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Finally some good press out of the Coy Hill area.

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Finally some good press out of the Coy Hill area.

Postby rblank » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:33 pm

*DISCLAIMER* - The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author and do not in any way represent, nor imply to represent, the views of the North East Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, it's officers, members, or affiliates.
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Postby Scott Hatch » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:36 pm

I was wondering when you'd post that here :lol: thanks :up:
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Postby rblank » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:44 pm

Thanks actually goes to Carl for posting it on NEE-OW....I only spammed it. :mrgreen:
*DISCLAIMER* - The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author and do not in any way represent, nor imply to represent, the views of the North East Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, it's officers, members, or affiliates.
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Postby Zaedock » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:06 pm

Awesome job, Mike. We're gonna multiply your current salary X3. :lol:
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Postby axle » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:08 pm

very cool!
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Postby cmerrick » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:25 pm

Andy V. made me aware of it this morning. He had hardcopy from the morning paper. I found it online.
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Postby Paul » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:11 pm

Zaedock wrote:Awesome job, Mike. We're gonna multiply your current salary X3. :lol:


yea, that will add a lot of zero's to the end of it. :lol:
Guy that used to do stuff a long long time ago.
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Postby JayZR2 » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:46 pm

Atta Boy Mike. A very productive way to show people we care about the place without wheeling it. :wink:
hyp·o·crite   [hip-uh-krit]
noun
1. A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
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Postby Scott Hatch » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:49 pm

Citing the East Coast Four-Wheel Drive Association and Northeast Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs as examples,


Truly a step in the right direction :)
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Postby mike_belben » Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:33 am

thanks guys, it isnt even a fraction of being enough to make a difference though. here is a quote of the post im spamming around that i hope gets out to the people.. to our average member who has never looked into land stuff.

please spread the word and see if we've got any new guys who want to step up to the plate.

its winter, a lot of people have cabin fever and want to do something positive for the sport, and that's awesome. i get asked pretty often what people can do to help. trail cleanups are good, but we are the only ones who know about them, and this isnt the season anyways, you can't see the trash under the snow. in the meantime, we can all work on public relations, needed now more than ever.
im trying to create a grassroots campaign, an "uprising" of outdoorsmen to petition the MA state government into recognizing 4x4 groups as a recreation entity, and to recognize motorized recreation's financial and tourism value as a whole. but it isnt as simple as a bunch of signatures. its going to take an overwhelming majority of public opinon to insist on the government becoming more motorized-recreation friendly.

-legislators are held accountable by their voting constituents.
-the general public makes up the constituency, but elderly women in particular tend to make up the majority of votes
-elderly people get their news and opinion of current events from the newspaper
-only two things get in the newspaper. bad events and good ones. 4x4's get mostly bad press

so what creates good press? what makes it hard for the ordinary citizen to dislike a stranger? in my opinion, its tough to dislike someone doing charitable work, doing community service or other good deeds, generally contributing more than they draw from the system. thats what we need the general public to think of 4x4 groups as.. contributors.

things we could easily do during the winter months that are newsworthy:
food drives
clothing drives
blood drives

these are all ive been able to come up with but there have to be more, what else? throw out your ideas please.

having just done the ware toy drive this christmas and had $1100 in my paypal account to deal with, and now maybe even have to pay taxes on.. i would suggest staying away from raising dollars. chances are, we arent going to raise an amount that makes people take much notice, and it presents a lot of opportunity for problems. i think time, goods and services are safer.

some of you might have experience setting up a charity event or might want to try your hand at it.. thats what im hoping this thread encourages. we need our membership to really start asking how we can market our sport to become more likeable to the general public, and taking steps to make it happen.

please take this thread back to your club forum's and see if you can spark interest from your membership into taking the lead, setting up their own events and contacting their local newspapers and stations to get credit for their hard work in their respective regions. this really needs to be a state wide push, and we (the organized 4x4 leadership) really need to start focusing our efforts on training and cultivating the next wave of leaders who will defend our sport.
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Postby Treasurer » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:46 am

Here is an accounting tip for the new guys. If you want to do a Fundraiser for the NEA4WDC use the NEA4WDC Paypal account and not your own account. Also any cash collected convert to a money order and send mail it ot he NEA4WDC. With checks you can just mail them as they are. Make sure all checks are made out to the NEA4WDC. Inform the donors that the NEA4WDC is not a charitable non-profit, we are a 501(C)4 and there is no tax deduction for them.

This will free you from the IRS saying that you had income from the money collected if being audited.
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Postby Floatsum » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:15 am

mike_belben wrote:
...............these are all ive been able to come up with but there have to be more, what else? throw out your ideas please. ...........

[/quote]


I feel like the, "Duh, I should of had a V-8" guy. :oops:

Around here we have like a good samaritan thing going on for folks in the winter. Usually works for hurricanes, snow storms, big power failures, and the like.
Some folks register with the local police dept. for getting supplies to folks that are stuck due to storms and things.
Often this includes snowmobiles, 4X4, volunteer firemen, and the such.
What we do is transports and furnish supplies. Maybe picking up medicines, and delivering foods, delivering to shelters, getting nurses to work at hospitals / retirement homes, etc.
Wouldn't be a big deal just to be listed as a NEA member instead of as a individual. Having a small tag / card handed out identifying me as an off road person member of NEA or something to that effect.
When folks get down & out because their mother ran out of insulin, their newborn baby is out of special formula, etc. it's hard for them to forget who helped, and even harder to talk bad about where the help came from.
Almost guaranteed to generate good press.
Clubs and individuals could even make notice at hospital bulletin boards, nursing homes, pharmacies, etc. to get exposure?
Something "official looking" would probably be better than just a note on a piece of scrap paper or napkin too and help tie it in all together as an Association. Maybe something participants would be able to copy off the internet site and just add their local name & number? Like a National movement! :twisted:

Just a thought. :wink:
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Postby mrfreakinwhite » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:38 pm

I think - www.4x4help.com is a registry for that.
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