By the time you read this, Halloween will be behind us and we will be looking forward to time with family and Thanksgiving. I hope that you are able to spend time with your family and loved ones. The holidays are always special to me, and I think the main reason is just that – family and friends.
I have been reading some of your Facebook posts about cleaning and readying your Falcon for its annual “long winter’s nap.” I always look forward to this time, as this is the perfect time to tweak and make those long-procrastinated alterations to get ready for the next show car season.
I want to give an update on the work that your board has been doing in the first two months of their current term. Steve Springer is heading up the task of looking into the interface of the website and how new members and renewal of current members are processed. He has worked closely with the company that created and hosts our website as well as Denise Sword, our membership secretary, and I am elated at the headway this team has made. The projection is that by November the issues should be ironed out and the process of adding new members and processing renewals of current members should be a smooth and effortless process. I cannot thank this team enough for the tireless work they have been doing for the FCA.
Tia Blum is our new club store manager and along with the help of Bonnie Stringer and Shaun Small, we have been working to update the merchandise in our club store. A goal we have is to get the club store on line and open to anyone that has an interest in Falcons and FCA merchandise. If anyone wishes to purchase FCA merchandise, they will be able to do so. What a fantastic way to put the name of the Falcon Club of America out to the masses, right? There are some bugs to work out, but hopefully we will make an exciting announcement in the coming months. While on the subject of the club store, we cannot give enough praise and accolades to Bonnie Stringer. She and Mary Biehl created and ran our store for many years and laid the foundation that will sustain our store in the coming years. Thanks for all the work you have done for many many years, Bonnie.
Shaun Small and Mark Sword Jr. have been looking into ways to help make the magazine self-funding with hopes that we can increase the number of mailed hard copies. We are too early in the process to report much, but know that the board is working hard and is committed to exploring every avenue in order to try and make this happen.
The Falcon Club of America is currently accepting bids for the 2025 National. As many of you are aware, the club prefers to move the location of this annual event to various locations around this great country. Many of our members have expressed an interest in going back east of the Mississippi, eastern time zone before moving west again. Having said this, the club is open to any and all bids. In the past the national has been hosted by local chapters. The club is aware that there are many excellent venues where there is no chapter or the local chapter may not feel they are able to host such an event. This is not an issue, because the club has a team that is ready to take on the task. All they need is a location. The local chapter can help with the “boots on the ground” tasks such as site visits, scoping out the area for possible activities and such while the national team does the heavy lifting. The club asks that you submit your ideas to Billy Pope no later than 12/31/2023. This will allow the board time to review and approve and the host time to prepare.
Billy Pope
817-798-9306
Billyshotrodshop1@gmail
