ODHFS Central Region Members;

Is it Happy New Year or is it Groundhog Day/Year? Last January I was massaging my arm where I had received my first Covid shot thinking the mess would be over soon. This January I just ordered another box of N-95 masks.

I want to welcome to ODHFS and the Central Region William Jackson, former member of Richmond Fire Department that currently lives in Richmond.

Next I have to offer my apology to either our Treasurer George Mills OR to our Secretary Richard Moss, but I'm not sure which. In my December newsletter I told everyone that if you had not received your copy of the Winter Old Dominion Torchbearer, to contact Editor/TREASURER Richard Moss, when I meant to say Editor/SECRETARY Richard Moss. I am not sure which of them I "cut" the worst.

Those that have participated with your apparatus and/or participated in events representing the ODHFS, you are reminded to enter your event participation in the Event Tracker page in the Membership Area of ODHFS's website ASAP. Not only does it track your participation but each year the total number of events and participation hours are reported to SPAAMFAA. If you are having trouble accessing the Membership Area on the ODHFS website (bottom right corner on the main page) contact our Web Chief Jack Sullivan (odhfswebchief@gmail.com).

Speaking of SPAAMFAA (The Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America); I assume most of you know ODHFS is a member chapter of SPAAMFAA. Our chapter gets support from SPAAMFAA in many ways, not the least of which is event insurance coverage. Members of ODHFS are not, however, members of SPAAMFAA. I encourage you to join SPAAMFAA, if for no other reason than the magazine and newsletters they publish quarterly. Check out their website at: https://spaamfaa.org/.

Speaking of SPAAMFAA again, their winter conference in Kissimmee FL is coming up February 23-26, 2022. Tommy Herman is presenting a class during the conference and I know several of our members are planning on attending. More information is on SPAMFAA's website.

Our ODHFS Annual Meeting is planned for Saturday April 2. Please keep this on your calendar. More information will be sent out later.

Last week you should have received your 2022 ODHFS Dues renewal ($15) that included the election of officers ballot. I'd like to address these two items separately.

First the dues. Please submit this ASAP OR let me or Tommy Herman know you do not plan on renewing. Please don't put it in a pile and then forget about it or just not renew and not say anything to anyone. The strength of our organization is in the diversity of our members (some with career backgrounds, some with volunteer backgrounds; and some with no fire service background) and to lose anyone hurts us all. If you are having a financial problem with continuing to pay your dues, let me know privately and I will work out something. If you decide to not renew because you don't like something about our organization, please let me know. We/I can't improve unless we/I know there is a problem.

Second, the officers running for office. As President Herman said in the Summer 2021 Torchbearer newsletter, we need to get more members involved in the running and preparing to run our organization. Specifically the article talked about succession planning and how each elected and appointed officer position (Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Secretary, Webmaster, Quartermaster, Owner's Pride Coordinator, and Regional Director) need at least one person who is their backup and can step in should something occur to the primary person OR be prepared to run for one of the elected officer positions. If you are interested in helping out, let the current position holder or me know.

As always, when you learn of events, parades, etc that might interest our members please pass on the information to our WebChief Jack Sullivan (ohfswebchief@gmail.com) so the information is put on our statewide and my regional calendars.

Good luck with the blizzard forecast for Central Virginia tomorrow.

Floyd
804-347-9016 (leave message)