The following individuals have been nominated to the Steering Committee for elected positions. They met the deadline of nomination acceptance and submittal of a candidate statement. Their statements are reproduced below unedited and in their entirety.
(in alphabetical order)
A Bend resident for 22 years, Muna is a passionate hockey mom. Hockey was not a sport that she grew up with. She grew up playing softball and tennis at an early age. The love of hockey started the first time she watched her eldest son play when he was 5 years old. She has 2 boys and both love to play. She has been married to software engineer husband Chris for almost 26 years. After a career in cellular contract negotiation and then becoming a full time home engineer, she started a whole new career path 7 years ago as an esthetician,
and loves what she does.
Since she couldn’t be a part of the game on the ice, she thought she would help grow the program from behind the scenes. At the end of the 2014-2015 hockey season, in preparation for our first full sheet of ice, Muna started her role as the Bend Rapids financial manager. Prior to her official position with the Bend Rapids, she had filled in and helped where needed with the Bend Polar Bears.Over the last few terms, as financial manager, she has watched the organization
grow each year. With growth comes the need to be flexible and adjust to the progress. Muna prides herself on the ability to do just that. She enjoys team collaboration, logistics and how all the pieces fit together. By far, her most favorite thing is watching a good Hockey game, even if her favorite players aren’t playing.
This letter is to confirm my interest to serve on the Bend Rapids Steering Committee in the position of Vice Chair.
I am the father of three boys and one girl whose ages range from 5 to 20. In the fall of 2019 we all decided to move to Bend from Connecticut just for an adventure! So, I retired, my wife uprooted her successful business, and here we are. Naturally, prior to moving to Bend, we made sure the there was a hockey program. I grew up playing hockey, and we had all been involved with hockey as a family for the four years prior to our move so this was an importantconsideration.
Our previous hockey program was an all inclusive program where toddlers learned to skate, and eventually moved up to play both in the house program and for the travel teams. Families would be at the rink for hours on end each Saturday and Sunday, kids ate rink pizza and ran around the lobby growing up as true “rink rats.” House team practices followed by travel teams practices on each Wednesday night, and Sundays that had kids playing up to three house games in a row were the norm. The kids would run from coach to coach looking to sub in for any absent players so they could keep playing. I was fortunate to have been a coach for several teams, on the the Board of Directors for 2 years and the Chairman of the Board for our final year prior to moving to Bend.
As the father of 3 involved in Rapids I am vested in making sure this program thrives. I want to see our organization grow in size, and in the quality of programing we offer. I truly appreciate all those people who have come before me to bring the Rapids to life and get us to where we are now. But I do believe we can grow and do more.
As a new comer to Bend and the Rapids I have the strong desire to continue to learn who the play makers are, advocate for our hockey families, learn what we can do better, and help develop both our children and hockey in Central Oregon. If elected to this position it will be my goal to work on the following items:
- Improve the transparency of both the Rapids organization and Bend Ice. I’ve talked to many people who do not know who is in charge of our programs, what they are currently involved in, or what the organization is trying to accomplish in this season or in the future.
- Increase our membership numbers. I think it is great that we are putting together a 16U AA team, and believe that we should be looking to have more higher level hockey in Central Oregon. But, we need to recruit young kids to the sport of hockey, and retain the ones that do play. I will propose a board level position of “Community Outreach Director” whose job is create programs and opportunities for kids to come be a part of the Rapids. I do not want any of us to have to worry in the future if we have enough kids to put together a team.
- Long term goals. I think it is important for this organization to establish goals for each season, three years out, five years out and ten years out. Financial, membership numbers, and team performance are just some metrics that we could set some future benchmarks on.
If elected to this position I would love to talk to all of you to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can improve. I only ask that if you have a complaint, that you offer a suggestion on how we can improve. Volunteer organizations require the work of many people, and their ideas. I have learned that Central Oregon is a great place to live, and it needs an equally great hockey program to go with it.
Sincerely, Todd Rich