Dear rangers in Europe
These are extraordinarily difficult times. I have been in contact with many of you since the Corona Crisis began. I know rangers, who have fallen ill themselves and fortunately, have recovered. Many have to do their work – as best as possible for rangers – from the home office. But hundreds still do their work outside under the most difficult conditions. There is a lack of protective equipment. A worldwide recession is looming, which could also affect the jobs of many rangers.
Under these circumstances it was clear that we needed to cancel the European Ranger Congress (ERC). On the occasion of the ERC, however, the general assembly of the ERF and thus new elections of the board would have taken place. For the board it was clear that we had to keep the ERF capable of acting despite the crisis. We therefore decided to hold a “General Assembly” by e-mail. Our statutes explicitly state that all decisions can also be made by mail. Last weekend, election documents and the reports of the last three years were sent to the members. If you are interested in the documents and the candidates, please contact the representative of your national association.
The four-week period for voting began with the mailing. This means that the ERF will receive a new Executive Committee in mid-May and will bid farewell to the previous one. These are truly sad times when you cannot say goodbye and give thanks personally. Nevertheless, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the founding board of the ERF. Under the leadership of the President Frank Grütz, these five people have contributed an extremely high level of work. But the opportunity will come where we can meet again to really thank them for this development work.
I am cautiously optimistic about the future. It is up to us humans to solve this crisis – with solidarity, with humanity and with discipline. Better times will come again. And then we as ERF want to be ready to work with all of you on the future of our profession and our organisation.
Take care of yourself and stay healthy!
Sincerely yours
Urs Wegmann, President
