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The Washington Homebrewers Association was founded on November 15th, 2007, at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Bellevue, Washington, when nine homebrewers representing a half a dozen Washington clubs raised a pint to help improve homebrewing in Washington. Since that night, every registered homebrewing club in Washington has been invited to send representatives to meetings to scope out the missions and roles that the WAHA can take on. In addition, “independent” homebrewers who have heard the WAHA battle cry have joined in to help the movement.
The mission of the WAHA is to:
- Promote Washington Homebrewing
- Foster Communication and Participation in Washington’s Homebrewing Culture
- Recognize Excellence in Washington’s Homebrewing Skills and Contributions to the Homebrewing Society
- Promote Washington’s Image as a Homebrewing state
The WAHA aims to represent and promote Washington homebrewing through coordination of active homebrewers. Any person committed to promoting Washington homebrewing may consider themselves a part of the Washington Homebrewers Association. The WAHA is a “coordinating” organization, not an “execution” organization. The efforts taken on by the WAHA will be directed at coordinating homebrew club and individual homebrewer efforts and taking on low-manpower, high-level projects that could not be accomplished by club organizations. The overall goal is to minimize duplication of efforts and coordinate higher level efforts.
For example, coordinating a state-wide awards program would fall under the scope of the WAHA, while teaching classes would fall under the scope of clubs and stores. However, assisting homebrewers to find clubs to teach classes would fall under the domain of the WAHA.
The units of action of the WAHA are clubs and active homebrewers. The Washington Homebrewers Association is not a club.
Representation
The Washington Homebrewers Association aims to represents the needs and desires of Washington homebrewers and Washington homebrew clubs. The primary source of information dissemination and coordination is through club liaisons and on a centralized website/contact list as this is the most efficient way to reach the most homebrewers quickly. To this end, all Washington Clubs are asked to nominate a representative to act as the voice and voting member in WAHA meetings and decisions. Independent homebrewers are also encouraged to participate in meetings. Meetings are typically scheduled for the second Tuesday of every month and are held at various locations, attempting to move around to get as much participation as possible. Members from across the state may participate via Skype and on the WAHA website (in the WAHA forums).
Decisions made by the Washington Homebrewers Association and its representatives should make the best effort to:
- Support the missions of the WAHA
- Represent the best use of minimal resources
- Support the major committee efforts
- Support efforts which fairly serve all Washington homebrewers across the state
- Minimize replicating efforts which may be accomplishable by individual clubs
The Washington Homebrewers Association does not condone:
- Disrespectful treatment of fellow homebrewers
- Over-consumption of alcohol
- Violations of Washington State Liquor Control Board Regulations
Administrative Information
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