Help wanted.
Our chapter’s inaugural Pancake Breakfast fundraiser for our new
hangar is upcoming, Sunday, June 16. I want to, before writing anything
else, address the top priority: thanking those whose names appear
on a list in this newsletter, who’ve already volunteered. We put
out the ‘help wanted’ sign, and you responded. I am truly grateful to
those who’ve volunteered so far, and those who still will choose to
step up and join the effort.
THIS month’s meeting (not last month’s) is the first ‘warm up’ use of
our chapter pancake maker, created by our own Alan Knutson. I DO want
to know how much time he put into making it, and I hope you’ll see it
in action.
I have to admit to leaning on the panic button last month, and making
a last-minute change of venue of our meeting to the big Aloft Aviation
hangar on the south side - thank you to so many who brought a pot luck
item with little notice. Between weather, and our guests from EAA
chapter 640 in Wausau, and their creation of a separate Learn/Build/
Fly project, and our Chapter Blast sent out to over 1,500 EAAers living
in our area, I didn’t know what to expect.
I’m frankly disappointed that we didn’t see more newbie EAA folks at
that meeting, but I was told later on that those who send out mailing
advertisements for a living only expect a 1% to 4% rate of return responses.
Hmmmm ... 3% of 1,500 is 45, so if we had that kind of return,
we would’ve had 45 newbies at that meeting.
Not everyone is as passionate about their EAA membership as am I.
Lesson learned.
Another positive result about last month’s meeting is the talk it generated.
There are some in the chapter that believe we could pull off
some kind of ‘community outreach’ similar to what’s going on in
Wausau. It might not be as big, or it might not involve as many people
(at least, initially), but talking about such things is good.
OK, we ARE going to serve pancakes and sausage at this meeting. I
know it’s not Gary Stinar’s beans, and to those of you who were looking
forward to a brat, we’re taking a break; we ARE going to give our
pancake cooker a test run. I hope you enjoy the results.
Our guests this month are from Minneapolis ATC in Farmington. They
will offer the opportunity for members present to sign up for a tour
of the Farmington facility later on this month.
John Schmidt, 2023 Ch. 25 President
EAA Lifetime