I've had some personal issues over the past few months that have prevented me from fully executing my responsibilities as President.  While those issues remain, more are behind me than in front of me.

The Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Little Miami State Park will be held on Sunday May 15th at 2:00 PM in the Council Chambers at Loveland City Hall, 120 W Loveland Ave --- less than a block from the trail.  I promise you a meeting that is both informative and a forum for you to ask questions and offer suggestions and/or critiques.

Your organization is at a crossroads.  If we aren't able to recruit volunteers in the following areas, we'll certainly lose any momentum we've built.

1. Board Members and Officers.  Our Treasurer Rob Brooks has moved to Cleveland because of a job change and our Secretary Jessica Evans has moved to Illinois because of a family emergency.  As a 501(c)(3), we're required to have 3 officers, i.e. President, Treasurer, and Secretary. So not only are we down 2 officers, at the Annual Meeting we'll be increasing the Board size by a minimum of 2 members.

 

2. Adopt-a-Trail.  The spring has been very wet, which means vegetation along the trail will explode.  The State Park only has resources sufficient to mow the trail 3-4 times per year (their first mowing is in process).  Everything else falls on us.  Aaron Rourke's Adopt-a-trail program has adopted out 9 of the 24 trail segments.  Aaron needs volunteers to a) work on crews, b) lead crews, and c) adopt trail segments.  Pick your favorite trail section and Aaron will put you to work.

    

   Last year our organization was the beneficiary of over 1,200 volunteer hours --- over 730 of which were for Adopt-a-Trail.

 

3. Events.  Board member Connie Crockett is the coordinator for events, but if you know anything about events you know they require lots of volunteers.

 

4. Publicity/Promotion.  This is "getting the word out" to the public and to our trail stakeholders, e.g. local and county governments, county commissioners, park district commissioners, visitors' bureaus, "downtown" associations, local foundations, local businesses (e.g. bike shops, bed and breakfasts, eateries, etc.)

 

5. Grant Writing.  In 2010, we were the beneficiary of over $16,000 in grant monies.  At this point, with the loss of Jessica Evans, we have no grant requests outstanding.

 

6. Advisory Board.  We're forming an Advisory Board of people with particular expertise whom we can call on from time to time, e.g. insurance, legal, graphic design, marketing, branding, etc.  Members of the Advisory Board have no Board meeting requirement.