As I mentioned in last months message, I will be covering some of the important actions taken by the NFFS Vice presidents meeting held in August.
The Vice Presidents appointed four members to the NFFS Scholarship Committee. The committee is charged with the responsibility of developing a scholarship program to honor qualified young free flighters and assist them in the pursuit of education beyond high school. Not only will this committee develop the program, but they will manage it after it has been approved by the NFFS officers. Members of the committee represent the four regions on the NFFS and were recommended by their respective Vice Presidents. From the Northeast: Art Ellis, 84 Dennison Dr., Guilford, NH 06437. From the South: Blaine Miller, 719 Warwick Place, Orlando, FL 32803. From Central: Larry Kruse, 1204 S. Mansfield Dr., Stillwater, OK 74074. From the West: Ed Lamb, 15911 SE 42nd Pl., Bellevue, WA 98006. By committee acclimation, Ed Lamb was selected as the chairman for the initial stages of the program. The committee has been given until the end of the November to have program ready to present for NFFS officer approval. More information on the scholarship committee and its activities will be seen on the NFFS website (http://freeflight.org) or in the pages of future Digests when the information is ready for distribution.
The Vice Presidents approved the award of the first NFFS scholarship in recent times to William Lutz. William is a recent graduate (Class of 1999) from Lincoln High School in Ellwood City, PA. William was also a winner of the AMA's Tom Hutchinson scholarship for his activities in free flight. William is now enrolled at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH and plans to major in Electrical or Computer Engineering. And he recently became a member of the NFFS. As with most scholarship winners, he is an all-around good student in the top 10% of his class, has high SAT scores and major involvement in school and community activities. He is a member of the Penn-Ohio Radio Kontrol Society (PORKS).
The officers established a Scholarship Fund by assigning $2,500 from the McLaughlan Fund plus $13,500 from various fund raising activities, and member and club donations. Note: The McLaughlan Fund was established by a $50,000 gift to the Society from the estate of the late Tom McLaughlan in 1996. These funds have been invested by the Society and have grown steadily since being received. Member and Club donations to the Scholarship Fund are encouraged and are tax deductible as are all funds donated to NFFS.
Authorized the expenditure of $25,000 to be contributed to the AMA from the McLaughlan fund for the completion of McLaughlan Road on the Muncie flying site. As noted above, when Tom McLaughlan passed away, he willed a considerable amount of money to various model airplane groups. The amount willed to AMA was to be used to complete a road around the Muncie property. However, the money ran out before the road was completed. The NFFS has offered the above mentioned funds with the proviso that the AMA will contribute enough from its own resources to complete the project within the next 18 months.
Bob Stalick, NFFS President.