History of Les Faneurs presented by Jean Gorostiague at the annual Banquet on Feb 7th, 2015.
I would like to tell you a short history of Les Faneurs club. Les Faneurs de Bienfaisance Mutuelle was created on Dec 17 1927 by a bunch of Frenchmen who were members of an American Society called Red men. They decided to separate from them and took their share of the money and created their own French club.
The mission of Les Faneurs is to upkeep the fraternity of the members, to be social and help each other in case of injury or health problems. That was the purpose of the creation..
In 1927 or before, there was no workman's comp or Obama Care, this is why a lot of French clubs were created. The first one was La Gauloise in 1891, La Ligue Henry the IV 1895, Les Faneurs 1927 and Les Chasseurs 1929. They all had the same purpose of helping the members in need. The mandatory monthly dues were established at $1.00 a month and it was paid monthly because in that period it was a lot of money. The average wage in California was 50 cents an hour. They needed 3 4 hours of work a month to pay the dues. Today we still pay $1.00 a month but once a year. Our Treasurer Colby La Place would be very happy if all the members would pay the $12 dues at the beginning of the year, not at the end. The club had 2 meetings a month, which was changed to once a month in the 1990s. Most of the members attended the meetings, as it was a way to communicate with each other and socialize since there weren't many telephones.
In 1973, I joined the Board of Directors and I am still here today 43 years later. At that time, the meetings were held at the Mercury Hall in SF on Clement Street. One of the duties of the President was to visit the disabled members and make the report of their condition at the meetings, so the member could collect the benefits due to him. Now you only need the doctor's certificate to qualify for the benefits. In the past 20 years, the Board took a big step and invested the money in the stock market and we did good and we are still doing good thanks to our money manager.. Today with yearly dividends that we receive, we can afford to give you 2 free dinners a year, a wine trip, fishing trip and a Reno trip, a $500 scholarship for each college student up to 4 years, and we also give others donations. We do give a lot with your $12 yearly dues.
The mission of Les Faneurs is to upkeep the fraternity of the members, to be social and help each other in case of injury or health problems. That was the purpose of the creation..
In 1927 or before, there was no workman's comp or Obama Care, this is why a lot of French clubs were created. The first one was La Gauloise in 1891, La Ligue Henry the IV 1895, Les Faneurs 1927 and Les Chasseurs 1929. They all had the same purpose of helping the members in need. The mandatory monthly dues were established at $1.00 a month and it was paid monthly because in that period it was a lot of money. The average wage in California was 50 cents an hour. They needed 3 4 hours of work a month to pay the dues. Today we still pay $1.00 a month but once a year. Our Treasurer Colby La Place would be very happy if all the members would pay the $12 dues at the beginning of the year, not at the end. The club had 2 meetings a month, which was changed to once a month in the 1990s. Most of the members attended the meetings, as it was a way to communicate with each other and socialize since there weren't many telephones.
In 1973, I joined the Board of Directors and I am still here today 43 years later. At that time, the meetings were held at the Mercury Hall in SF on Clement Street. One of the duties of the President was to visit the disabled members and make the report of their condition at the meetings, so the member could collect the benefits due to him. Now you only need the doctor's certificate to qualify for the benefits. In the past 20 years, the Board took a big step and invested the money in the stock market and we did good and we are still doing good thanks to our money manager.. Today with yearly dividends that we receive, we can afford to give you 2 free dinners a year, a wine trip, fishing trip and a Reno trip, a $500 scholarship for each college student up to 4 years, and we also give others donations. We do give a lot with your $12 yearly dues.
