Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2011 Issue

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Mt. Pleasant, MI

MICHIGAN

Former Michigan District Directors

all Working Together By: Larry Terryn

Copyright, Michigan Wing News 25264 Palomino Ave,

Warren, MI 48089 (A Not for Profit Organization)

Visit us on the web at www.gwrra-mi.org

Wing News

Ken & Patti Kintner MI District Couple of the Year

2011 Chapter W—Chapter Directors

What an honor to be your 2011 Michigan District Couple of the Year! Ken and Patti Kintner, Chapter Directors of Chapter W

Maple City Wings in Adrian, Michigan, have been married 33 years. They have three beauti-ful and talented daughters, all married. They also have two grandsons, with another grand-baby coming in Septem-ber. Their dog Jack, an 8 year old Jack Russell, does not like it when he sees the riding gear because he knows they are off again leaving him alone. Patti would like a sidecar so that Jack could ride too. Ken would disagree. Patti is an accounts payable specialist for United Bank and Trust. Ken has owned his own business since 1983, evolving from Ken’s TV Service to Video Productions of Lenawee. They joined GWRRA in May of 2008 and haven’t m i s s e d a G a t h e r i n g since. Chapter W got them in-volved right away with the

newsletter in 2008 and the brag book in 2009. Becoming Assis-tant Chapter Directors in 2010 and Chapter Directors in 2011 was a great honor. They very are proud of Chapter W and glad to serve its mem-bers. Adding Chapter W Cou-ple of the Year in 2010 had topped the bill. (until now) Ken and Patti would like to thank the other Chapter Cou-ples of the Year for participat-ing. Skip and Nancy Edson from Chapter A, Rick and Joy Heber from Chapter V, and Duane and Laurel Lee Prince from Chapter Y are all so equally deserving. Judging must have been extremely diffi-cult. Ken and Patti will do their best to represent the mem-bers of GWRRA Michigan in the following year.

It has been a long-standing tradition in Michigan that former District Directors have been called upon to council and support the current District Director and their Team. 2010 was no exception. Seven former District Directors gathered at this year’s Rally/Convention in West Branch, Michigan to welcome aboard newly ap-pointed Directors, Bill & Vicky Young. The Young’s were Assistant District Directors and rally coordinators for 2010 and have a long his-tory of volunteering their time and expertise to benefit the members of GWRRA. This year’s theme was “Down on the Farm” and there was quite an array of folks dressed up for the part. This explains some of the attire in the picture below. Under the guidance of Bill & Vicky, Michigan had a successful Rally/ Convention. We are all looking for-ward to next year’s rally back in West Branch. The former directors also have a tradition, started by Dave & Ruth Henke, of gathering in the fall for a BBQ dinner. This year’s event was hosted by Tom & Shelly Rushman. Because some of the formers live a good distance from each other, the chance to get to-gether is always looked forward to with anticipation. Tom and Shelly provided BBQ steaks and the rest of the couples brought a dish to pass. Many old war stories were retold again and current events were discussed; a good time was had by all. Those in attendance this year were: Dave & Ruth Henke (82-85), Larry Terryn (87-91), Lorne & Carol Haase (92-95), Ron & Diana Miller (96-98), Audrey Holmes (98-03), Tom & Shelly Rushman (09), and current directors Bill &Vicky Young. Unfortunately Chris & Sally Bobek (03-09) were unable to attend. An example of how the formers worked together was demon-strated at the last officers meeting. Audrey Holmes volunteered to help the team when the goodie person was unable to attend and she

took care of the goodies at the meeting. Larry Terryn did a small part during the meeting on some GWRRA Michigan history and ticket sales. Chris and Sally Bobek spoke up when they had some recent knowledge of lottery license rules, thus avoiding a potential problem with the lottery commission. People working together is what makes the difference in GWRRA and we are all proud to be a part of that team.

