Traditional Timberframe Researh and Advisory Group continues to study and honor our heritage through historic building surveys and serious study of historic timber frames -- no one else is studying old timber frames the same way.

Our Journal continues to be a finely crafted publication offering serious information about timber framing. There is nothing else like it anywhere.

Our conference this August in Manchester NH has some incredible programming -- it's going to be killer from top to bottom and I can't wait. Everyone who can should be there -- it is going to be an absolutely great conference.

If you can find even one or two things in this list that you can support then I think it's a no brainer to send a check and renew your membership -- if we don't do these things, who will?

If you'd like to chat about any of this, look up my contact info on the Guild website (Guild Personnel page).

-Gabel Holder