Happy New Year from the EAA Chapters Office!

January 2023 – Welcome to 2023! We hope you enjoyed your holiday season with family and friends and got a chance to relax. We also hope you stayed safe and warm if there was any brutal winter weather in your area.

To all the brand-new chapter leaders, we welcome you into your new roles! Thank you for stepping up to serve your chapters and to help them promote The Sprit of Aviation. We also thank all the chapter leaders who served in 2022 and dedicated their time and effort to helping their chapters succeed. Chapters are entirely driven by volunteers, and they would not exist without the hard work of leaders such as yourself.

We invite all new chapter officers to attend an upcoming Chapter Leadership Training event. These are presented by EAA chapters staff and cover a variety of topics that will help you improve your chapter and become a better chapter leader. There may be a one-day Chapter Leadership Boot Camp in your area in the next few months. You can also attend the two-day Chapter Leadership Academy at the EAA Aviation Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this spring. To learn more and sign up for one of these training events, visit EAA.org/ChapterTraining.

In addition, we also have several upcoming webinars about chapter leadership and chapter programs, which we also encourage you to attend. These webinars will cover a variety of topics, from serving as secretary or treasurer for your chapter, to donations and contributions, to chapter insurance and risk management. To sign up for these webinars, go to EAA.org/Webinars. If your chapter has not begun planning its activities for 2023 yet, then now is a great time to do so. We have a variety of tools to help you out at EAA.org/ChapterResources.

EAA is continuing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Young Eagles program. As part of this celebration, we will be offering double Young Eagles credits for all Young Eagles flights from January 1 through July 31, 2023. To learn more about this opportunity, go to EAA.org/YECredits.

It’s a new year and resolutions abound. How about one that you and your chapter would be happy to keep? Have your chapter or squadron engage local youths by participating in a Young Eagles Workshops or Build and Fly Program. Go to EAA Young Eagles Workshops or EAA Young Eagles Build and Fly Program for more information.

Whether you are a new or longtime chapter leader, remember that if you have any questions, you can contact the EAA chapters office at 920-426-4800 or chapters@eaa.org. We will be happy to help you out.

Once again, the EAA chapters office wishes you a happy New Year!

Charlie Becker, EAA Lifetime 515808, Director of Chapters & Homebuilt Community Manager
John Egan, EAA 336835, Sr. Manager of Chapters
Natasha Sarauer, EAA 1347644, Administrative Assistant for Chapters & Communities
Christopher Gauger, EAA 746128, Chapter Field Representative I
Tim Dahnke, EAA 842703, Chapter Field Representative I
David Leiting, EAA Lifetime 579157, Eagles Program Manager
Samantha Olson, EAA 797800, Young Eagles Program Assistant