First, I direct your attention to a recent post I made on the Florida board. To save you time, here it is:
"Florida, Jan 2010"
And not a single Appleseed on the sched?
In a state of lovely Jan weather?
ZERO in Florida - while in freezing NH, WI, AR, and NC, we are having Appleseeds?
ZERO in Florida - in a year when the goal is 800 Appleseeds - or 67/month?
When we only have ELEVEN to date - nationwide! - for the month of January?
I know traditionally we get off to a slow start every Appleseed year - but isn't this overdoing things a bit?
If other states have their peak months in the spring, fall, and maybe summer - somehow, it's hard to envision Illinois or Wisconsin or Minnesota having their peak months in Jan or Feb - shouldn't Florida have its peak months in Jan and Feb?
So far NOT A SINGLE Appleseed on the sched in Jan for Florida.
Think that's bad? Try NOT A SINGLE Appleseed in Florida for FEBRUARY!
Or MARCH...
Or April....
SHOULD THERE BE AN APPLESEED IN FLORIDA, IN 2010? (Just askin'...)
Should there be an Appleseed a weekend in Florida, in Jan and Feb?
Should there be two Appleseeds a weekend in Florida, in Jan and Feb?
Should there be three...? Or four...?
What can we do, to beef up the Florida sched for Jan and Feb?
I merely bring the issue up. >:D
There are 30 people on this board.
The only way we'll get Appleseeds on the sched for Florida is if you guys get out and beat the bushes.
I'd start with locations which have already had Appleseeds. They should all be "gimees".
Then I'd start looking for people with private property who care about the future of their country, and would be willing to host a weekend AS.
As well as taking the program to new clubs - heck, we're not an unknown quantity, anymore - and see if you can get a spark of interest in a club in supporting a classic 'pass the tradition on' program.
Again, the key component in this program is - YOU.
Thirty of you.
Each of you get one Appleseed set up for Jan or Feb - and - bingo! - we have THIRTY AS on a Florida sched which currently has ZERO.
Dunno about you, but I'd be feeling pretty good about that. It'd be a great start to the AS 2010 year.
"Feeling good"? Isn't that what this program is all about? **) **) **)
What does this have to do with California, you ask?
After all, CA has nearly half of the events on the Jan sched - isn't that enough?
The short answer is, "no - it's not enough."
If you have the time monkey on your back, there's never gonna be "enough" in this program.
Yet, CA, like FL, bears a burden in the program - the burden of getting us off to a good start each year.
Of front-loading AS in two states with generally good weather.
Jan should be a "max effort" month in both CA and FL.
An "all hands on deck" month.
For that matter, so should February.
Which also helps lead us into the max-effort month of April.
It's nearly too late, to add to the Jan sched. Note - "nearly"!
There's 58 people on this board - the biggest in AS.
Can we make Jan/Feb a "maximum effort" month for Appleseed?
We need to try and reach our average goal for 2010 of 67 AS/month - and CA is well-situated to be THE leader in that effort.
What do you say?
Would it be worth it?
We have a country to save, and time is short...
Can we get started? O0
Both Florida and California have a huge responsibility to the rest of the country in terms of winter Appleseeds. Anyone remember Freds rewards program for instructors? ( something about treating the non appleseed spouse to a long weekend in a exotic location ) <:)
This would be FL or CA in the dead of winter. You have hundreds of your AS brothers and sisters, who, having worked their butts off for 9 months, are checking the schedule DAILY, in the hope of finding a shoot in your states in Jan, Feb and March. We are not only looking for opportunities for a shoot, but a sold out, filled to the brim shoot, where we will be needed! We are not slackers, after all.
If you do your part, we will do ours and provide a opportunity for you to escape the snake and lizard country in the summer and come to where all the ranges are carpeted with lush mowed grass with no dirt or dust anywhere.
When you're right, you're right.
We are pushing through this winter with an Appleseed every month in Sacramento, and with two weeks left we have almost two dozen Pre-regs for Sacramento and another 12 in Red Bluff on the same weekend, brave enough to face whatever December may throw at us. A big thanks to AntiBubba, Sklar, Graham U, Eaglescouter, and NorCal22Gal for all the work promoting Appleseed in the Sacramento and NorCal areas. Unfortunately our Instructors and IITs have turned out in full force so I can't keep any idle northern instructors busy in December, but we'll see how January turns out.
We have new locations in NorCal coming up soon so there may still opportunities to put some out of work instructors on the line. We will keep y'all in mind.
I just booked two more Appleseed Events for the month of February. Both are on Feb 20-21. One will be held at the Redwood Gun Club in Eureka, CA and the other will be held at Chabot Gun Club in Castro Valley, CA.....the Bay Area! That makes a total of 5 for January and 6 for February!