by Scott Thompson
Chapter President

Our chapter leadership held its monthly board meeting on July 6 and, in the interests of good planning, we blocked out the basic schedule for the rest of 2019. Hard to believe we are at that point, but the year is half over.

We have a pretty active chapter with several regular events held each month. Among these are the Pancakes and a Movie breakfast on the first Saturday of each month, a BBQ Lunch and a Program on the second Saturday, and our regular monthly member meeting on the third Wednesday.

Around that shell we fill in some special events and, as noted elsewhere in this newsletter, we have some good ones coming up. I’m
particularly excited about having our second Airport Fun Day in September. Our inaugural Airport Fun Day last April was surprisingly well-attended by the community, so much so that we had to make several trips to the store to restock hot dogs and buns. We had a bunch of folks who had never been out to the airport before, and we plan to hold another similar event in September. We will do a better job of planning for this one, because we have a better idea of what to expect. To do our best job, we will call on our chapter to provide a cadre of volunteers to devote four hours of that Saturday, September 14, to welcome the community to our airport.

Also on the schedule is our second Young Eagle Rally for 2019. We think we have found a good groove for our chapter’s Rallies…twice a year and fly 75 kids spread out into five blocks of 15 kids per hour. This seems to work out well because we have the sign-ups done online and all the participants know when they will fly. We usually fill up our schedule pretty quickly after we open the door for reservations, so I think we are doing it right.

Though I won’t have as much as a say in it for 2020 and beyond, I think it is a good pattern for the chapter’s outreach efforts: Airport Fun Days in April and September with Young Eagle Rallies in May and October. That schedule keeps us busy enough but allows for other chapter activities.

Another item of interest for the board is our Richard and Susan Bristow Memorial Scholarship Fund. We are looking at how our chapter will award scholarships and/or sponsorships in 2020. Did the EAA Air Academy make the best use of our donated funds or are there other options available? Our board will be taking a close look at this question in the next two months. Our intent is to keep our momentum going for our scholarship program.