If There Was Just One Thing ...

by Dave Mathewson, AMA President

If there was just one thing that AMA could do for your club and your members, or if there was just one thing we could do better, what would it be?

AMA has several programs designed to provide various benefits to our chartered clubs and to enhance our members’ enjoyment of model aviation; programs like AMA’s Flying Site Assistance Grant Program, which provides grants to our clubs that help purchase new sites or improve current sites. The program provides 10% or up to $5,000 of a club’s planned expenditure. Or our Club Disaster Assistance Program that provides small grants to help clubs begin the process of getting back on their feet after being affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, or tornados.

Community outreach should be an important part of our clubs’ activities. It’s this type of outreach that pays dividends if the time ever comes that a club may need the support of its neighbors and local government officials to acquire a new, or save an existing, flying site. Take off And Grow (TAG) has made financial resources and support materials available to clubs throughout the country who host TAG events. TAG has helped many of our chartered clubs not only to introduce model aviation to those in the local community, but also helped build strong and valuable relationships within the community. Our Club Recognition Program offers cash awards to clubs that work with local media to get the story of model aviation in newspapers, on radio, and on television. AMA’s Mall Show Program provides materials that help clubs host successful presentations and demonstrations highlighting aeromodeling. And, of course, our insurance program that provides $2,500,000 of primary, first dollar, liability insurance protection to site owners who allow the use of their properties as model aviation flying sites. This coverage is in place at more than 2,500 AMA chartered club flying sites throughout the United States. All of these programs are designed to help our clubs be successful.

One of our programs that we are exceptionally proud of is AMA’s Charles H. Grant Scholarship Program. This program has now awarded more than $1,000,000 in scholarships to many of our young, college bound members, a number of whom eventually went on to successful careers in the aerospace or aviation industries.

We also invest heavily in many activities that aren’t quite as visible to our members as the programs above, yet still are important in maintaining and enhancing our member’s enjoyment of model aviation. Our work with government agencies, especially the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ongoing. Our work with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by both AMA and EPA that endorses the use of reclaimed Superfund Landfills as model aviation flying sites. And, as a result of this MOU, the EPA recently released a short DVD, both produced and funded by the EPA, that will be of value to virtually all of our clubs looking for flying sites.

AMA is always looking for new ways that we can be of more value to our clubs and members.

That brings us back full circle to the beginning of this column. If there was just one thing that AMA could do for your club and your members, or if there was just one thing we could do better, what would it be? Let me know. Your idea might become one of AMA’s next programs.

See you next time. Q