Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
Init4fun, although I had reserved myself to not post in the AMA forum for obvious reasons, I do feel I need to stand up and applaud your posts here. IMO you are spot on!
My answer to your our question is that when we find someone with that spark we need to cultivate that spark into a flame. That may mean passing some unwanted equipment to somone, donating some time to them, etc. In other words, get out there and get involved. I'm currently in the process of moving from Sacramento Ca to Portland Or. I went to a swap meet on Saturday in the Portland area and was not only surprised by the turn out, but I saw a great deal of young people there as well. When I am there in the new residence permanently, I will take a closer look at the clubs in the area and choose the club that has the most young people and begin to mentor more then I have in the past. It's not earth moving but it is what I am capable of doing.
Thank You for the response SpeedRacer , I appreciate it .
I am truly happy (for real) that both you and Appowner have interested youth to mentor . My club does several "come meet the aeromodeling hobby" events each year and as of now I believe the only youth members we have are the children of existing adult members . And yes , the club I belong to not only allows but truly encourages all forms of legal aeromodeling , none of this "drones need not apply" discrimination , and yet it's not like we have new blood coming in year after year . In years past most of the clubs in the area actually had membership caps as there were literally too many to allow everyone some fair air time . Now , I know of no such club with a "closed" membership and I'm lucky to see 3 or 4 flyers anytime I get to the club field . I won't even get started on public fields , I've flown at just about all of them that allow model flying in my area , and I never see anyone else show up , whip out some cool parkie , and enjoy the skies with me .