8576-R1_MSA_December2023_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

From the President

snowmobile shows promoting Snowmobiling in Maine Statewide, not to mention processing membership, managing the Super Raffle and answering hundreds of phone calls, emails and social media posts. Congratulations to all of the Clubs who have received new and new to them groomers and equipment this year, mostly through hard work, fundraisers, and various types of equipment grants, kudos to all of you and have fun getting them ready to hit the White stuff. By now most, all Clubs have submitted their Grant applications, Vendor forms and officer updates forms to the Dept of ACF and to the MSA, if you haven’t, please do so as soon as possible as some deadlines have passed. Also please make sure to touch base with your landowners before using their land, I feel like I’m being redundant but it is probably the single most important thing that we as Clubs can do to insure the future of our Trail system. I am going to keep it short this month but there is one last thing that I would like to talk about this month, and that is, the MSA is and has been for the last couple of years trying to change things up. We have been trying new ideas, new programs and just keeping things interesting and passionate. For instance if you haven’t checked out the new MSA Website you should, it is a completely new format with all kinds of snowmobiling information for the The Super Raffle will be bringing in good results and it helps the selling clubs with their grooming operations and other club expenses. We had a very nice homemade meal cooked by the Anson North Anson SC at the November Director’s Meeting. It was held in Madison at the Legion. We voted on a new club. North East Carry in the Moosehead area is our latest MSA club. We welcome you and appreciate you very much. Their dedication in that area will free up the other clubs who have been be providing two very well deserving family members with a significant financial incentive to support their pursuit of higher education. Remember that the eligibility not only includes traditional 4-year college programs but 2-year associates and even 1-year pro grams are welcomed to apply. The scholar ship is paid to the school after the winners have completed their first semester and are successfully enrolled in their second semes ter. The committee often sees applications for students enrolled in community colleges and trades schools that have 1-year certification programs. Our goal is to help support any MSA family member that wants to continue their education beyond high school. We often hear that the award makes a big impact as the cost of education continues to be a hardship for many, hopefully we can help provide some much needed financial relief. Keeping in the holiday spirits if your club is interested the scholarship fund is always a great place to make a donation. Maine people are tremendously generous and supportive and the holiday season is a good time to consider making a gift that will impact one of our own. Thanks for all you do. Finally, be sure to look for the full-page ad in the December and January paper touting the exciting news about the increased scholarship awards to $1,500, be sure to discuss it with any potential family member. Have a safe and healthy holiday! a passion to get it done. Lots of clubs have been busy trying to keep ahead of the rain. New bridges and reroutes are at the top of their lists. Without these fine club members, Maine would be in back, far back in the snowmobile world. A major western vendor has named Maine snowmobiling number three in the Nation! But, what they did say and I’ve been saying it along is that the our whole trail system is a destination point. While the top two had only certain areas, they considered great riding spots, they said that our system is statewide. A true testament of what we do and our work ethic is always in top form. THANKS for all you do!

rider, as well as a host of useful tools and forms for the Clubs to utilize. Another revamped source of information is the MSA Facebook page as well as there are various FB and social media Club pages, groups, and forums, which are Maine snowmobiling specific and give the rider and club member all kinds of valuable information on targeted areas before planning a trip or day ride. Club Presidents keep an eye out for email blasts, which keep you informed on real time points of interest, and things that are going on in our association and our sport, we by all means ask you to share these email blasts with your club officers to help keep everyone in the know. And lastly… I don’t need to tell you about this one because you are reading it! But Lori has worked her magic each month with this newspaper and the content within is by far some of the best reading this newspaper has ever seen. If you can, dig out an old Maine Snowmobiler from 4 or 5 years ago, look through it and see just how it has evolved into something vastly different and always deserves a read! Well that’s all for now folks, it won’t be long and we’ll be seeing each other out on the trail! And as always if you have a question, concern or just want to talk snowmobiling please feel free to reach out to me, my door is always open. Until next month, thank you for reading. Mark You clubs are very special to me if you need anything I will do my best to get things to you. My goal is to take care of you. Every club in the MSA group is a piece of a large puzzle. You all matter to me. I hate it when I get calls from clubs that can’t continue either the members are too old or they just don’t have the help. It’s very sad when we lose any of you. Ok let’s get positive! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! AL helping. We thank them too for all they do. We will be meeting soon to discuss ways to get more money to the clubs. We have formed a new committee headed by Matt Stedman and James Cote our lobbyist. I hope that new ideas will come out of this to help ease the money crunch. I was a guest at the Wilton Lions Club last month, I spoke of what we do and how proud I am of every MSA club that makes Maine a premier place to ride. It was a wonderful meeting the folks made me feel right at home. It has been cold; the North has snow and depending on whom you talk too sounds like it’s going to be a great winter.

