Friends Receives Grant

William G. & Marie Selby Foundation awards $10,000 to Friends of Arcadia Airport, Inc.Recently, Friends of Arcadia Airport, Inc. President George Chase received a letter from Carol Butera, Executive Director of the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation announcing that Friends had been awarded a grant in the amount of $10,000. This grant is in support of the Friends Capital Campaign that will fund a restroom/shower project at Arcadia Municipal Airport. Three years ago Friends funded and built a 3 acre Fly-In/Camp-Out Center at Arcadia Municipal that is designed to attract out of town pilots to visit our County. We call it Aviation City. Ms. Butera said "the fact that the new facility would not only benefit Aviation City and Arcadia Municipal Airport but also support the local economy played a big role in the Foundations decision to award the grant to Friends".This grant means that Friends has met its goal of raising over $42,000 needed for construction. The capitol campaign began last January and since then we have held pancake breakfasts, solicited donations from our members and the community, both corporate and private, as well as applied for numerous grants. Friends is a non profit 501-c-3 Florida Corporation.Donations from the private sector ranged from $25 to $4,000 and we received a number of grants ranging from a few hundred dollars up to $5,000. These grants were received from: the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, the Recreational Aviation Foundation, the Arcadia Rotary Foundation, Mosaic, the Arcadia Rodeo Association, the J & L Barnett Fund, Southern Cubs LLC, the Evelyn Tucker Fund and the John Annis & Regina Morris Fund. Adding to that the recent $10,000 grant from the Selby Foundation and this capital campaign has proven to be a huge success by any measure. "Friends is a model for other non profits to follow when it comes to fundraising leaving no stone unturned." Said ButeraJack Tyler a Director and Vice President of the Recreational Aviation Foundation said "Here is another big 'Win' for Friends of Arcadia Airport, which our Grant Committee supported as well, along with many, many local supporters. Friends is another classic case study of what a small dedicated cadre of airport supporters can accomplish through tenacity and grit. The new shower facility will now be a welcome new feature at Arcadia's Aviation City." It is obvious that our community appreciates and understands the value of a local general aviation airport. The Friends Board of Directors would like to say thank you to all who donated.The new facility will be concrete block construction; will include a septic system, two restrooms and two showers. It will be located next to the Aviation City campground at Arcadia Municipal Airport and will be available 24-7 for Aviation City airplane campers as well as airport tenants and visiting pilots.Aviation City is the first FAA approved fly-in campground located on a municipal airport. With the addition of dedicated restrooms, it is bound to attract even more out of town pilots and their families to visit Arcadia. Friends appreciates the cooperation from the City of Arcadia as well as DeSoto County on this project. Thanks goes out to the Arcadia City Council, City Administrator Terry Stewart and Airport Manager Shelley Peacock. Building permits have been submitted and construction will begin soon. Please join us for our monthly "All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast" with sausage, OJ & coffee at 9am on the 3rd Saturday of the month from October thru April at Arcadia Municipal Airport. Bring the kids, check out Aviation City, have a great pancake breakfast and enjoy a morning at your airport with planes, pilots and Friends. Friends of Arcadia Airport, Inc. www.FoAa.us Board of DirectorsGeorge Chase, Rickey Hilton, Ross Clark, Dave Hutchinson, Paul Moore & Doug Deal