District V
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Welcome back everyone! I wrote this as the holiday season approached so I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, or whatever you celebrated. It’s a great time for family and I count myself lucky that so many people in the hobby have become part of my extended family. If Santa brought you a new jet, well, even better!
The holidays always make me think about giving back. The hockey team I work for has a teddy bear toss night. When the team scores its first goal, fans throw teddy bears on the ice that are collected and given out at the local children’s hospital and other places by the players. We collected more than 12,000 teddy bears this year.
One of the things that makes me proud to be part of the hobby is our support of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Toys for Tots, Fly for a Cure, and other local and national charities. I’d love to get to all of them but it’s not always possible.
I did have the pleasure of attending the Gateway RC Toys for Tots event in Jacksonville, Florida. This has been going on for many years and was another great success. Lots of toys were collected and turned over to the USMC for distribution to local children.
The most requested items are always bicycles. Contest Director Steve Arrington arranged for a special raffle prize for those who brought bikes. The members and guests responded with more than 10 bikes, a table full of smaller toys, and a kitty of cash. Great job everyone!
I recently had the honor of speaking to an EAA Aviation Explorer post group based at Craig Field in Jacksonville. It was great seeing young people as fired up about all things aviation as much as I was at their age. We talked about modeling and my using it as a segue to a full-scale aviation career. We also discussed subjects related to flying drones professionally, STEM scholarships, and more.
The explorers enjoyed seeing the turbine jet and large helicopter that I brought for display. They asked fantastic, intelligent questions on a range of modeling and full-scale aviation topics. It gave me hope for the future.
I am with the explorers from EAA Aviation Explorer Post 7700 in Jacksonville FL, after showing my CARF Rebel turbine jet and discussing all things aviation. It was a great couple of hours.
Gateway RC Club President Robert Hoisington and Contest Director Steve Arrington are shown with some of the many toys donated as the entry fee for their annual Toys for Tots toy drive and fly-in. Perfect weather for the first time in weeks added an exclamation point to a great event.
Andrew Griffith
Vice President
barracudahockey@aol.com
12258 Bucks Harbor Dr. N.
Jacksonville FL 32225
(904) 993-4956
www.amadistrict-v.org
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENTS
Mickey Avery, AL; (334) 247-7123; district-V-AVP@email.com
Rick Grim, AL; (256) 656-0859; uavpilot@bellsouth.net
Joe Dolliver, FL; (239) 218-2677; Joe33914@gmail.com
Keith Hall, FL; (813) 928-3861; wing-man@verizon.net
Jose Mendez, FL; (321) 412-3078; rcjets12@hotmail.com
Andre Smith, FL; (850) 980-3724; andredsmithsr@gmail.com
Bill Barbee, GA; (912) 660-2155; awbarbee@hotmail.com
Bob Dixon, GA; (478) 960-5200; rldixon3@cox.net
Nick Ray, GA; (865) 368-3820; lasray@gmail.com
Darrell Sprayberry, GA; (706) 280-5848; darrelluhb@optlink.us
Paul Verger, MS; (228) 826-4892; cpaulverger@yahoo.com
Edwin Medina, Puerto Rico; (787) 525-7768; captainmedina@gmail.com
Don Wise, SC; (803) 534-8164; d7wise@sc.rr.com
Scott Anderson, TN; rcfoamy@hotmail.com
Tim DiPeri, TN; (615) 591-7399; caseco@comcast.net
Dick Tonan, TN; (615) 995-6291; dtonan@mac.com
SAFETY COORDINATOR: Red Scholefield, Johns Island SC; (843) 494-5225; redscho3@gmail.com
RC, CL, AND FF EVENT SANCTION COORDINATOR: Dick Tonan, (615) 995-6291; dtonan@mac.com
WEBMASTER: Glenn Bond, d5amaweb@gmail.com