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

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 57,774.66 $ 57,335.38

H ello Folks,

Net Revenue

$

439.28

Short Term CD

$ 85,600.00 $211,807.99 $107,932.06

Welcome to December! It’s been quite a fall. From the North to the South and East to West lots of special events were covered by a great group of special snowmobilers with From the Executive VP

Checking (11/30/23)

Dedicated Account (11/30/23)

Pay Pal (11/30/23) - Special Events Account (11/30/23) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (11/30/23) $ - Building Fund (11/30/23) $ 54,063.79 Brian Wass Safety Fund (11/30/23) $ 1,285.56 Scholarship Savings (11/30/23) $ 1,867.44 Scholarship CD (11/30/23) $ 61,022.11 $

From The Membership Corner

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

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

H ello Everyone and welcome to the December edition of the Maine Snowmobiler. Since last month the MSA and its supporting Clubs have been busy taking care of business, getting trails ready, holding fundraising events, submitting Club paperwork Grant applications and preseason Groomer maintenance. The MSA has been busy as well attending club events, holding Trails Workshops, traveling to out of state

As of Nov.16 th , when this column was written, 186 of the 285 clubs in the state had submitted memberships. WE are still asking membership people to PLEASE check with the member and indicate how they want to receive their ME Snowmobiler newspaper. The membership total as of the same date, 11/16/23 are as follows: Total family memberships 3,424, total business memberships 726, with total of both at 4,150. Counts by region: Northern Region 775 members Western Region 775 members Eastern Region 1,435 members Central Region 633 members Coastal region 527 members Also, on that same date, the top 10 clubs in the state with submitted memberships were: Washburn, Moosehead Riders, Blue Ridge Riders, Northern Timber Cruisers, Pleasant Mountain SC, Fryeburg, East Branch Sno Rovers, Poodunck, Penobscot SC, and Rockabema SC. Keep the memberships coming in!! nage and corridor stakes in fields. My browsing on Facebook has shown me this year’s theme appears to be bridges. Reset a bridge. Redeck a bridge. Build a new bridge. Bridge after bridge after bridge. I’m sure the lumber yards through out the state appreciate the business. It’s a tre mendous example of how our volunteers are so important to the sport of snowmobiling. I want all the clubs to know that your dedication and effort does not go unnoticed. THANK YOU!! By the time you read this it will probably be close to Christmas and New Years. Take time to enjoy family and friends! Until next year…. Brent

Scholarship Committee

Trails Committee Chair Report

Brent Spaulding, MSA Trails Chairman 207-944-7762 41 Madison Ave Brewer ME 04412 msatrailchair@gmail.com G reetings from Brewer, November and December were very busy months for the trails committee. I was at a regional club meeting in East Machias, 4 dif ferent mapping meetings in Lewiston, Bangor, and Caribou, and Skowhegan and a trail signage workshop in Madawaska. Add in the regular club, E-board, and MSA Directors meetings and, for sure, the 23-24 season is in full swing. We don’t even have snow yet, but I know all this effort will pay dividends once the snow flies. Speaking of efforts, I have been impressed by all the trail activity throughout the state. In my extensive travels, I have seen road crossing sig

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

Hi Fellow Snowmobilers With the holidays, fast approaching it will be a good opportunity to think about family members that might benefit from the MSA Scholarship. Whether a senior in high school or someone currently enrolled in a post high school program the holiday season is great time to explore options for financial help with education. The timing is excellent too as the scholar ship committee is excited to announce that the scholarship awards have been increased to $1,500, starting next year the MSA will

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