Greetings fellow MNUFC Supporters,

It has been a busy few months since you last heard from me, the Loons managed to start hot only to cool off, induce some #PANIC before The Scientist arrived and the Loons staring XI has gotten younger. The board has also been busy, here’s what we’ve been up to:

Earlier this year we gathered a group of highly involved individuals for two strategic planning sessions to help chart out the next three to five years of the operation of the General Benefit Corporation (GBC). One thing that stood out from those sessions is that there is confusion over where the Dark Clouds Supporters Group (SG) and the GBC end so we are hard at work putting together a framework to preserve the identity of the individual SGs while also providing a structure under which they are clearly organized.

Another item of note from the strategic planning was creating a safe environment for people in the Supporters Section as no one wants to feel unsafe in a place that should feel like home. The outcome of our work is the new Supporters Code of Conduct, worked on by multiple SGs, and backed by MNUFC. You’ll see mention of the Supporters Conduct Review Board, and the quick summary is that it is an anonymous group of individuals called upon to determine the severity of the violation of the code of conduct should one arise, and pass along its judgement to MNUFC for enforcement. It is presided over by the VP of the GBC, and called as needed from a pool of supporters who have stepped up and said they can make a fair ruling on the conduct of their fellow supporters.

I am thrilled to see that the coordination of chants and songs is improving across the supporters groups. The energy level and sound produced have been a joy to be a part of, and that is the outcome of the All-SG matchday meetings and the work of the matchday leaders for each SG working on keeping channels of communication clear and active while they work to make MNUFC matchday the best it can be.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention all of the great work that the Keepers of the North (TNE) and Dark Clouds Silver Lining have been doing with the community around us, and I encourage you to reach out to either or both groups to be a part of some volunteer efforts. We are not who we are without the community around us and it falls to us to show MN how great that is. The annual report includes many interesting details around what we have done in the community, and I recommend you check it out. Part of it includes a B Impact score, that is a reflection, in part, of the amount of community service hours completed by the group, and I definitely want to see us surpass last year and someday soon exceed 10,000 total hours as a group, something that I know we can do.

As is always the case, we are interested in adding more people to the committees that make things happen around here, everyone you see now doing something was once someone wondering where they could possibly fit in. It may seem daunting at first, but it is absolutely worth it and your presence is what makes this community much more than just about soccer. Contact Dark Clouds or True North Elite today to get involved.

-Abe