Features in this Edition INTRODUCING: MI DISTRICT COUPLE OF THE YEAR 2011 Ken & Patti Kintner

GOLD WING ROAD RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Tom & Shelly Rushman District Treasurer

Page 2

District Director Billy & Vicky Young &

Region D Director Roger & Penny Hurley

Page 3

Senior District Rider Educators: Randy & Lori Westcott

Assistant Rider Educators: Ed & Vicky Philo

Page 4-5

MI Leadership Trainer Kathleen Heibel

Page 6

MI Assistant District Directors Articles Page 6-7

Former Membership Enhancement Dick & Ginny Beardsley

Page 8

2011 MI District Convention/Rally Info Page 9-10

MI Chapter Articles Page 11-19

Chapter Corner Page 20-22

Midnight Ride Farmer & Terri Rodgers

Page 23

Back Row from left: Larry Terryn, Ron Miller, Dave Henke, Tom

Rushman, Lorne Haase, Chris Bobek, Bill Young Front row from

left: Audrey Holmes, Dianna Miller, Ruth Henke, Shelly Rush-

man, Carol Haase, Sally Bobek, Vicky Young

Wing News

All letters, articles, art, photographs submitted become the property of MWN and are subject to reprint or quote excerpts or articles granted when full credit is given to the source. Copyright 2005, Michigan Wing News (a not for profit organization) is a com-pletely separate entity from Honda Motor Company Ltd. and the Gold Wing Road Riders Association Inc. (GWRRA) is not affiliated with any other organization. The opinions ex-pressed in the articles are the opinions of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association Inc.

Michigan Wing News Editor: Valerie Jones

MICHIGAN

Where Does All The Money Go?

By: Tom & Shelly Rushman

MI District Treasurer

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the money that the District takes in? I know there are some Members that do. It isn‟t an issue of distrust, they are just curious. After all, there are a lot of people that paid to attend the District Rally each year. And besides that, what about all the money we take in from the Bike Raffle? We did a presentation on this topic at the last Officer Meeting that we would like to provide for you now in this article. I have also in-cluded the charts from that pres-entation to help you understand the figures. Let‟s start with the Michi-gan Rally/Convention. The total from registration and camping fees was $14,240. Income from the 50/50 drawings came to $1710 and the fees from the ven-dors were about $1500. So the total income to the District for the 2010 Michigan Rally was $17,450. That sounds like a lot but now let‟s look at what it cost to put on that Rally. To start out, the cost to rent the fairgrounds for the weekend is $7,000 plus the electric bill for the weekend (they read the meter when we come in and again when we leave) at $936. Staff expense for the weekend (fuel and rooms) was $2652. We spent $890 to have the Rally Pins made and $763 to rent the golf carts. In the food vendor area was a large tent for you to sit under while you ate. This tent cost us $200. In addition to the above was „miscellaneous rally expenses‟ for things such as decorations, kitchen supplies, gift cards and other prizes, Best of Show Tro-phy, other plaques and awards, printing for your Rally Packets, hospitality room supplies and a few other items that needed to b e p u r c h a s e d . T h e „miscellaneous expenses‟ totaled

about $2400. If you add this all up, you will see that the cost of putting on the Rally was about $14,841. Subtracting this amount from the Rally income of $17,450 leaves the District fund with $2,609! So – do we make money on the Rally? Yes, but not very much. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!!

Now on to the Bike Raf-fle. You all worked very hard in 2010 selling bike raffle tickets and the total ticket sales came to $74,867. That is a LOT of tick-ets! Ya‟ll do a SUPER job! So what happened to all that money? First we had to pay for the bike. NO – The bike is NOT donated. We paid $18,899 for the bike (First Prize). Second Prize is $1,000 and Third Prize is $500. There is also the “Ticket Seller Incentive”; $100 for the seller of the first place ticket, $50 for the seller of the Second Place Ticket and $25 for the Seller of the Third Place Ticket (total of $175). The cost for the State License and printing of the tick-ets was $2696. Every Chapter gets back 35% of the ticket sales for that Chapter ($0.35 for every ticket sold) which gives the chap-ters income for your hard work in selling these tickets. The total that was donated back to all the Chapters for 2010 was $24,950. At the MI Rally Closing Cere-mony a donation check was pre-sented to Rainbow Connection for $7500. The total cost involved with the Bike Raffle is $55,720 which leaves the District Operat-ing Fund with $19,147 or about 25.6%. The MI Rally and the Bike Raffle are the only events that bring any money into the District Operating Fund so, for 2010, we have $19,147 from the Bike Raf-fle plus $2609 from the MI Rally for a total of $21,756. This needs to cover everything that the District does for the year. What does the District do? Here are just some of the costs in-volved in running GWRRA in Michigan: Expenses for the Offi-cer Certification Program, Officer Meetings, Installation of Chapter Officers, office supplies, postage, District Team Staff Meetings, at-tendance at Region D Meetings, etc. Anytime a District Team Member attends a Chapter event on “Official business” we are re-imbursed for fuel. If we just go out to visit a Chapter, it is at our

