Venice’s War Bird Tradition

12 Jul Venice’s War Bird Tradition

The following appeal for volunteers was sent to VASI from Area Coordinator Charlie Strumpf. Charlie, as many of you know, has poured countless hours of his time ensuring year after year of war bird visits to Venice. His latest and greatest accomplishment was making the Venice event the best stop in the State of Florida for 2012. And following 13 years of what he considers to be some of the most rewarding volunteer effort in his life, Charlie believes it’s time to pass the torch and continue the tradition. Without a volunteer stepping up soon, the annual Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour could easily drop the Venice venue and a long legacy will come to an end. Please consider the importance of sustaining our warbird heritage right here in Venice. Right where it belongs.

“As you know, for the last 13 years I have had the privilege of serving as the Area Coordinator for the Wings of Freedom Tour of the Collings Foundation aircraft. Now at the age of 84 I would like to pass the responsibility on to someone else.  Although transfer of the duties of coordinator has been discussed before, no one has voiced interest.

The job used to be  a little time consuming but  is now relatively easy to do considering the excellent support of the VASI  and EAA  in past years. To ease the transfer of responsibility I have written an outline of the procedures (not at all complicated) and will work along side the new coordinator for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to get him or her comfortable in the job.

I found the job to be very rewarding and much easier to do now that Collings has assumed almost all of the costs of the visit. There are now no big expenditures that the Area Coordinator has responsibility for; the cost of gas and miscellaneous supplies is minimal and now not a factor. I have had small donations of stakes for signs, and other expendables from Lowes and Home Depot. This has been dependent on how much notice you give them and of course their budget for local events.”

Regards,
Charlie Strumpf

Charlie hasn’t given his resignation, hoping that a new volunteer will step up before the next season is finalized this fall. By Charlie’s estimation, with the support of VASI, EAA and a cadre of helpful volunteers, the effort is now down to less than 40 hours a year, mostly loaded around the month of the event. Tasks are primarily telephone and email coordination, plus pre-event and event day supervision. Many hands, plus proven process makes quick and easy work of it all.

Give it some thought. Be at the center of the excitement. Talk to Charlie.