Club Vice President
Hi Everyone. I am Pete, the Vice President and as such it is my responsibility to run our club invitational shoots. Along with our President Al Wiscovitch, I also deal with the day to day running of the club in general, and specifically we handle any complaints or issues that any of you have. Naturally you are always free to voice any issues at our club meetings held on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM in the clubhouse, however; Al and I are here to keep things running smooth on a daily basis. So, when problems arise, you should always feel free to contact either of us for immediate help.
It came to my attention that our PM’s were not getting the Emails that we send out to announce work parties, share newsletters, notices (some of great importance regarding the state of the range), etc. I spent a good part of Monday afternoon chasing down the glitch in the system and did get to the bottom of it. Hopefully by the time that this newsletter goes out you will all receive it as intended. Of course, if you don’t, you will not see any of this, so you will assume that I did not get it fixed. I don’t see a way to deal with that here, so I expect that you will all get ahold of me again should the problem continue.
Over this last month, we have had lock issues, we have had strong wind issues, we have had to run to the range to move debris, etc. Most of this goes without notice by many of you, however; these are the things that Al and I find ourselves overseeing on a moments notice. It doesn’t happen without help. There are many other board members as well as regular members who run down to the range to get on top of issues like felled trees, etc. and neither Al or I could do this without you, so thank you to everyone who steps up in our minor (and major) emergencies.
This last weekend we held our annual Charity shoot to raise money and toys for the local children. A little history of how this started goes back to the ladies in the club who brought the idea to us. They would include Lit Butcher, Donna Schwartz, and Lit’s daughter Angie Butcher has always been a major help with the program. Lit and Donna started out with local churches and schools that were in need of help and every year they came with a list of children, their ages, and any specific needs and they would spend the day sorting the gifts that our shooters brought in according to who on the list that they best fit. Very early on Angie began helping her mother and they became a three woman team. (I am doing this from memory, so please excuse me if I am forgetting anyone else who was involved in the early stages).
Currently we service the Chino Neighborhood House as well as the churches and schools that Angie is still in contact with. Lit passed away a few years ago, and Donna has moved out of state, so this is being almost entirely handled by Angie. She came in on Sunday, organized all the toys and is already dispersing them to their intended locations. Our Treasurer Louie Lopez sends a donation check to the Chino Neighborhood House from the club, and he adds any cash donations that we received to that check and I understand that the money goes to feed people at Christmas.
I should mention that Angie doesn’t even shoot a bow. Through her dad Dave Butcher and her mom Lit Butcher she has been a member of the club as long as I can remember (early 80’s at the very least). We all owe her our thanks and appreciation for her dedication to the children of Chino and her dedication to our club. Maybe in the coming years someone else will step up to help her with this job, however; that will not be easy because most of her contacts are personal contacts and it will take time to get to know them and possibly add to them. I just figure I should float that thought out here, because; this is an important function of our club. When you see Angie out here, please say hello and show her your thanks and support.
The Charity shoot itself went almost flawlessly. I received a lot of compliments on the range setup. There was one complaint that I personally feel was unfounded (15 degrees is considered a safe angle and in this instance there was close to 30 degrees), however; Al stepped up and moved things around some to help with perception. All in all, everyone seemed to have had a great time.
As many of you probably know, I started a group email between people who have time available on Mondays and are willing to help with target pickup. I am very happy to report that this seems to have paid off. I found myself with a great crew on Monday morning and we not only got the job all done by noon but we also reorganized the Connex’s (they were really torn up after that last shoot where lack of help led to animals being in the wrong Connex’s, heads were in a different Connex than the body, etc.) Now to be clear, I’m just happy that they got in the Connex’s at all due to lack of manpower that time and I am happy to have had the help that I did get. That said, now everything is neatly organized and ready for me to get in there and replace cores before the next shoot in February on Sunday the 11th.
That next shoot is the Rendezvous and we have big plans for that weekend. The shoot will be the usual 42 target unmarked 3D on Sunday. BUT, we are planning to get someone out to roast a pig on Saturday, and run at least one clout on Saturday afternoon and also run a flint round at the education area under the lights on Saturday evening. Saturday should also be a great day for anyone to set up a booth to sell any archery stuff they have to sell. So, mark it on your calendar to come out and camp for the weekend, have some relaxed fun on Saturday and enjoy the shoot on Sunday.
That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone for helping make this a great year at ORANCO, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I hope to see you all soon out on the range.
Pete Whitworth
(909) 223-5822
