by Scott Thompson
Chapter President

Fall has arrived, more or less. Temperatures are still warm but cooling from the heat of August. The days are now noticeably shorter. Still great flying weather, though. And a bit easier for our hangar meetings with temperatures in the eighties instead of triple digits.

As I write this, the chapter is prepping for our Airport Fun Day to be held on Saturday, September 14. When you read this, that date has probably come and gone, so I hope it was a good, fun day for all involved. We’ve put a bit of planning into it, so I hope it paid off. The Airport Fun Day is sort of a fall kick-off for us, leading directly to the Young Eagle Rally we will hold in October. The young people we talk to in September are prime candidates for the free airplane rides we will offer in October, so it all ties together.

Our chapter’s board of directors have blocked out the schedule for the remainder of the calendar year. It mostly continues the pattern set over the past year, with the addition of the special events…the Fun Day and the Young Eagle Rally. We have scheduled our chapter Holiday Party for the second Wednesday in December and we expect it to be similar to the one we held last year…an informal social event held at Cattlemen’s in Roseville where everybody can have some relaxing fun and share some hangar flying.

Again, for this year, we will feature a silent auction that will support our chapter’s Richard and Susan Bristow Memorial Scholarship Fund. More specifically, I have set an ambitious goal to raise $2,000 from the silent auction…enough to fund one sponsored young person to go to the EAA Aviation Academy in summer of 2020. Every penny of the proceeds supports the fund, so If we get some solid auction items that goal is achievable. We will have more information coming to our members shortly but, please, keep your eyes open for opportunities from your company or business or social group to gather some quality items we can auction off as part of this important fundraiser. All such donated items are tax deductible by the donor and we have the proper receipt paperwork to provide such donors. Let’s make this Holiday Party silent auction a memorable one.

Also, I would urge all members to consider a straight cash donation to our scholarship fund…perhaps an end of year gift. We are very serious about encouraging and supporting talented and ambitious young people to explore aviation as a career, and having a healthy scholarship fund is a great way to do it.

One activity I hope to encourage in these fall months are some organized chapter fly-outs. We’ll find some good destinations and mix/match some extra airplane seats to offer the opportunity for as many chapter members as possible to fly out to one of the many events occurring in the area…or just to a good airport restaurant for that proverbial $100 hamburger. Our next good opportunity for a fly-out is Saturday, September 28, so we will see what we can do to make something happen. Stay tuned…pay attention to the chapter emails and our chapter website to keep track of what is going on. Blue skies, then.