What came with my AANR membership card.... Why i joined.
I joined Hidden Springs Nudist Club after attending several of their nude swim events.. Membership was $54.50 for hard copy newsletters or $49.50 for emailed newsletters. That was as of February of 2012. The Hidden Springs membership included a membership of AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation), the largest Nudist organization in North America.
Hidden Springs takes about a month to approve your membership, and they prefe4r that you attend soem of their events beforehand, or that you have member friends who can vouch for you. In my case my SPAM filter grabbed my approval notice which delayed the process even longer.
Anyway, I got my AANR membership card last week and although I knew of some benefits, there were a few nice surprises n the package....
First of all you get a discount of the grounds fees at any AANR affiliated club that owns land. Hidden Springs is a non-landed club, but theri membership rice is lower than it would be for a landed club.
Second, you also get the AANR publications sent to you.
Third, you get car rental discounts. For people who travel this benefit alone may pay for your membership.
Fourth, there was a prescription discount card. For persons who are uninsured, or who do not have prescription coverage this may come in handy, and again may help your membership pay for itself.
They also included about half a dozen coopons for extra discounts to stay at nudist resorts, most of them are back East, and th eclosest one is in Southern California.
You also have to knowledge that by joining you help them fund efforts to keep nude recreation legal, and efforts to lobby for expansion of areas for nude recreation.
For Hidden Springs events, and other club events where there is a cost for participation, your AANR membership also gives you a discounted price in most situations.
It is possible to join AANR directly, but I chose to join through Hidden Springs because i wnted to be notified of local events of the various local AANR affiliated clubs, both landed and non landed, and joining though the local clubs insures you will be informed through the local clubs newsletters and emails, about local nude recreational activities and help you make local friends who are also interested in nude recreation.
Having volunteered for nonprofit groups before, I know that everything rests with volunteers and their donating time and effort, and often instead of getting thanks, the volunteers often get chastised, fo rthings that have not been done or services that are not provided. So, despite that it took a while for Hidden Springs to approve my application, I certainly don't blame the leadership, as they are stretched pretty thin when ti comes to people willing to help get things done and "volunteer" means that nobody gets paid for their efforts. So, if you choose to join AANR through a local affiliated group, please keep all of this in mind and have a littel patience. The peopel who volunteer and do the work to keep the group going are often the people who you will usually find have all the qualities that make for really good friends. mos tpeople who give of themselves in time and effort make for good friends.
Anyway, I just wnted to point out that for some people the price of membership at a non landed AANR club like Hidden Springs, depending on your lifestyle and rtavel habits, may actually save yo money in the long run over the course of the year. For some it may be more advantageous to join than to not join.
Even if my membership costs me more than I save with the membership discounts, I feel the money is at least is going to a good cause.
Hope you are having a great day, and lets hope for an early and long nude beach/skinny dip season this year