March 2006 Issue
Friday, March 03, 2006


Is Your Club “Engaged” with the Local Community?
by Dave Brown, AMA President


I’m not referring to being prepared to marry—although in many ways the relationship is similar. What I have in mind is the relationship between your club and the community in which you reside.

When was the last time your club did a community project to raise its positive visibility within the society in which you exist? If your answer is “I can’t remember,” “I’m not sure we have,” or any similar response, then this is a good time to start thinking about what you can do to enhance the stature of your club within your community.

A number of clubs seem to think the secret to survival is to remain “hidden” from public view. I suppose that works for a short time, but in the long run, it will never be the answer. Clubs who try to remain hidden are the ones that are suddenly surprised to find themselves without a flying site and with no options on the table.

Think about it. Many of the organizations which thrive in the community do so not because of what the organization does for its members, but for what it does for the community. It doesn’t take much effort to reap a great reward. If your club is willing to give a little to the community, its people will pay you back with increased levels of respect, support, and most importantly, tolerance when you need them to help you through a difficult time.

What can you do? Many things! How about conducting a charity fun-fly? Invite local people and modelers from neighboring clubs over for an event and dedicate the proceeds to a community charity. It doesn’t hurt if the charity you select happens to be the mayor’s favorite. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to make much difference how much money you raise! This is one area where it really is the thought that counts.

Have you ever thought about sponsoring a scholarship at a local school? I don’t think there is any way that your club can get more positive publicity per unit dollar than this.
Think about it! The scholarship gets publicity when it is announced, when it is awarded, when the recipient starts school, and any other time the club draws attention to it. That is a publicist’s dream and it’s all positive publicity. It’s also one of the few times that making the front page of the paper is a good thing! It doesn’t have to be a large dollar amount: $250 or $500 will help a lot.

Does your town have an annual parade on Veterans’ Day, Independence Day, Easter, or another holiday? Why not consider putting together a float with many model airplanes on it and get the club involved! Believe me, this can be a lot of fun and the public response to your club will be far different than if you try to “hide” your existence.

I’m sure you can put yourself into the shoes of the mayor, sheriff, police chief, or councilman who must deal with a person who constantly complains about the model airplane flying field. It doesn’t matter that his or her complaints are unfounded or unreasonable.

Those people have to deal with the constant complainer and unless there is some good reason for them to go to bat for you, it’s far easier to simply shut you down than it is to deal with chronic complaints.

On the other hand, if your club has become a positive contributor to the community through local projects, it’s much more likely neighbors will be more tolerant of your club its activities and that officials will support you and have some ammunition with which to convince anyone who does complain that you should be allowed to continue to fly your model airplanes.

Hmmm … the longer I think about it, this is beginning to sound more like a marriage to the community!