own expense. Any time over-night lodging is required such as Officer Meetings, Region Meet-ings, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Region D Rallies, (if we work the rally which we always do), Wing-less Weekend, etc. we are reim-bursed for ½ the room cost and our fuel. Any and all expenses require receipts and must be ap-proved by the District Director (Bill Young) before they are paid. As you can see, while the District Team is reimbursed for reasonable expense, we are cer-tainly not paid to run around the State visiting Chapters.

We do incur expenses that come out of our own pockets (as do all Chapter Directors and other officers). If any of you have ques-tions regarding this topic, please feel welcome to contact us by email, phone or in person. We will always do our best to answer your questions and listen to your ideas.

GWRRA-MICHIGAN WING NEWS 2011 Edition Page 2

A word from Roger & Penny Hurley, Region D Directors

Michigan District Team

Bill & Vicky Young District Directors

734-301-3492

Randy & Lori Westcott Senior District Rider Educators

248-760-2947 (R) 248-459-2823 (L)

Kathleen Heibel District Leadership Trainer

(616) 560-7984

Tom & Shelly Rushman District Treasurer/ Tickets

313-559-3130 (T) 313-559-3138 (S)

Ken & Kathleen Heibel Assistant District Directors

(616) 560-7984

Gayle & Dennis Jisa Assistant District Directors

(248) 627-6320

Ron & Valerie Jones Assistant District Directors

(586) 381-3515

Farmer & Terri Rodgers Assistant District Directors

(231) 893-4108

Ed & Vicki Philo Assistant Rider Educators

Motorist Awareness Program 517-423-8369

Dennis Jisa Vendor Coordinator

248-627-6320

Valerie Jones District Communications

Michigan Wing News Editor 586-381-3515

Ken & Patti Kintner 2011 District Couple of the Year

517-902-9893

Hello Everyone, We hope all of you enjoyed the holi-days and wish you the best in 2011. Penny & I are looking forward to meeting a lot of you for the first time. Over the years we have made many friends thru GWRRA and are excited to add many more.

We have been in GWRRA for 25 years. We both are still in the work force. Penny is a Unit Clerk at Grace Brethren Village Nurs-ing Home. She has been there 27 years. I have been a machinist, in the tool & die trade for 37 years. We have been married for 38 years. We have two daughters and three grandchildren. There’s nothing like grandchildren, RIGHT !! We have always told our family and friends that GWRRA is our second family. We love the organization and believe it has helped us become better individuals. Penny tells everyone I have the gift of gab, so you better watch out when I see you. Each of you are very important in Region D. I feel I am an easy going person and willing to listen. Please come up and introduce yourself to us . I LOVE HUGS ! 2011 brings a lot of challenges to our organization. Our mem-bership is declining and we have to get a better grip on this . We want to see the FUN get back into chapter life . Members join GWRRA to ride. It’s our job to show them how much FUN & the education on safety they can have. But most of all, the friendship that comes with being a member of GWRRA , as well as in Region D. Region D will continue to ROCK !! Chapter Directors & your team are the ones who can make or

break the chapter. Yes, we do have some paper work involved in your position. The worst thing you can do is complain to the mem-bers. Please try and stay away from this. Let us work harder making them want to come back each month for more laughs and FUN. The National Team is working very hard for the membership. You are go-ing to be introduced to new programs. Please keep an open mind and try new things. Change is good for everyone. We would love to see chapters or couples try and go along to on their own to one of the other District’s Convention. Each District has good ideas and while attending them you just might take some of these back to your District. Penny & I are here for you, the members. If you have an idea that you feel would help Region D or the chapters please bring it to our attention. Thanks. Once again, have FUN and looking forward being your Re-gion D Directors.

