A Note from the President

It is almost the end of the first year for this slate of SSR Officers and time to summarize what has been accomplished during the year so far and where we now stand.

Financially we have reversed the downtrend and now have a net worth of $10,000. This was achieved by replacing the newspaper format of the Journal Box with this 8.5 by 11 inch Xerox style publication. It contains all of the vital Region information including Minutes, Committee Reports and announcements. What is missing are the advertisements, but they hadn’t been paid for in about 2 years anyway. These are readily available from the web, or other hobby publications. The NMRA Directory of Manufacturers is a great place to look, as well as your local yellow pages. A significant donation from Marty Megregian has also been a boon to the Region finances, along with increased activity by Bob Gollings, Chair of Ways and Means. Income for the year so far has been $7000, and expenses were $3800.   Please understand that Bob Gangwish has done an outstanding job as editor of the JB and continues to do so.

While discussing web sites, Dan Cioffi has done an outstanding job of creating a totally new SSR web site. It is organized on a data base platform which will provide maximum security to members while providing the ability for electronic communication.  If you haven’t done so, visit Sunshineregion.org to acquaint yourself with this new modern up to date website for our Region. Congratulations and Thanks to Dan for a job well done.

The Region is back to two conventions a year with the spring 2008 one being hosted by Ridge Model Railroad Club and the fall one by Deerfield Beach. Both of these organizations have previously hosted one or more Region Conventions and we need to support these Clubs and show them it was worth their effort to assume the responsibility of hosting an event such as this.

Other developments include work that is underway to file for 501 (c)(3) tax exemption status with the Internal Revenue Service. This is a big undertaking requiring a great deal of time to satisfy all the IRS requirements to grant the exemption. It will allow a donor to treat a contribution to the Region as a tax deductible event for personal Income Taxes. Special arrangements can be set up to obtain the benefit for a Division as well.

Of a down note, Al Feinsod Jr. MMR has resigned as Vice President of the Region. Al has been an active member and a contributor for many years and will be missed. I asked Al if his decision was reversible and he stated no, so we all wish Al the very best and thank him for his many contributions. Marvin Kempner has stepped forward to fill in for Al’s remaining term.

There seems to be an increased level of member interest and participation. Membership is growing and the Division Meets being held by the Western Division have attracted much interest. These are one day meets that a member can attend and be home again within a single day. The last of these was in Ft Myers at Scale Rails and was preceded by a SSR Board Meeting.

At Board Meeting (abbreviated Minutes included in this issue), everything was brought up to date except one carry over item from the Ocala meeting.  Work is still being done on a restatement of the duties of Division Superintendents. This has been delegated to a committee consisting of the four Superintendents to come back to the Board with recommended language.  A lot more needs to be done, but it must be remembered that model Railroading is a hobby and the Region achievements

Hi to you All!

First let me apologize for not giving you any communication for some time.  The first attempt at a hard copy of the Journal Box failed because of the job assignments that the appointed editor suddenly faced at work.  During this same period a project to revise the web site became stalled for a like reason.  Therefore we were, for all intents and purposes, flying blind for a period of time.  We now have a revised approach with Bob Gangwish, the prior editor, taking the J.B. helm again.  We look forward to Bob’s first issue of the 12 page Journal Box and wish him well in his pursuit.  Dan Coiffi is building a new web site for the Region, which early indications say will be a knock out.  Both of these are scheduled to be live starting in July.
 
A lot has been going on, however, in Sunshine Region, and the proof of the pudding is the large number of outstanding modelers that have been discovered in our Region.  Membership has grown from 684 to 728 so far in 2007.  Many attended the Brick City Express convention in Ocala.  It was a major success with outstanding clinics, a train room of eye-popping layouts, great dealer representation and a memorable banquet, attended by over 100 people. To top this all off was an array of outstanding layouts on tour Sunday. The show stopper in the train room was the “Sundance Central” G scale 30’x 60’ layout, but also great were the two Ocala Club modular layouts and the first showing to SSR of the Trolley Layout that actually ran off of the catenary wire.  Beside this display was Jim Richards’s wife’s table displaying his MMR plaque and one of his outstanding Trolley models.  Jim passed away shortly after receiving his MMR award.
 
The Board of Directors meeting was well attended and a wide variety of subjects was discussed.  I invite your attention to the minutes of that meeting contained in this J.B.  We are on the verge of getting back to two conventions a year with the Tallahassee Club planning to host the spring and Deerfield Beach host for the fall 2008 conventions.  The Region was benefactor of a major donation of train equipment, consisting of 168 lots of HO items.  They are being sold through e-Bay and other outlets.  So far $1,000 has been realized and there is more to come. A project is underway to increase our revenue through advertising.  This might take a couple of directions, one being to put ads in the JB, the other to have revenue producing links on the web site.  These could connect to Hobby Shop Web sites or Clubs. Bob Gollings, our Ways and Means Chair is now stocked with patches, Convention Cars and open for business.  On the bad news side, the meeting lasted for 3 hours, without completing the agenda.  Future meetings will have to be shortened and the solution to this may be more frequent meetings.
 
Western Division has started holding one-day Division meets.  The first was Feb. 25.  More are scheduled in Aug, Oct. and next January.  These include a few clinics, a contest and some other event to attract interest in model railroading.  Each concludes with a round-table to develop ideas for future meets. The advantage is that they can be attended in one day with no hotel bills.  Opinion of Counsel has been received that the NMRA Insurance coverage is not invalidated by non-NMRA member attendance.  We all know that a lucrative pool exists from the general public for recruiting new members who are “lone wolfs” but would like to join a Club and then the NMRA.  Western Division is also consid