Originally Posted by Jan in VA

Our guild has Mentors.
Each new member is given a mentor who will be sure they know all the meeting dates and topics, answer questions, go to lunch with them after meetings, keep them informed about any quilty things they are interested in, etc.. They also teach or tutor on occasion. The Mentee then always has someone in the guild who knows them, can sit with them, introduce them, inform and encourage them, for the whole first year of their membership. During the spring of each year, Mentors hold a Mentor/Mentee luncheon where they introduce each mentee to other Mentees by giving a bit of that person's history in quilting and how they found the guild.
I think this is the best guild program I've come across in 35 years of guild memberships all across the country.