Happy New Year Everyone!
Hopefully this new year will improve our snow conditions and we can get to enjoy our awesome trails and the sport we all live for. This month’s meeting was started at 11:11 am at the Silverlake Sportsmens Club. We covered a lot of old and new info and it was nice to see some new faces. We love to see a room full of enthusiastic members.
We read through last month’s minutes along with our treasurer’s report which was put together by Gail. She always does a great job keeping our financials straight.
We will be busy updating our website to improve access and make it more user friendly. We do this to offer more information that our fellow sledders can use to visit our area and trail system. This is a small project behind the scenes the club will work on for continual improvement.
Other new business is trail work. We were held up in some areas because of the extended hunting season and the conditions of the ground. The amount of trail work and bridge work done in our system has been significant this year. The warmer fall temps plus a good number of volunteers made it nice to accomplish these projects. We also talked about groomer work which is close to being wrapped up.
If you’re interested in helping out the club follow our social media sites or contact a member you know for text updates when we hold work nights. Many hands make light work and it’s fun.
We discussed the grant we applied for several months ago. When we started this process we were very green and not sure how to start. A couple members in the club along with an outside grant writer worked together to get the grant written and sent in. A lot of hours were expended just getting this huge application put together. Internal setbacks this year in the parks and rec system worked against our grant to be accepted. The members that worked really hard on this possess a great attitude and we will apply again. Hopefully the next time we can get the Win! No grants were awarded this year west of the Finger Lakes. There was a very small pool of monies that were available for grants and only a few were awarded which went more to northern NY.
Brian Bartron said our February raffle is doing really well. As of today we only had 20 tickets unsold which is awesome. 808 paid tickets have been turned in. Thanks Brian for once again heading up this important fundraiser and doing a great job keeping track of the details.
Our long time member Jack Rase handed out NYSSA Super Raffle tickets. If you or anyone you know is interested in a ticket they are only $5 each and the club keeps half the monies.
This months meeting was a special one for sure. 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Oatka Valley Snowmobile Association. For someone my age to be a part of such a awesome club is a really cool feeling and I hope I can be one of the many people that keep this tradition going. Many thanks to those that had the foresight so many years ago to envision the need for an organized club and trail system to promote our sport. Sergeant of Arms Jack Rase is one of the original members. Thank you for your perseverance Jack and continued dedication to our club and the sport.
Stay tuned for new and updated info as the trails will hopefully be opening soon. Think snow and join where you ride!!
Chance Vogt
President – OVSA