GWRRA-MICHIGAN WING NEWS 2011 Edition Page 3

Bill & Vicky Young MI District Directors

We would like to use this space to inform members of some of the happenings within our District and Association. Let’s start with the OCP. Kathleen and Ken Heibel have done an awesome job getting this out to the officers and the members alike. Members, did I say members? YES, this training is open to ANY and all who are interested or curious. It’s a day and a half of training and visiting with other GWRRA friends. If you have heard versions of things like “we can’t do this” or “we have to do that”, this is the place to clear it all up. Our Association has, as of January 1, 2011, started recognizing the Treasurers and the Mem-bership Enhancement folks as officers. This will give these offices the importance deserved and needed. We are catching up with paper work and moving forward with this. We hope to see many of the new officers at the spring officers meeting on April 16, 2011 at the Lexington Hotel in Lansing. With things like the economy here in Michigan it has been a strain on many and one of the first cut backs are always the “toys” or extras. With that it tends to lighten attendance at Chapter functions. We have heard and seen small chapters discuss closing because of the number in average atten-dance. Why? Is it not fun to be with 8 or 10 happy friends? There is no need or requirement to have numbers in the 30, 40, or 70 people range. If you

folks are having fun, keep doing it!!! In Michigan the District picks up the charter fee for all of the chapters. That only leaves a newsletter expense for each chapter to burden. With the free Web-site that can be near nothing. Bottom line, let’s get sim-ple, have fun and enjoy. In this issue of Michigan Wing News you will

find information about this year’s Rally/Convention

in West Branch. Our theme this year is Cowboys.

When I first heard this I thought of the Old West,

but we still have cowboys today. How about those

bull riders or the ones singing like George Strait or

Garth Brooks? Hey maybe a cowgirl like REBA. Of

course there is still history to think about but either

way grab your guitar and come out for a great

weekend with your GW family. The plans are being

set in place to allow a number of different activities

throughout the weekend. Expect a bon-fire one

night, some of that line dancing another night, the

bike events durin’ the day. If you try you’ll stay too

busy ta eat.

Think of Tomorrow ~ Live Today

Roger & Penny Hurley Region D Directors

Team MI attending a Region D Meeting

LOOK TWICE …….

SAVE A LIFE !!!!

The Amazing Team Challenge

By: Randy & Lori Westcott MI Senior District Educators

What’s On Your Head?

Information for this article came from the GWRRA Ad-vanced Rider Course, March 2010; the Mo-torcycle Safety

Foundation (MSF); Protect Your Head, 1997, a pamphlet from Allstate Insurance; and from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As they say in the GWRRA Rider Courses, your hel-met is “arguably the most impor-tant piece of riding gear.” But why exactly is there any argu-ment? The NHTSA says that hel-mets save hundreds of motorcy-clists’ lives every year and that hundreds more would be saved if all motorcyclists would wear hel-mets. Modern helmets do not limit your ability to hear or see because they are made from lightweight, comfortable materi-als. The helmet is designed to protect you from skull injuries and/or concussions, from pene-tration by foreign objects, or from various cuts and abrasions that can result from crashes. Less obviously, it will also protect you from cold and heat, wind and wind noise, and, if equipped with a visor, from the elements, flying insects, or road debris. There are four major com-ponents of a helmet. The outer shell absorbs initial impact and distributes it over a larger area, reducing the force at the impact point, reducing the amount of force that reaches your head. The high-density foam liner is made of a polystyrene ma-terial that crushes on impact to absorb the shock, cushioning your head. This liner can absorb a great deal of energy.

The comfort liner, the soft foam and cloth layer that touches your head, provides a comfort-able, snug fit. This reduces the possibility of helmet rotation dur-ing impact. The retention system, or chin strap, made of nylon or leather with a fastening buckle, keeps the helmet on your head where it can do its job. Failure to securely fasten the buckle on the chin strap makes the helmet virtu-ally useless, as it will likely come off in any accident where it would be needed. The components of the helmet, especially the foam liner, deteriorate over time, reducing the amount of protection you can expect. Helmet manufacturers recommend that helmets be re-placed every three to five years to provide maximum protection. There is a date of production stamped on helmets manufac-tured after 1974. Look for it un-der the comfort liner. Replace your helmet if it is ever in an acci-dent, even if there is no visible damage. They should also be replaced, or at least inspected and retested, if the manufacturer offers this service, whenever they suffer even a minor impact (such as dropping from the seat of your motorcycle.) Helmets come in four ba-sic styles, each offering a differ-ent level of protection. The most protection is provided by the full face helmet, with the fixed chin bar. Next best, for protection, is the modular helmet, which allows the chin bar to be rotated up to the forehead or top of the head. With the chin bar rotated up, this helmet offers much less protec-tion than when the chin bar is locked in the lower position. Full face and modular helmets usually come with movable face shields that can be operated easily with one hand. This face shield should be down when the motor-cycle is moving. Offering somewhat less protection is the open-face, or three-quarter helmet, as it does not protect the face from impacts or abrasion. You will need a snap-on face shield or other eye protection (preferably goggles) which can withstand the impact of a stone when wearing an open-face helmet. The least protection is provided by the “shorty,” or half helmet. This type of helmet does

