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Hey GGG,
The Golden Gate Garrison shares a dream with many 501st Garrisons around the world, partnering with other peer organizations to share events and bring the magic of Star Wars to fans through excellence in costuming, professionalism, charity work, and dedication to our craft as both costumers and volunteers.
In March of 2015, our leadership Kyle and Diana made an attempt to partner with the leadership of other local clubs. An attempt that was, ultimately, unsuccessful. The GGG CS and Membership came to the realization that other clubs were simply in what felt to be relationships of convenience. Once we discontinued sharing event invites, those clubs that were associating with us for the wrong reasons identified themselves by how they chose to discuss the GGG and its leadership.
The Golden Gate Garrison made the attempt more than once to bridge gaps between the clubs (particularly MMCC/WOM) and the abusive nature of the other clubs became even stronger and more pervasive…especially to those paying close attention and observing the many conversations going on in the community. The trend of peer clubs members, or in some case those who are supposed to be leaders of other clubs, posting disrespectful statements misleading information, half truths and blatant lies has gotten out of hand over the years. The Golden Gate Garrison has no choice but to distance ourselves in order to insulate the club from any further damage.
The GGG is always are glad to see members of our peer organizations at events alongside us. Having a variety of characters at an event creates a better fan experience and raises more money for charity, which are our two primary goals. We handle our own event requests without any involvement in requests sent to other clubs. Variations in leadership styles and club goals between the organizations have put inter club relationships on hiatus for the time being.
The GGG is not responsible for inviting other clubs to events. We are not responsible for sharing other clubs’ contact info as we once had as a courtesy (if asked, or course we will give an event requestor the appropriate email addresses, but that’s all we will do). It’s not appropriate for us at this time to act as the central organizing body for multiple clubs’ appearances. However, we cannot stress enough how much we enjoy seeing our brothers and sisters in the community at these events, how meaningful it is to troop with them, and how inspiring it is to see people from all walks of life coming together to create magical experiences for the fans while raising money for great charities like Make-A-Wish, Out of the Darkness, Walk for Wishes, etc.
Today, the GGG still holds to the dream of partnering with peer organizations at some point in the future. At this present date, we are focused on ensuring our own organization meets its goals of excellence in costuming and consummate professionalism as both costumers and volunteers while continuing to increase our charity donation efforts, our community support efforts and the overall positive growth of the Garrison.
If any members have any questions, comments please post here for discussion.
Thank you.
While I agree we should be focused on our own members
taking the stance of severing ties seems counterproductive to me. I think the door should be left open to possible future resolutions. I don’t see how this unites us or makes us stronger as a garrison.[quote quote=5628]So how will this effect those who are members of both organizations (GGG & MMCC/WoM)?
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Same question.
To answer you Question:
“So how will this effect those who are members of both organizations (GGG & MMCC/WoM)?” or Even Endor Base.
It does not effect your ability to troop with any club at any event that your a member of, This is more on the command staff level with deal sharing events and the disconnect with the different leaderships of the peer clubs.COG – notice
I would highly recommend people do not engage in disparaging or negative comments about our sister clubs. Many of our members ship belongs to multiple organizations and the rules and code of conduct vary. Vince’s note was an informative policy change, not a opportunity to trash talk other orgs.
Thanks!
I’ve deliberated a great deal about posting here. I feel damned if I do, but disappointed in myself if I take the easy way out and keep my mouth shut. How can I express my concerns without it upsetting my Garrison commanders and the current staff? Yet if I say nothing that feels irresponsible as well. So here I go…
This announcement troubles me greatly. As a former CO and XO of Endor Base before Kyle and Diana’s term, I worked extremely hard to bridge any gaps between GGG and Endor Base to facilitate and establish a partnership for group trooping. Relations were very good between our two clubs. Understandably, this news hits very close to home for me on multiple fronts. So I have a few questions in regards to this statement: “The trend of peer clubs members, or in some case those who are supposed to be leaders of other clubs, posting disrespectful statements misleading information, half truths and blatant lies has gotten out of hand over the years. The Golden Gate Garrison has no choice but to distance ourselves in order to insulate the club from any further damage.”
Why not contact said leaders of Rebel Legion who have allegedly posted disrespectful statements, misleading information, or lies and address the specific instances (or if it is a member you have concern about, contact leadership about that member)? As far as I’m aware not one leader of Endor Base has been contacted about this behavior prior to this announcement, nor given the opportunity to address it, correct it, or explain their point of view? Perhaps what one person considers a lie for example, is a severe misunderstanding which could be sorted out with a phone call?
