Greetings fellow RCSBer's,
I was talking with a friend at a fly-in back in June about the declining numbers in our hobby, and he mentioned how much he enjoyed it and all the nice people he had met and become friends with. Then he asked me for some ideas on how he could help out the hobby that he enjoyed for so many years. This made me think of a post I wrote a while back on "giving back" to our hobby, so for this month's site news I want to republish it. We are all ambassadors of our hobby (now more than ever), and our actions and behavior reflect directly on how others in the hobby view us and, more importantly these days, how the general public views us. I have had several members ask to use this in their club newsletter, so feel free to use it any way you wish. Here is a reprint of "What you can do" from the April 2013 site news.
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Here is a question to ask yourself. What were/are your goals in the hobby this year? Attend more events? Build another model? Buy a new radio? Those are all great goals, but how about a goal to help our hobby? You would be surprised at the impact every single individual can have in our modeling community, both local and around, by doing the simplest things. When our local modeling communities are healthy, guess what, our hobby as a whole is better off. So you are asking yourself "OK Mike, so what can I do?” well quite a lot actually, I call it the "Three C's". Pick any ONE of them and you'll be a pro-active member of our hobby.
First, COMMUNICATE. If your local club or organization is sponsoring an event at a shopping mall or some other type of demonstration, grab one of your pride and joys and attend. If you don't have a model to show, go and help answer questions. Communicating with the general public is the KEY to bringing new members in. Also, if you have a scout troop in your area, be sure and seek out the scout master, and I am sure he would be interested in you coming and speaking to the kids about model aviation. Set up a day when a local TV station can come out and film you guys flying; sounds crazy, I know, but local TV stations are always looking for content. There are hundreds of ideas once you start thinking of ways to communicate about our hobby.
Next, you can COLLABORATE. Got someone in your local club interested in R/C Scale Building? Become their mentor! Even though you may feel you are not qualified to teach someone else, you really are. Get together with them once a week, maybe one evening, and help them accomplish goals with their project or get them to help you with yours and teach them new skills. Even if you spend 90% socializing and 10% working on a model, you have accomplished your goal and hopefully made a new building buddy. Want to take it a step farther? Start a building seminar offering tips and tricks to help folks get started and advertise it at your local hobby shop. Heck, they may help! Get anyone involved you can. Feel like you are a better flyer than a builder? Offer to become the trainer at your club and teach new members to fly! I think you see where I am going here.
Last (but certainly not least) is CONTRIBUTE. This means many things: your time, your effort, most importantly and of course funds if you have the disposable income. Be sure and show up at local club work days and meetings and give your input. Enjoy writing? Write an article for your club's newsletter or one of the hobby magazines. Heck, post your build here on RCSB! The possibilities are endless. Also, be sure to try to support organizations that you think are doing a good job promoting our hobby by joining and becoming active members (Like the AMA, LMA, NASA, USSMA, etc).
Heck, even here on RCSB, there are many, many members on this site that do one, two, and all three of these things on a regular basis both locally with their clubs, nationally, and of course globally. THIS is one of the main reasons this is the finest community site on the web in my humble opinion. So take a few minutes and reflect on what YOU can do to help drive our hobby forward. Oh, and the best part of doing any of these things.. You walk away with the satisfaction YOU have helped R/C Scale.
Until next month... Mike | 
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