View from HQ - 2007/07

216 MODEL AVIATION
View from HQ
Executive Director Jim Cherry
… many more clubs are now
eligible for Leader Club status.
n the association management
profession, as I’m sure one will find in
all aspects of work and life, there are
defining moments—an event or happening
that makes a benchmark or place in one’s
mind. In that same vein, I have often used
the phrase “cashing that psychological
paycheck,” meaning an event that gives
great personal reward for something one has
done or had a large influence on bringing to
fruition.
The Toledo Weak Signals R/C Expo, in
its 53rd year, is one of the largest modeling
shows in the nation. Your AMA has always
had a booth at the event and was again
present.
On Friday, the first day of the show, I
was standing in the booth meeting fellow
modelers when a man came around the end
of the aisle and glanced my way. A look of
“I recognize you from the picture”
registered on his face as he started my way.
“Are you Jim Cherry?” he asked. I
replied appropriately.
“I knew there was a reason I had been
keeping this in my basement for a long
time,” he said.
Dennis Miendersma of Westmont,
Illinois, handed me a square box, with
brown paper wrapping, he had purchased
from an estate sale many years ago. As I
tore open the paper, it revealed the original
box and its contents: a Thimble Drome PT-
19 flight trainer (with the original $10 price
tag still attached), just like the one
mentioned in my first column in February.
Dennis cashed a huge “psychological
paycheck” for me that moment. He asked
me to keep the airplane for as long as I am
the AMA executive director, and when my
tenure ends I am to make sure the PT-19 is
donated to the National Model Aviation
Museum.
Actions such as this and countless others
make this profession and sport so rewarding.
Dennis, thank you again. You exemplify
sharing the love of modeling. The PT-19 is
sitting in my office next to the .049
engine—one of the first items I brought in
when I set up my office.
I
Jim Cherry (L) accepts a gift from Dennis
L. Miendersma, a lifelong model aviation
enthusiast who sympathized with Jim’s
account of lessons learned as an
adolescent modeler.
In April the Executive Council (EC)
revised the requirements for clubs
applying for Leader Club status. The EC
noticed that many active clubs were
prevented from achieving Leader Club
status because of one requirement or
another.
Many clubs that qualified in a number
of ways could not meet the requirements
as they were outlined in the program. In
reviewing the five basic requirements, the
EC agreed to revise them to six and allow
the district vice president (VP) to waive
one, provided it is not safety related.
One of the requirements is that club
membership be open to all AMA
members. The Westchester Radio
AeroModelers (WRAM) in New York has
a membership cap that was originally
mandated by the municipality that first
gave the club permission to use the land
for its site. The club members have since
purchased the land, but the restriction
remains in place, although anyone may fly
at the field as a guest of a member.
This membership limit would have
disqualified WRAM from Leader Club
status in the past. Under the revisions the
district VP can waive this requirement and
the club, which is extremely active in the
community, could apply for Leader Club
status.
I know of a group that has not been an
AMA chartered club for a full five years.
It is seeking to become a Leader Club.
That five-year requirement could be put
aside at the discretion of the district VP.
With the VP’s power to waive one of
the six basic requirements, many more
clubs are now eligible for Leader Club
status. If your club has not looked into the
Leader Club Program or has but has not
qualified in the past, this is the time to
review the requirements for the three
levels of Leader Club status.
Leader Club designation has rewards
on many levels, including pride within the
club membership and good public
relations within the community. It has an
influence on awarding AMA grants and
programs. Check out the revised program
at www.modelaircraft.org/PDF-files/708.pdf.
As you celebrate Independence Day in
whatever manner you choose, don’t forget
those individuals and organizations—past
and present—that make our freedom to
celebrate possible. MA
In the spirit of flight.
Jim Cherry
Executive Director
[email protected]
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