13/11/2025
Good Evening Current and Former ASW Members,
Chris Biggs (Education/Speaker Chair and CAOAC Rep) here, I apologize for the lack of updates regarding the status of our beloved Aquarium Society, life has been hectic for our remaining board members and I with the last few months flying by.
I adamantly do not want to see us lose the ASW, I am one of the original eight founders of the ASW all of the way back to when we had the idea of meeting in another founder's basement back in the mid-eighties. I advocated for us to name the club The Aquarium society of Winnipeg, doing away with the former name the club had in the 60’s-70’s The Winnipeg Aquarium Society, as their acronym was W.A.S. and they are in fact a thing of the past.
Progress in revitalizing the club has been slowly but steadily moving forward, this update is to outline the obstacles we are facing and what help we need in order to accomplish our goals.
Currently we only have a small handful of individuals willing to lend a hand to bring us back.
Kyle Neufeld (HAP Chair)
Hannah Jensrud (Membership and Social Media Chair)
Sergiy Adamenko (BAP chair)
Arnold Janz (Treasurer)
Chris Biggs (Education/Speaker Chair and CAOAC Rep)
Unfortunately we've lost most of our board to simple attrition and the inevitable changes that life brings. In order to get the ASW off of the ground again we NEED 2-3 more individuals willing to step forward and take on roles on the board and do the small amount of work that comes with them for the betterment of the entire club.
In addition to our lack of board members, we currently do not have control of our financials and working with the bank to sort this out has been an extremely convoluted process. I have a meeting next week which will hopefully resolve this issue for good and allow us to regain financial control. Due to our inability to access funds we have not been able to book a venue for single or recurring meetings, nor have we been able to renew the mandatory group liability insurance we require in order to host any type of event.
Our current list of priorities are as follows:
-First and foremost we must secure the bank accounts.
-Second, we are looking to refund the membership dues of all members who had paid in the last two years. We want to do this because we believe that we as an organization did not deliver the value as promised with our memberships as far as having monthly meetings with activities to go along with them. We also want to do this as a sign of good faith for our members so that when we are ready to grow the club once again, everyone is happy and ready to grow together organically and build a strong Aquarium Society.
-Third we want to ensure that any and all outstanding awards and certificates are issued and awarded to the members who have earned them.
-Fourth, we will be launching a new functional website that is currently in the process of being built. Our goal for the wesbite is to make sure everyone is able to access basic club information such as who we are, what we do, the benefits of membership, and all of our club forms such as membership applications and BAP/HAP/Auction forms (which will be able to be submitted online).
-Fifth, while we restructure and build a new foundation for the club, we are looking at hosting one or two Giant Auction Events. These events will be open to the public with a $5 admission fee, which will allow you to buy and sell items at the auction. We also will be handing out outstanding awards and discussing the future of the club as it stands. Our hope is for these events to be a place where we can all get back together and drum up some momentum and excitement for rebuilding the club. More details to come very soon!
- Sixth, we are looking for a permanent event space to host our monthly meetings in, and we need your help! Please see the list of criteria below and let us know if you have any ideas, they'll be greatly appreciated!
Ideally we are looking for a venue that can accommodate the following:
-Consistent availability on a Saturday or Sunday, either 11:00am - 4:00pm or 12:00pm - 5:00pm, with the ability to book several meetings in advance.
- A capacity of approximately 100 people.
- Tables and chairs provided
- Clean and brightly lit
-Ample parking as well as accessibility for those with special needs.
-A safe and secure family friendly environment.
-Access to audio visual equipment would be a bonus (we do have our own and can easily purchase should we need to).
-Possible storage space for club assets would be a bonus (ie a storage locker or secure space).
While our goal is to get back to having regular monthly meetings, we need to get our ducks in a row and we're hoping these events are able to tide the community over until we're back on our feet. We all want the fun, family friendly organization we had many many years ago back. To accomplish that it's going to take our community sharing and working together to get there one step at a time. I’ve been truly blessed to be able to travel frequently to speak at clubs, conferences and conventions all over the world. I’ve seen so many incredible ideas that have tonnes of potential here, but in order to execute those, we need to take things one step at a time and build up our club foundation.
So yes it’s a lot of information to take in but we felt we needed to come forward and let everyone know what’s been going on and where we hope to be soon.
If you feel you are willing to lend a hand please message myself, or the club page directly to discuss.
Thank you for reading and we hope to see you all in the new year!