not protect the lower face or the lower side of the head and neck. What should you look for when you are buying a helmet? The first thing is to look for the DOT (U.S. Department of Trans-portation) or SNELL (Snell Me-morial Foundation) marking. Mo-torcycle helmet manufacturers voluntarily test their helmets to insure they meet the Federal Mo-tor Vehicle Safety Standard 218. These standards assure that the helmets stay fastened during im-pacts, do not restrict your periph-eral vision, and protect you from impact and penetration by sharp objects. If the helmets pass, they are marked with the DOT sticker. There should also be a label in-side the helmet that indicates the manufacturer, model, size, month and year of manufacture, con-struction materials, and owner information. Check the date of manufacture to make sure the helmet has not spent too long on the shelf. If a helmet does not have these labels, it does not meet the U.S. standards. If the labels are not on the helmet at the time of purchase, it is proba-bly a novelty helmet which does not comply with the U.S. stan-dard. In an accident a non-compliant helmet will not protect you. Some manufacturers choose to hire the SNELL labora-tories to inspect their helmets. SNELL testers then test a repre-sentative sample of helmets for certification and randomly select additional helmets from retailers over time to retest to assure that the helmets continue to meet their standards. Next, make sure the hel-met fits comfortably. You are more likely to choose to wear your helmet if it is comfortable. If the helmet is too large, it will let wind in, it will wobble on your head, and it may come off in an accident. As with any clothing purchase, different manufacturers design their helmets for different head shapes. It may take some experimentation to find a brand that fits your head shape. A hel-met should fit squarely on your head and fit snuggly. A properly fitting helmet may feel too tight until properly in place. It should not be tilted back on your head. Strap on the helmet. Use your hands to move it, lightly, up and down, and from side to side.

Your skin should move with the helmet. You should feel even pressure all over your head. Remember, your hel-met will loosen up a little over time as the liner compresses so a new helmet should be snug but comfortable. With the chinstrap fastened, try to roll the helmet forward. If it rotates on your head, covering your eyes, it is too big. The cheek pads should touch your cheeks without push-ing them in. There shouldn’t be gaps between your temples and the brow pads. On a full face hel-met, push on the chin bar to be sure nothing touches your nose or chin. If it does, the wind pres-sure while riding will intensify this and it will soon become uncom-fortable. I recommend trying the prospective helmet on in the store and wearing it for a half hour or so, just to make sure no “hot spots” show up over time. Most Gold Wingers ride for long peri-ods of time and you want to be sure that your helmet will stay comfortable. When you take off the helmet, your head should not feel sore. Look in a mirror; there should not be any red spots. A motorcycle helmet must be worn at all times, by law, in Michigan and in all Canadian provinces. Other states, includ-ing those surrounding us do not require most adults to wear a hel-met. It is up to you to choose whether you want to accept the risk of riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Remember, a helmet is the only proven way to protect your head if you are in an acci-dent. Wear it every time you ride. We hope we see you when we’re out and about this summer…

Until then, Ride SAFE. Have

FUN. Hope to see you down the road.

By: Randy & Colette Houtman Former Asst., District Educators

We would like to invite everyone to join in the newest riding

challenge for the members of GWRRA. It was created to allow everyone to participate whether you ride two, three, or four wheels. Your machine, skill level, and/or age shouldn’t be a con-cern. This course involves a straight-away, right and left turns, a couple of 360 degree circles, a cone weave, stopping in a box, and huge FUN. All this in a seven foot wide course to fit all bikes. The challenge in this ob-stacle course is no different than the challenge you face every time you saddle up. You are going to see Training Does Pay Off!!

