By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

And a good, good day to all of you Ultralight enthusiasts who stop by to read about what other folks in this exclusive community are doing. The weather is improving, and the number of newsletters we have received is increasing - all good signs that this will be another good Ultralight year.

This month's newsletters exhibit an obvious theme - that of community service and helpfulness to others. Leading the list, are the members of the Michigan Ultralight Association (MULA) of Flushing, Michigan (Club 357). This club voted to donate $1000 to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, it is a trust fund established by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North in 2004, to help ensure that the children of American Service Personnel who have been killed, or permanently 100% disabled in Iraq, get a chance to go to college. If any of you are interested in helping with this very worthy effort the details are available at www.freedomalliance.org. A major "atta boy" from all of us to all of you at MULA. Good thought and a very good cause.

Flying Club 1, from Leesburg, VA is also helping the young folks as they are hosting a Boy Scout Troop this year and will be helping these youngsters earn their Aviation Merit Badges. They have scheduled a Club Meeting and Cookout and invited the Scouts to attend on May 7th. Good show folks - the future of flying and Ultralighting is in the hands of the young people, and we need to reach out to them. We can offer them a great alternative to "sex, drugs and MTV"

The Light Aircraft Flyers Association (LAFA) of Tamarac, Florida have already impressed a group of youngsters with the fun and value of flying with their annual Candy Drop at Dodge City. They made two runs, one at 1330 and a follow-up run at 1515, to drop around $300.00 worth of candy to an estimated 2000 to 2500 kids. It was reported that the candy drop was probably the only thing many of these kids got for Christmas. The folks of LAFA feel, justifiably, proud and satisfied with their efforts.

These are just three of the examples that point up the fact that while flying is fun, USUA members also recognize their responsibilities to others in their communities.

Wayne Kunze of the Ultralight Squadron of America, Yorba Linda, California obviously knows how important it is to volunteer, as he was the recipient of his club's Stan Hauxhurst Award for service. Their newsletter mentions that Kevin Zeigler was a close runner-up, but only one award can be presented. Maybe next year, Kevin.

This same newsletter, "The Ultralog", gives us our closing quote this month: "To most people, the sky is the limit; to some of us, it is our home" Anonymous

Looking forward to a great 2005 and wishing you all blue sky and favorable winds...