8236-R1_MSA_January2023

From The Executive Board

From the President

The Raffle was a success! We had grateful winners from all over New England. The Polaris went to a lady from Vermont, The Ski Doo, Arctic Cat and both trailers to Maine folks. The raffle once again helped the clubs in these hard times. I’m very proud of the raffle we have a great team that makes it happen. We’ll be getting back on track now, the raffle meeting/drawing was well attended at the Augusta Civic Center. We had a great meal along with a quick meeting. The weather has been awful to say the least. Hurricane winds and lots of rain uprooted trees and flooded out many brooks. Brand new bridges were destroyed. The hard work by clubs members before the storm was eliminated by Mother Nature. Greenville was totally tore up on both sides of the lake. This storm has destroyed lots of miles of trails in certain areas of the state. It’s very hard on the clubs, Our friend Joe Higgins told me that disaster relief grants will be available. We have the best volunteers in the business, YOU people make it happen and I’m very proud and happy to be part of a winning team. Thanks for all you do! Happy New Year, AL on as President and even before that, has been busy promoting the Safety Program and the Lifeflight Program to educate young people all across the State. Al has been a Godsend to us in the MSA office as well as running from one end of the State to the other with whatever needs to be done to see that things run as smoothly as possible! John Monk would be the last piece to the “Steering Committee” puzzle and has been extremely proactive in any legislative issues or bills that cross our path and that concern the MSA, our Clubs, or the sport of Snowmobiling in general. John has been an asset to the committee with his many “Contacts” on this platform. A big thanks to Mike Grass Jr. for teaming up with John when extra muscle is needed to push our agenda at the State House on these matters. The “MSA” work does not stop here as there are many eyes and ears from the top of the state to the bottom in the form of Regional Vice Presidents, Regional Directors as well as Club Directors. This chain of command keeps the MSA tethered to the Clubs. These are an amazing group of passionate Snowmobilers who care deeply about the health of snowmobiling in our State, and are great advocates for the sport! They are an integral part of the association and seriously could not do it without them. So as you can see it takes many people working together to make it all work, and to make all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I can tell you two things that I do know, that yes we have totally made mistakes along the way but feel that we have learned from them and it has made us better! And lastly I know for a fact that when a decision is made it is made with the best interest of the Association in mind, and THAT is a good feeling. Thank you for reading, and as always, if you have any questions, comments, issues, or just want to talk Snowmobiling, please reach out to me! Thank you, Mark. every year they are attending school and you could be awarded the scholarship consecutive or multiple years. I know from experience that it is very rewarding to review the applications and read firsthand how grateful and thankful the recipients are and what a positive impact the award has had on their educational journey. Amajor component of the scholarship is let ters of support from educators, employees and even snowmobile club members. With kids home for the holidays it’s a great time to start to gather up some of these letters. If you start now you’ll have good head start and with the application deadline of April 1 it will be here sooner than you think. The other big piece of the package is the essay and some of the best I have read included lots of information and appear to be written as they gathered ideas

Branch SC for lots of great food, check out the newest groomers and drags from the major groomer manufacturers. The Groomer Rodeo is easy to find right off the Interstate #244 on Clubhouse drive only a few miles from the exit, look for their new sign! If we have bad weather, it will be held on Feb. 4th. If you like to ice fish, the Anson North Anson SC will be hosting a fishing derby Jan.14 th on the Fahi Pond Road in Embden on Sandy Pond. If you like to eat, head over to Portage for their annual hot dog fundraiser. Hot chocolate, snacks and a corn hole game highlights the day activities at the groomer barn. This all day event goes into the night with a Hypnotist at 7pm for some entertainment! Over in Millinocket at the Northern Timber Cruisers SC and Museumwill be holding its 10th annual Snowball Run for Cancer, one Saturday, January 21st they will be open at 7am this is a ride to support cancer care in the Katahdin area. All sleds are welcome old and new! I hope you all had a great holiday season. Hopefully it snows soon, right now here in Central Maine we have lots of green grass showing without any rideable snow. We’re now one month behind and losing every day the temperature goes above freezing. short but well needed break just in time for the Christmas season and New Year and then it’s right back at it. Although I say we were taking a break, the E-board and Steering Committee as well as the MSA Office Staff really haven’t slowed down much. Both Liz and Al have been busy in the office with the Super Raffle Wrap-up, processing Memberships, delivering prizes, attending Club events and taking care of the Day to Day in the office. As far as the MSA Steering Committee goes, Lori Hemmerdinger has been very busy each month putting together and editing the Maine Snowmobiler Newspaper, and is producing the best product that we have had in a very long time hands down! She has also been busy with her treasurer duties as well as writing the MSA budget. Bob Flagg and Lori have also been working on getting the new Website on line, which should be interactive and very user friendly. Bob and Lori have been working on getting all the bugs out of the new video camera system that works with zoom, which allows people from afar to attend and participate in our monthly director’s meetings. Eileen and Larry Lafland have been working with Liz to process all of the membership submittals and paperwork, this is a huge time consuming job and they have been an enormous help with this. E&L have also been very active in their Eastern Region, holding numerous meetings to keep clubs informed and educated on procedures, protocol and MSA/CLUB changes. Mike Grass and I along with Al Swett have been holding Trails Workshops around the State to help educate ourselves and our Clubs in proper signage techniques, as well as answer any questions and keep Trailmasters and Groomer/Operators up to speed on any changes that might be taking place. We have also been helping Clubs with any Trail changes along with helping to resolve any landowner issues that might arise. Al Swett, among all of the previously listed tasks that he has taken As we start the New Year, it is never too early to start thinking about funding for ant post high school programs are kids may be pursuing this year. The MSA scholarship is not only for the traditional 4 year college but it also includes associate degrees, commu nity college 1, 2 & 4 year programs, trading schools and even for students in pursuit of master and doctorate degrees. As a member of the scholarship committee I have answered many questions from par ents and applicants about the process, often folks think they can only apply once or that the applicants needs to be an incoming fresh man. Anyone that is eligible can apply if and