GWRRA-MICHIGAN WING NEWS 2011 Edition Page 4

Randy & Lori Westcott awarded:

Certificate of Appointment

“Senior District Educators”

MI District Convention 2010

Pappa Wade Chapter S2 Amazing Team Challenge Participant

Randy Houtman Former Asst. Rider Educator

Amazing Team Challenge Participant

GWRRA-MICHIGAN WING NEWS 2011 Edition Page 5

By: Ed & Vicki Philo Asst. District Educators Motorist Awareness Sharing the road and accident free driving is a goal for all drivers, no matter what you’re driving. Of course when you ride a motorcycle that’s really your goal! As a motorcycle rider, you’re more aware of bikes when you’re driving your 4 wheeled vehicle than drivers who have never ridden. There are millions of drivers that have never owned or never want to own a motorcycle. Most don’t really pay attention to motorcycles while others are even annoyed with motor-

cycles. Maybe this is because they don’t know what to look for or they’ve just never really thought about it. As motorcy-cle riders, it’s our job to make sure they see us and know what to look for. The Motorist Awareness Divis ion of GWRRA is set up to do just that. If we all work together to inform the public about motor-cycles, we’ll make the roads safer for everyone. We need to get the word out that we’re on the roads and we need your help. In today’s society, distracted driving is more prevalent than ever. Cell phones, iPods and all the other gadgets that are available make any driving risky. If every one of us would give just one talk or seminar, think of the number of people we would be reaching. You do not have to be a certified in-structor to put on one of the GWRRA Motorist Awareness seminars. Anyone can do it. Just go out and do what most of us do best, talk about mo-torcycles. You can put on a seminar anywhere. Service clubs such as the Lions, Ki-

wanis, or Rotary Clubs are al-ways looking for speakers to come to their meetings. Talk-ing to middle school students and showing them your motor-cycle, maybe even letting them sit on it will create excitement for them. So the next time they’re riding in a car with Mom or Dad and see a motor-cycle they’ll be excited and say, “hey look, a motorcycle” when Mom or Dad may not have even noticed it. Every one of us has a contact or place that would welcome a GWRRA member to come in and talk to them. We’ve been told about studies that have been done with items hung from a vehi-cle’s rear view mirror and that a simple pine tree air fresh-ener has the ability to create a blind spot big enough to hide a dump truck! Imagine how small the item can be that’s hanging from the rear view mirror that would block the view of a motorcycle, for just a split second. It’s up to us to remind drivers that we’re out there. If they don’t ride they won’t think twice about having

items hanging in their car that may distract them. We all need to help make drivers more aware of motorcycles and that we share the road. Motorist Awareness is preventative maintenance for all of us. We look forward to helping our GWRRA mem-bers get the word out. Infor-mation on seminars is avail-able on the region and national website or get in touch with us and we’ll help you get any in-formation you need. You can reach us at vephilo@ymail.com or 517-423-8369.

Motorist Awareness

Training Does Pay Off What a great Christmas Gift - A

Life

Neil Pifer (Former Senior Rider Educator of Chapter Y) along with Ed, a friend from our park, go for their morning walk across the street in another park because the roads have a little more grade to them. One morning while they were on their walk they heard someone screaming, “Help me! My mother is dying!” Neil and Ed went into the trailer where they found an unresponsive female. Neil and Ed put her on the floor. Neil checked for breathing and a pulse. Finding neither Neil started performing CPR. The daughter had already called 911 and had them on the phone. The dis-patcher told them to do 600 com-pressions, then 2 breaths. By the time he got to 400 compressions EMS arrived and she started to gurgle. I checked with the park man-agers about two weeks later and they informed me that she was still in the hospital and that they had placed a stint in. She is ex-pected to make a full recovery. This is why everyone should take the training and know how to perform CPR. You never know when it might be needed whether on a stranger, a friend, or a family member.

Great Job Neil!

Submitted by: Bobby Millspaugh Chapter Y

Michigan District Leadership Trainer

Kathleen Heibel

When I talk to members about the Leadership Training Program, I tell them that it is for all members. Not just for members wishing to become leaders in our Association. The Leadership Training Program is one of the benefits that comes with your membership, and like I say, it is one the best free benefits of your member-ship. There are many pro-grams (curriculums) available