Especially considering one or two leaders of Endor Base (if you count myself as Base Membership Officer that makes two) are actually GGG members? Our Charity officer and PR officer are also GGG members. I would hope that rather than close off communication, you could open a dialogue for resolution first. Stating that Kyle and Diana had a partnership dialogue with Endor Base 3 years ago is not the here and now. What’s been done this year? What’s being done now? I understand conflict resolution is not easy, but I don’t believe isolationism is the answer either. Lack of communication seems to only make things worse over time. So if there really is a dream to partner with peer organizations, please take the time to open that dialogue and *maintain* that dialogue (as difficult as I know it can be) rather than shut the door. Thanks 🙂
My Goal as CO has slightly changed throughout this year as I learn and become more comfortable with the position I hold. I can’t stress this enough, but we don’t live or operate in the past. We live in the now with Disney/LFL, and with that comes a greater responsibility to be good stewards of the IP (the costumes and characters) that Disney/LFL has entrusted to us. So my goals as CO are not to divide or isolate GGG from other groups, my sole responsibility and focus is the Golden Gate Garrison, and how we can be the best we can be.
My goal has also been to keep our members safe, where it be via new policy changes or even taking a step back from other clubs. The changes made this year are not intended to control, or silence, our membership. We have a growing, active, opinionated membership and I believe it is best for us to take some time and – for me, personally – focus on how we can strengthen all of these many places where we’ve grown (events, membership population, command staff, squads, merchandise team, etc.). Looking after ourselves will be enough of a chore for the rest of this term.
In Fact we are a Social Club (a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity). We are not a Social Media Club! I felt members spent too much time interacting via online than getting out to be social. It is extremely hard to learn someone’s personality, humor, etc . over Social Media. My goal in narrowing the communications was to cut down the drama, cut down the misunderstanding, and most importantly to get our membership out trooping and being social. I wish to steer this club back to its core foundation, community based events with a local community of members, and charity-focused events (the “new” foundation of why we are allowed to exist).
In 2017 the GGG had 2 members lead charity teams — Relay for Life and the Out of the Darkness Walk, and with that we had 4 charity base patch designs. In 2018, the GGG had 4 Members lead charity teams — Relay for Life, Walk for Autism, Step up for Down’s Syndrome, and the Out of the Darkness Walk and with those we have 4 more charity base designs. 2019 I will love to see this continue to grow and have more members lead charity-based teams and events we can support. Yes, the patches are fun, but even if we didn’t have the patch designs I can’t be more proud of the GGG’s members for leading these charity-based events.
So, I ask our membership to get out and Troop, to stay Positive, and to look for opportunities to support our Garrison and each other.
Thank You
[quote quote=5666]
Why not contact said leaders of Rebel Legion who have allegedly posted disrespectful statements, misleading information, or lies and address the specific instances (or if it is a member you have concern about, contact leadership about that member)? As far as I’m aware not one leader of Endor Base has been contacted about this behavior prior to this announcement, nor given the opportunity to address it, correct it, or explain their point of view? Perhaps what one person considers a lie for example, is a severe misunderstanding which could be sorted out with a phone call? [/quote]Kathy,
1. This is hypocritical as hell. You ask why no phone call was made, (as a member of RL command staff) but decided to post here — without ATTEMPTING THE SAME?
Well, my number is 650 996 8055. You are welcome to call me anytime to discuss and I am more than happy to provide my perspective (although I’m just the COG). Incidentally, I contacted two members of the RL command staff the same day Vince posted his update trying to reach out and have a dialogue. One member promised a return call and never gave one and the other simply never responded to the request.
2. I warned people to NOT disparage other clubs. Now I’m also giving this reminder warning. DO NOT DISPARAGE THE GGG.
Whatever your feelings are about this matter you do NOT get to go off with unsubstantiated claims and hyperbole. That’s not a dialogue. It’s not helpful and it’s not going to change things. I’m happy for people to ask questions, talk about alternatives, anything positive in direction.
I’ve seen a lot of social media comments from folks disparaging the GGG in this. I’ll put aside what people know, don’t know or whatever for a minute and say this: If you want to make a change you should get off the sidelines and either run for office or reach out to work with Vince and his CS. It is the height of irony that many folks complaining about something are often the same ones who only can criticize instead of work to change. Undermining people isn’t going to net the results you want.
Anyway, disparaging sister clubs is a violation of Amendment 3/4 in the RL charter and considered conduct unbecoming.
Disparaging the GGG has been a violation of the garrison charter and discussed many times before the past year and is also considered conduct unbecoming.If you want to have a discussion please call / text and we can talk live.
