My first business this month is to wish everyone a safe and happy July Fourth! It might be a great day to take a kid flying.
I have recently heard a new term: in today’s world, every club needs a social piggy-bank. What this means is clubs need to have positive public involvement with their communities.
This could be as simple as having a Scout group come to the field and put them on buddy boxes. Maybe you have a picnic for the parks department or your landowner and put them on a buddy box. Possibly you have an open house for the community and give away free hot dogs and gliders for the kids.
The possibilities are endless. Use your imagination and create a positive image for the community. Do these things and they will eventually come back to help your club grow!
The Kansas City Sport Fliers RC club recently did the following:
On March 22, 2018, a club from Kansas City, Missouri, took a beautiful morning off from flying into blue skies to donate some time to the Harvesters Food Bank. The Kansas City Sport Fliers (KCSF) is an RC club with more than four decades of history, flying from Stamm Field located southeast of Longview Lake in Missouri.
KCSF is a group of dedicated individuals who enjoy the sport of RC modeling and flying, and are actively interested in giving back to the local community. Through free flight instruction, Scout aviation merit badges, and a new Take off And Grow program, a lot is happening within the group’s volunteering activities.
Here are a few photos of the members who participated in some fast-paced volunteer work at Harvesters. Participants included KCSF President Jim Adams, James Noe, Dave and Jenny Foreer, Duncan Stone, Ed Yeater, Wally Gloor, Chris and Alexis Jensen, Don Gilkison, Larry Stipe, Terry Hibdon, Gary Himes, and Diana Hart.
Next is a submission from Bryan Baker of the Evansville Radio Control Model Aircraft Club in Indiana.
During the summer of 2017, our club members decided we wanted to double the size of our Hangar 101 building. For many years, we had held our club meetings at other locations in the community. Although this worked well for more than 20 years, it always posed multiple issues and we really wanted to be able to hold our meetings at our own field.
Construction began early in the fall of 2017. Building the structure took lots of materials, monetary donations, borrowed equipment, and lots of volunteered man hours, but in the end, we have been rewarded by a first-class building that is located directly behind the flight-line!
Starting January 2018, our meetings are now held at the field in a building the entire club pitched in to make possible! We are so proud of this accomplishment we wanted to share it with everyone. We are very excited about this project being nearly complete, but I truly believe that the camaraderie and memories made during its construction will be talked about for years to come!
If you enjoyed this month’s submissions and would like to see an event from your own club here, email me a short write-up with the word “magazine” in the subject line, and attach a few high-quality digital pictures!
Gary Himes
Vice President District VI