to you. Yes, we want trained, knowledgeable leaders. That is why we offer the Officer Certi-fication Program. In this cur-riculum you will learn about the GWRRA structure, but more importantly the “Why” we do what we do. The OCP will help you understand why GWRRA is different from other organi-zations. Members taking the OCP will gain a better under-standing of the role of an Offi-cer and how every member can have a vital part in the success of their chapter. When we know better, we do better. The Horizon’s Pro-gram is offered to give a great over-view of our Association, and provide information to po-tential leaders and all mem-bers. It provides many skills that will benefit your experi-ence as a GWRRA Member, as well as your every day life. Who couldn’t improve on com-munication skills? “Horizon’s” will help you become a better team member. The Leadership Train-ing Modules are short (20-45 minute) lessons on many top-ics. The modules are designed to be presented at gatherings at the Chapter, District or Re-gion level. They are divided

into series of modules called “Programs”. The Chapter Life Program helps all members to understand the role of the CD and how chapters are organ-ized, explain the Rider Educa-tion program and many things that you may need to help a Chapter function better. The Member Orienta-tion program offers informa-tion on member benefits, and the structure and history of GWRRA. This section provides the member with information to help them understand the As-sociation they have chosen to be a part of and how to make the most of their membership. The Life Skills Section helps everyone with skills needed to better their every day life. These include: Time and Stress Management, Lis-tening and Communicating, Remembering Names and Public Speaking basics. Im-proving your Self Esteem can and will improve your success. Three levels of Chapter Leadership Skills are offered to help all volunteer leaders and members develop and re-fine the skills necessary to be an effective leader both inside and outside of GWRRA. They include modules such as;

Chapter Finances, Motivating and Managing Volunteers, and High Impact Leadership skills, as well as many more. Things are always evolving, so mod-ules will be changing and up-graded. Be prepared for newer and updated versions coming to you soon. Helping all members gain the most of their GWRRA experience is really what the Leadership Training Program is all about. Your paid mem-bership places many doors (opportunities) in front of you. Take advantage of any and all of them. You never know where it may take you. Becoming a LTP “instructor” is one of those opportunities. As with all GWRRA programs, talk with your District Team mem-bers to learn more. I am very willing to talk (lots. I’ve been told) about the benefits of “Leadership Train-ing”. If you would like to learn more or find out how a module can be brought to a Chapter near you, don’t hesitate to give me a call. You can contact me via the Michigan District web-site. All GWRRA Leadership Training is offered FREE of

charge to all members.

What is Leadership Training? And What can it do for you?

The start of 2011 brings change to the Southwest section with ½ of the Chapters having new Chapter Directors being in-stalled. The level of enthusiasm that many of these new officers bring with them has sparked a renewed interest in chapter life from many of the participants both new and long term. As the new teams begin to form, a sense of belonging takes hold among those who express the desire to serve the members. New Officers fresh from the Officer Certification Program embrace the Team concept and as “funcilitators” promote the “WE” to get as many chapter participants to help support the fun and success of the chapter. The question becomes how to capture that enthusiasm and maintain a “fun” environment as the weeks and months progress. As we see it, attitude becomes key. Longer term members have so much to offer from their vast ex-periences. Newer members want to ex-perience everything that their member-ship offers to them, many of the things that the longer term members have al-ready experienced.

How do we enjoy these things to-gether without falling into the “been there, done that” mentality? One idea might be to change the phrase to “Let’s do it again”, or “renewed”. Enhancing experi-ences to meet everyone’s needs and in-corporating everyone’s ideas. Using prior experiences, like ho-tels, restaurants, even routes, makes the “LT’s” (Longer Term members) feel like a valued part of the process. Incorporating new stops, side-trips, and destinations bring the new spark and enthusiasm to something that has been done once be-fore. Stories, pictures and souvenirs from the previous trips that are shared only increase the enthusiasm and encourage more participation. Utilizing knowledge and experi-ences of the “LT’s” incorporated with the enthusiasm of the newer members and officers is key to keeping the attitude positive and encouraging participation. Adding games and prizes will keep gath-erings fun. Changing locations, time, food, or activities (maybe only one at a time) will add enthusiasm to “same old” events. Trying something new, like; chap-ter games, a skit, camping together, and eating meals together, will add energy to

district and region events. Keeping up the enthusiasm will grow interest in your chapter and events. Utilize experience and capture the energy of both the longer term and newer mem-bers. Grow enthusiasm and grow your chapter and our Association.

Keeping and Growing the Enthusiasm

Ken & Kathleen Heibel Assistant District Director

Southwest Section

GWRRA-MICHIGAN WING NEWS 2011 Edition Page 6

Ken & Kathleen Heibel - Leadership Trainers

OCP Training West Branch Dec. 2010