Before telling you about the current status of the AKA, I’d like to thank Kitelife for making space available to the AKA in every issue since the very first one. Richard Dermer was the president back in 1998. Since then Adam Grow, David Gomberg, Susan Skinner and Gary Engvall have each stopped in or found a guest writer to keep you informed every other month. Wow! That is some record of unconditional support. Looks like it is now my turn.
What’s new in the AKA? Well, first of all, the AKA has a new president, that would be me, and several new directors. The chairs of the sport kite committee (Russ Faulk), the fighter kite committee (Sharon Champie) and the kitemakers committee (Peter Ross) are all members of the board of directors. This is the first time in many years that all 3 major competition committees have been represented. This allows each of those groups to have a voice in every discussion and decision, not just concerning their particular rulebook.
The board of directors has made a commitment to have all back issues of Kiting scanned and archived in the Members Only section of the website, the Club House. Already every issue from 2008 has been posted. Expect to see all of 2007 before the end of the year. The scanning and converting will be a huge task, but it will be accomplished.
The Kite Records committee is again active under the direction of Jim Martin Jr. They are establishing guidelines and criteria to be used in submitting and verifying record claims. Once that has been accomplished they will be reviewing the claim of 149 miniature kites flown indoors during the convention banquet.
The education committee led by Glenn Davison has assembled an impressive list of members who are passionate about teaching the joys and skills of kiting to all segments of the population, not just kids in schools. Currently they are reviewing resources that are already available and will be working on ways to expand those offerings.
National Kite Month (NKM) will be held from March 27 to May 2, 2010. You can start posting your events on 1/19/2010. Andy Selzer is the chair of the National Kite Month committee.
NKM web site – http://www.nationalkitemonth.org
The AKA store at Café Press has lots of new items. Hey, there’s even a new ad in the next Kiting to tempt you into buying an item or two. Talk about a great holiday present. Thanks to Amy Doran for finding some cool new images and items.
AKA Café Press store – http://www.cafepress.com/akalogostore
Oh, and how could I not suggest to you the absolute most perfect holiday gift to family and friends, but their very own AKA membership? Never again will your copy of Kiting disappear. Of course you could sign them up using our on line tools, but if you want it to be a surprise, simply contact the office at document.write(”); document.write(‘xd@aka.kite.org’); . The new member packet will be sent out with a nice card included.
Don’t forget to renew your membership while you are at the website.
Check out: http://aka.kite.org/mbrship.shtml
The AKA needs and values every member. Don’t be left out, there are more new programs coming, the fun is back. Renew at any time; why wait?
If you ever have any question or comments, drop me a note at document.write(”); document.write(‘president@aka.kite.org’); . Until next time, my sewing machine is calling.
Time to fly,
Barbara Meyer
