Parrot Head Orientation   

An information resource for the "newbie" Pelican Coast Parrot Head
 
First of all, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new members to the phlock!  We are excited to have you join our group! This is a great opportunity for you to make new friends and help make a difference in our community!  The following is a brief overview of the club functions, activities and other helpful information.

Parrot Heads In Paradise

The Pelican Coast Parrot Head Club is a local chapter of the main sanctioning body for all parrot head clubs - Parrot Heads in Paradise or PHIP.  Only PHIP is recognized by Jimmy Buffett and his organization.  The Pelican Coast Parrot Head Club is one of over 200 other clubs across the U.S. and international clubs in Canada, Australia, the Caribbean and Europe.

The Pelican Coast Parrot Head Club and PHIP are Not-For-Profit (not Non-Profit) organizations.  Any donations made to the club are NOT tax deductible.

Visit their web site HERE to learn even more about PHIP.

Party With a Purpose / Leave It Better Than You Found It
Common threads that run through all PHIP sanctioned Parrot Head clubs.  While most folks think of Parrot Heads as free spirits that enjoy laying around on the beach in their Hawaiian shirts and sipping margaritas, there is another side that a lot of people do not see.  While we do like the previously mentioned things and we may party hard, we also work diligently in giving something back to our community.  As part of our charter with PHIP, we are required to make two charitable contributions per year.  In order to fulfill our charitable obligations, we will hold events to help raise funds, collect food or other needed items to distribute to our selected charities.  Some of the recipients are listed below:  The future will hold even more opportunities for the club to help our community.  We hope that you will join us in those efforts.

Club Dues

Just a note about club dues.  Dues are payable once per year.  All dues are prorated from the time you join until the end of the calendar year.  On January 1st of every year all dues are due again, even if you joined late in the previous year.

Club dues are used to cover the operating costs of the club.  We use it for paying for entertainment, printing and any other miscellaneous operating costs throughout the year.  Five dollars of dues paid by each member is earmarked for charitable contribution to be made at the end of the year.  A list of our expenses and money taken in is available from our treasurer, Chase Wilson 

Meetings

Our regular social meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at the Coolers on Ryan St in Lake Charles.  These socials all begin at 6:00 pm.  We may make a few announcements and briefly conduct some business, but the focus of these get togethers is fellowship.  This is a great opportunity for our members to get to know one another better and forge valuable friendships. We also hold a small raffle for door prizes at each monthly meeting.  The owner of Coolers, Tom Reid - as well as his staff, really do a great job of making us feel at home.  Entertainment is also provided at the meetings.

On the 1st Friday of each month, we also have a very informal "Happy Hour" at The Frosty Factory.  There is no business conducted at these gatherings.  These Happy Hours are just an opportunity to get together and visit with those that want to stop by.

Every first Thursday of each month there is a meeting of the board members.  The bulk of the club's business is conducted at these meetings.  Currently, our board consists of seven very dedicated folks who devote a great deal of their time and energy to make the PCPHC something we can all be proud of.  The meetings are primarily for the board members, but interested members may attend.  If you have something you wish to present to the club officers and are interested in attending a board meeting, please contact Gary Primeaux.

Social Events

Every quarter there will be special events planned.  These include our annual Crawfish Boil, pool parties, road trips, BBQ's and holiday parties for Halloween and Christmas.

For now, most of the gatherings are held at the homes of some of our members who graciously extend their hospitality.  If you would like to host such an event in the future, please contact Gary Primeaux.  We hope to also have some gatherings at Coolers and Frosty Factory.  If you have an idea of a location for such a gathering, please contact Gary. 

To conserve our resources, at most of these get-togethers we will encourage members to bring a covered dish and their own "Island Nectar."  We hope to also occasionally descend on a local restaurant en masse to celebrate a members birthday or just to have dinner.  We hope that you will be an active participant in all of the great upcoming activities!

PELICAN COAST DAZE

Pelican Coast Daze is our big social event of the year.  It is our main focus to provide an exceptional get together for our club members.  Lots of food, fun and live entertainment with an island flare!  In the past, the event was known as "Last man Standing" and was usually held at Prien Lake Park or the Lake Charles Civic Center.  The gathering is held during the early spring, so keep an eye on the web site for details.

"CoastalParrots.com" - The Web Site

The web site is our main means of communication with our members.  The site is updated frequently with all of the important information that our Parrot Heads need to know.  We have announcements of upcoming events, information about joining the club, our by-laws and many other interesting subjects pertaining to the club.  Be sure to visit the site often to stay abreast of all the latest club news.  You can access the web site at the following address:  http://www.coastalparrots.com

Pelican Coast Parrot Head Club Members Forum Message Board

Once you have joined the club, please take a moment and visit the Message Board and sign up.  The Board is located at:  http://southernparrots.informe.com/ .  The Member's Forum is a place for the members to interact and get to know each other better.  It is also usually the first place we discuss any upcoming plans or business concerning the club.  If you want to stay on top of the latest PCPHC news, this is the place to be!  It will also soon be the main method of communication between the club leadership and club members and also for members to contact each other via private messages or email. 

Island Names

In the spirit of fun (and to generate a few extra dollars for our charities), most of the members have nicknames that we call "Island Names" to reflect their island alter egos.  Please decide on what your name will be and email Gary .  We will use the island name on your new member's name tag!

 T-Shirts

Our colorful Club T-Shirts are done by T-Shirt Wearhouse here in Lake Charles.   We will order T-Shirts from time to time.  If you are interested in a club T-Shirt, please email Gary to get your name on the waiting list.  Payment for the shirts must be made in advance.

Drink Koozies, Pins, Lanyards & Window Decals

We have great looking drink Koozies, lanyards, pins and window decals, emblazoned with our colorful club logo.  The price of these items are as follows:

Koozies - $3 / Pins $3 each or lots of 10 for $25 (these are good to trade with other clubs if attending events) / Lanyards - $4 / Decals - 4" - $2 or small for 50¢

Currently, these items are only available at our monthly meetings.

PCPHC Business Cards

We also have PCPHC "business cards" available for our members to hand out to prospective members.  These cards have all of our contact information on them and will make it easier for interested parties to get in touch with us about joining the club.  If you would like some of these cards to hand out, contact our prez Gary Primeaux.  The cards will also be available at all of our meetings.  Be sure to keep these handy!  We all run into people that we feel might be interested in the club and these cards are a valuable tool to help those folks get in touch with us.

Concert Tickets

One of the advantages of belonging to any "Parrot Heads in Paradise" (PHIP) sanctioned Parrot Head Club, is the ability to purchase tickets to Jimmy Buffett concerts.  There will be a limited number of tickets available to each show in our region.  We will only be offered tickets to one show that is close to Lake Charles - ordinarily in Houston.   Being a member of the club does not insure that you will be able to get tickets.  So, there has to be a system in place to decide who qualifies for the number of tickets allotted.   We use a lottery to decide who qualifies from the group of ACTIVE members that wish to purchase tickets, if the number wanting tickets surpasses the number of tickets alotted to our club.

Members wishing to buy tickets must attend monthly meetings and be regular participants in other club activities.  The number of tickets is limited to two (either for an individual or couple membership) and these tickets must be used by one of our club members or a member in good standing of another sanctioned Parrot Head Club.  These tickets CANNOT be resold to non-Parrot Head Club members!  

We hope that this has helped you better understand the club and what we do.  If you have any questions, please contact one of the club officers.  Welcome aboard!

 

Gary