Thanksgiving Update 2015

Thanks to all our Family, Individual & Business Members for your support!
Thanks to everyone who helped out and came to our bullhead feed, spring pancake breakfast, annual meeting, local events and 10 club rides this year!

Thanks to our ATV Youth Safety Instructors! 15 students attended our class at the WACC in October. Thanks to Lloyd Solarz for organizing it, Chuck and Julie Andrews for doing the classroom part and all the volunteers who worked as instructors or helpers.

Thanks to all our great Trail Ambassadors!  Our dedicated TAs monitored ATV trails in northern Minnesota a total of 394 hours. Our DNR grant for the year totaled just under $7,000, which goes toward reimbursements for TA expenses and club expenses related to ATV safety and education. Final reimbursement checks will be mailed out as soon as we receive our final grant payment from the DNR. Thanks to Dick Buche and Joyce Dickerman, who donated mid-year TA reimbursement checks back to the club.

Thanks to everyone who rode in parades and worked in the club trailer at local events! Including Hackensack Night Out, and the Hackensack Chainsaw Event. 

Woodticks attend NOHVCC 25th Anniversary Conference: Club members Dave Halsey and Ron Potter attended this year’s NOHVCC conference in Folsom, California. That’s the state where NOHVCC was dreamt up by two people who worked at Honda, and created in 1990 by a “Design Team” of OHV leaders from across the country. Their goal was to help establish OHV clubs and state associations across the U.S. And they were successful! Club member Ron Potter, who retired from the MN DNR after 37 years and is creating a 100 mile ATV trail in northern Minnesota, was given a Special Recognition Award for his work with NOHVCC. The ride at this year’s conference was held at the Prairie City SVRA. NOHVCC also released its new 350-page resource guide that will be used by OHV state and federal land managers, clubs and organizations to build “Great Trails” that are both fun and environmentally sustainable. It has 100s of photos, including some of our club. Learn more about NOHVCC and sign up to receive its monthly
e-newsletter (written by Halsey) at nohvcc.org.
 
ATV S&R Team Update -- The next training session for the club’s ATV Team that will assist the Sheriff’s Dept in search and rescue efforts, is Saturday, December 5th at the parking lot on Ben Draper Road, near the Moose River ATV Trails. It will include GPS training and an outdoor exercise with their ATVs. Thanks to the 20 members have volunteered for this outstanding community service. The club is using a $7,000 Polaris TRAILS grant to purchase search and rescue equipment, including a Rescue Insert that will be donated to the county for use in its 2012 Ranger 800. The Pilot newspaper has written about this program and club donation.

Polaris delivers 200th TRAILS grant. Since Polaris launched its program in 2006, it has donated more than $1.7 million to OHV clubs, associations and groups across the U.S. to ensure the future of safe, legal and accessible ATV riding. Our club has received three grants from Polaris, totaling $22,000, which we used to purchase our ATV Safety Education Trailer, Youth Vehicles for safety training and promoting safe riding at community events, and future S&R equipment.  Thanks Polaris!

Club gear sales were brisk throughout the fall. We sold a lot of blaze orange hoodies, camo hoodies and lined wind jackets. Wear them proudly! Let us know if you’d like to purchase gear for Christmas gifts and we’ll make it happen!

Sending our thoughts and prayers to members who are hurting, including:
-Dick Nytes, founding member and board member, undergoing 5 weeks of radiation treatments at Mayo Clinic for brain cancer.
-Mike Ebinger, club treasurer and Trail Ambassador, who hasn’t been able to ride since August, and is struggling with a serious pulmonary illness and other health issues.
-Scott Meyers, who led our club at the Hill City ride, and joined our team of Trail Ambassadors along with his wife Theresa. Scott suffered a stroke, was airlifted to Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, and is now in therapy to regain speech and movement on his right side. He hopes to continue rehab work at home in the near future.
-Joyce Dickerman and family, who lost husband and father John in a construction accident in July. John was our club’s VP, a Safety Instructor, Trail Ambassador an outstanding volunteer for the Woodtick Wheelers, and a great friend.

Celebrating with our oldest member: Jim Theisen, founding member, big supporter of the club, always helping with food and coffee at our meetings, and all-around great guy, just turned 80! Happy Birthday Jim!

Thanks for being a member of the Woodtick Wheelers!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family!
Your Woodtick Wheelers Board:  Dave Halsey, President  dvhalsey@aol.com,  612-723-1987; Andy Becker, Vice President, hackbilly1@gmail.com; Mike Ebinger, Treasurer, Membership mebinger48@gmail.com 218-507-0153 Sherry Gayken, Secretary; Trista Becker, Dick Buche, Sue Buche, Dick Nytes