As a member of Massachusetts Manufactured Housing Association, Inc. (MMHA), you are kept up-to-date on industry changes, have the opportunity to network with other industry professionals at regional educational membership meetings as well as the Annual Meeting & Conference.

With the help of MMHA’s website, members should become more informed manufactured housing professionals with the ability to interact with staff, Board members and other links to government and professional entities in a quicker fashion. Your Board has long held the membership directory away from the public, but members will be able to access the membership list with the implementation of a Members Only site on the website.

Now and then I’m asked by some park owners why I belong to the MMHA and what do I really get out of it. Both of these questions are at once easy and difficult to answer. Easy because being a member of the MMHA and being involved in the body of its work is something I want to do. Something, as a park manager, I feel I need to do. Hard because it’s difficult lots of times to make the investment of time that’s necessary.

And the key word there is investment. When one becomes involved in the work of any association, it seems to me that this effort is an investment of one’s time, resources and, dare I say, talent. This investment requires a commitment and is indispensable if our association is to survive, let alone move forward.

Critical to the long-term success of the MMHA is finding new members that not only contribute with dues, but give of themselves in terms of their expertise. It’s not enough to just belong. Members must become immersed in the work of our association. And this goes not only for new members but members of long standing as well. Members need to volunteer their expertise and then use it effectively when and where such is needed.

“Why is my expertise important?” Good question and one that at times defies an answer. Many of you reading this have run a manufactured housing park. You have the skills, knowledge but more importantly, the insight you can share on a whole range of issues facing our industry today. And if there was ever a time of greater uncertainty and what’s going to get in our way next, I’ve not experienced it.

Take rent control. Take Chapter 40B. Take resident relations. You name it. As owners/managers we can no longer afford the luxury of letting someone else do it. We need to be involved. Heavily. We need to work together to build on the framework that our association stands on.

I believe that today’s challenges to our industry can mean an opportunity for our association to rise to new heights. The MMHA cannot do it without a strong membership. The MMHA cannot do it without YOU!

David Piper, Jr., President & Trustee of Pine Tree Estates in Carver, is a member of the Board of Directors.