Lori Hemmerdinger (207) 890-5455 544 Plains Road • Poland, ME 04274 Treasurer@mesnow.com Treasurer’s Report Respectfully Submitted, Lori Hemmerdinger, Treasurer

Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com

H ello!

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 77,425.55 $ 27,795.51 $ 49,630.04 $293,547.54 $131,151.76

Here we go into January. Many events kick off winter this month. The Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club will host a long lasting tradition Snodeo! The 19 th , 20 th , and 21 st will bring snowmobilers from all over the Northeast. The next big event is the following weekend on January 28 th , head up to Medway at the East

Net Revenue

Checking (12/31/22)

DedicatedAccount (12/31/22)

Pay Pal (12/31/22) - Special EventsAccount (12/31/22) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (12/31/22) $ - Building Fund 12/31/22) $ 53,939.98 BrianWass Safety Fund (12/31/22) $ 1,285.33 MSA Scholarship SavingsAccount $ 2,082.00 MSA Scholarship CDAccount $ 60,187.00 From The Membership Corner Eileen Lafland, $

From the Executive VP

207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE. lafland525476@ gmail.com

over a season of riding. As speak for all the committee members in saying we are always available to help in any way that we can. The past few years has seen a decline in applications and nothing would please us more than to be flooded with appli cations in April. It is an absolute pleasure to review and be part of the process that helps one of our own continue their education. Be safe and here’s to a great New Year. Harvey There are still a few months to go before the membership counts are tallied for largest clubs in the state, so keep them coming in! A s of December 21 st , 241 of the 283 MSA clubs in the state have sent in memberships! That is wonderful to see as it means clubs are getting members to join and support what they do. Numbers are constantly changing and memberships are being entered daily. Here are the totals on Dec. 21 st . Total # family memberships - 6,610 Total # business 1524 Total members including all family members 13,162 Numbers by Region Central – 56 clubs / 1,304 memberships Coastal – 57 clubs / 1,073 memberships Western – 74 clubs / 2,134 memberships Eastern – 34 clubs / 1,704 memberships Northern – 62 clubs / 1,908 memberships On Dec. 21 st there were five clubs over 150 memberships; Rangeley (265), Moosehead Riders (199), Washburn (193) Fort Kent (162), and Bridgeton (151) and six clubs at or over 100 memberships; Blue Ridge Riders (137), Madawaska (131), Penobscot SC (125), Northern Timber Cruisers (110), Caribou SC (109), and Fryeburg (100). A shout out to Fort Kent SnoRiders for having the most new members join their club this past month! Cheers to the Northern and Eastern Regions as both have four clubs in the top ten for the state.

Mark Chinnock, Vice President 207-754-9874 544 Plains Road, Poland, ME 04274 napadude66@hotmail.com

H i Folks!!

As I sit here and write, we are playing Mother Nature’s game and she is not playing fair with us whatsoever! We do however have lots of winter left and hold high hopes that by the time you read this well into January that we will be telling a different story. I also know that the wind and rainstorm that hit us at Christmas took its toll on trail systems Statewide. It proved to be very taxing on all of the volunteers that had already worked very hard on getting the trails ready, and once again had to recreate the wheel and clear the trails, and for these people we need give a HUGE thank you! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year, as we settle into what I call the “boots on the ground” portion of our season, where we take all the preparation work and finally apply it to the Trail. This is the most rewarding part, when we get to visually see the end product and are able to reap the benefits of our hard work. Here at the MSA with the Snowmobile Show and Super Raffle behind us, it gave us a

Scholarship Committee W elcome to 2023, hope everyone had a happy and healthy holidays and that the New Year is off to a great start.

Harvey Chesley, 207-314-0637 25 Hillcrest Dr, Clinton ME 04927 harv.chesley@gmail.com

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