Any further trash talk and i will simply administer.[quote quote=5666]
Why not contact said leaders of Rebel Legion who have allegedly posted disrespectful statements, misleading information, or lies and address the specific instances (or if it is a member you have concern about, contact leadership about that member)? As far as I’m aware not one leader of Endor Base has been contacted about this behavior prior to this announcement, nor given the opportunity to address it, correct it, or explain their point of view? Perhaps what one person considers a lie for example, is a severe misunderstanding which could be sorted out with a phone call? [/quote]Kathy,
1. This is hypocritical as hell. You ask why no phone call was made, (as a member of RL command staff) but decided to post here — without ATTEMPTING THE SAME?
Well, my number is 650 996 8055. You are welcome to call me anytime to discuss and I am more than happy to provide my perspective (although I’m just the COG). Incidentally, I contacted two members of the RL command staff the same day Vince posted his update trying to reach out and have a dialogue. One member promised a return call and never gave one and the other simply never responded to the request.
2. I warned people to NOT disparage other clubs. Now I’m also giving this reminder warning. DO NOT DISPARAGE THE GGG.
Whatever your feelings are about this matter you do NOT get to go off with unsubstantiated claims and hyperbole. That’s not a dialogue. It’s not helpful and it’s not going to change things. I’m happy for people to ask questions, talk about alternatives, anything positive in direction.
I’ve seen a lot of social media comments from folks disparaging the GGG in this. I’ll put aside what people know, don’t know or whatever for a minute and say this: If you want to make a change you should get off the sidelines and either run for office or reach out to work with Vince and his CS. It is the height of irony that many folks complaining about something are often the same ones who only can criticize instead of work to change. Undermining people isn’t going to net the results you want.
Anyway, disparaging sister clubs is a violation of Amendment 3/4 in the RL charter and considered conduct unbecoming.
Disparaging the GGG has been a violation of the garrison charter and discussed many times before the past year and is also considered conduct unbecoming.If you want to have a discussion please call / text and we can talk live.
Any further trash talk and i will simply administer.[quote quote=5649]
So how will this effect those who are members of both organizations (GGG & MMCC/WoM)?
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Same question.
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Zero changes.
This is a policy shift plain and simple.Starting with Kyle the made a change to how we handle event requests in the garrison.
The process looks like this-1. We receive a event request form off our website
2. The GGG Lead EC assigns the event to one of their staff.
3. A letter is sent back to the ER (event requestor) via email asking for additional information.
4. Event is published to forums once additional detail and approvals are finalized.After Kyle took over and into Vince’s administration a paragraph was added to the bottom of the email from (3) when we corresponded back to an ER.
“We have a few sister organizations that we can facilitate including
in your event. Please indicate which (if any) you’d like us to
contact on your behalf:[ ] Rebel Legion (“The Good Guys”)
[ ] Mandalorian Mercs (Bounty Hunters)
[ ] R2-Builders (Astromechs)
”Going forward the EC team has decided to remove that last paragraph from correspondence with Event Requestors.
That is the only change. It affects individual troopers not at all.
Historically we took the step to add all of the Star Wars Family of clubs to our initial contact reply email for event orchestration with an event requester. This step in early 03.2015 benefited all of the clubs added to the template. [Visibility | Contact Information] We alone [Diana/Kyle] set the process in motion to unite the clubs like they have never been before.
Additionally, we created Facebook Groups: Northern California Event Coordination / Planning along with a Northern California Leadership Group.
With all of our efforts to reach out to the other clubs we were met with an unexpected response. Instead of thankfulness for our efforts and appreciation of the sharing of event requests we received additional demands over time and in fact in some cases unfounded accusations were made toward The Garrison and Garrison Members.
We learned that the motivation and agenda of the other clubs switched at some point to simply feed off our event requests. By taking on a selfish [Taking] action instead of a selfless [Giving] action it became clear the our results were far from what we intended.
We learned that the clubs are looking to maintain their own identities and not be seen as The 501st Legion through our collaboration with them. It is understandable and quite possibly that our unification is not quite ready to happen. It will take a meeting of the minds of all the current leaders of the clubs to make this happen at some point in the future if and when the chemistry is right.
There is much more to the context and color to the story that leads up to the point we are now at. In the best interest of The Garrison both Diana and I support CO Vigil and the current Command Staff’s approach.
You can only bite that hand that feeds you so much before the hand withdrawals in pain and injury. Quite possible never to feed you once again.
We encourage the Star Wars Family of clubs to follow our lead and create and evangelist relationships to grow their event requests. YTD 2018 The Golden Gate Garrison has participated/support +/- 200 events.
In 2015 following a year of +/- 50 events we have successfully increased our event support to 170 | 2015 / 188 | 2016 / 284 | 2017. This demonstrates what can be accomplished with a positive mindset, vision, and plan on how to achieve a goal.
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