Nebraska Trailblazers

Feb – Mar Upcoming Events

Westroads Group Walk – Saturday, February 20th. Meet near the children’s play area between Penney’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods at 7:45 a.m. so we can start walking at 8 a.m. We will have the walkbox there for registration. 5k and 10k options available. Credit walkers pay $3; Fun walkers pay $1.50. Exact change is appreciated!

Soup Walk Workers’ Walk – Saturday, February 27th at 1 p.m. St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Drive in the gathering space of the church (inside, but we have to be quiet). Restrooms will be available. 5k and 10k options available. Arrive about 15 minutes early so walkers can start at 1 p.m. Fun walkers pay $1.50. Exact change is appreciated!

Soup Walk – Saturday, March 5 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Drive, Omaha, NE – use school entrance with “St. Vincent de Paul” above the door. Start times 9 a.m. -12 a.m., finish by 3 p.m. 5k and 10k options available. Bring two cans of soup; one for the Food Bank and one to share. Make sure to save some time for soup and conversation after the walk. There will be some fun prizes at the raffle. Raffle tickets are still a bargain at $.50 or 3 for $1.

Lincoln St. Patrick’s Day Workers’ Walk – Sunday, March 6th at 1 p.m. See directions below.

Monthly Meeting – Monday, March 7th at 7 p.m. Our monthly meeting will be at Morning Star Lutheran Church. We will have a musician (Walter Graham) showing us his tricks before a short business meeting and snacks.

Lincoln St. Patrick’s Day Walk – Saturday, March 12th, start 9 a.m.-11a.m., be off the trail by 1 p.m. New location! Fallbrook YMCA, 700 Penrose Drive, Lincoln, NE. From I-80 East & West: take EXIT 401(US 34), west on US 34 to Fallbrook Blvd North, it will change name to Tallgrass Parkway after a “roundabout”, continue on Tallgrass to Penrose; right on Penrose to YMCA on left. From south: take I-180 north from downtown to where it becomes US34, & follow above directions

Des Moines St. Patrick’s Day Walk – Saturday, March 19th, start 9 a.m. -11 a.m., finish by 1:30 p.m. Start Point is at the VFW, 4029 Urbandale Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310. The route is on city sidewalks and recreational trails, From 1-35/I-80: take exit 131 (Merle Hay Rd), go south to Urbandale Ave, then left (east) to start point.

February News from AVA Headquarters

Each month, AVA Headquarters publishes a newsletter called “The Checkpoint”, with contents generally aimed at club officers across the country. AVA’s Executive Director, Henry Rosales, wants to make the news more accessible and available to all walkers across the country, not just club officers. This month, all of us are invited to request email delivery of “The Checkpoint” directly to our own email inboxes. See how in here (at the bottom): February 2016 Checkpoint

There’s also information in this month’s “Checkpoint” about changes in Special Programs, what the Strategic Planning Committee has been up to (our own Jeanne Miller represents the North Central region!), 40th Anniversary celebrations for the AVA in June in Texas and lastly, a request for feedback on a DBA for the American Volkssport Association: “America’s Walking Club”.

Our club has been fantastic about sharing information from AVA Headquarters over the past few years, and we really appreciate past and present club leadership for keeping us involved and informed!

February – Save the Dates!

From Club President Sandy Spaulding:

Monthly Meeting – Monday, February 1 at 7 p.m. Our monthly meeting will be at Morningstar Lutheran Church. We will have a speaker discussing Air Quality. Come to hear what can keep us breathing better. With the weather forecast, remember that the meeting will be cancelled if school is cancelled.

Shelby Soup Cook Off – Saturday, February 6 from 5-7 p.m, Cardinal Lofts (old school gym) at 304 Western Ave, Shelby, IA. Cost last year was $6 per person for all the soup you can eat. Very yummy and a lot of fun. They also hold a raffle and our group has won a lot of prizes in the past few years. We like to support this event as it provides funds for the Stone Arch Trail which we use for our Shelby year round event. We will carpool to this event so let me know if you would like to ride or drive.

Des Moines Skywalk – Saturday, February 13, start times 8-12, finish by 3. Start point is in the Kaleidoscope at The Hub Food Court (third floor), 555 Walnut, Des Moines, IA. There are two trails available, one entirely in the skywalk and another outdoors. Pets are not allowed in the skywalk system. If there is interest, we may carpool to this event. Butch and I will not be able to attend, but let me know if you want to carpool or drive and I will pass the information along.

Westroads Group Walk – Saturday, February 20. Meet near the children’s play area between J C Penney and Dick’s Sporting Goods at 7:45 so we can start walking at 8 a.m. We will have the walkbox there for registration.

Annual Meeting and Dinner

Our Annual Meeting and Dinner on January 23rd at Valentino’s was attended by 31 people who came together for the installation of our club officers and the presentation of the 2015 Walker of the Year Award. We thank Mel Bohn for his service as president, and welcome Sandy Spaulding as our new club president.

The American Volkssport Association (AVA) is the national organization with which our club is affiliated. It celebrates its 40th birthday this year June 10 – 12 in Fredericksburg, Texas. We celebrated that achievement with birthday decorations and cupcakes at the dinner. Our own club will celebrate its 36th birthday this year with the annual Soup Walk on March 5th in Omaha, NE.

And the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the announcement of the 2015 Walker of the Year. Congratulations to Jim and Martha McGahan! In the picture, Club President Sandy Spaulding awards the traveling trophy to Jim and Martha. The club also wishes to thank the other nominees: Mel Bohn, Julie Brown, Karen Dix-Johnson, Ann Drebot and Jim and Sheila Goeltz. Our club is certainly blessed to have so many enthusiastic, talented and giving people!

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

In the next few days, the Points of Contact (POCs) for our Year Round Events will be changing out the stamps and papers in their respective Walk Boxes. If you are an early-year walker and encounter a problem at any of our walk boxes, please drop us a note and we’ll resolve the problem.

President Sandy wants to make sure that everyone has the following 2 pieces of information. You may have received this information by email, but if not, drop us a note and we’ll get you added to our email list.

Just a reminder about our upcoming events:

ANNUAL DINNER

WHEN: Saturday January 23, 2016

WHERE: Valentino’s 108th & O St, Omaha

TIME: Social Time 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM – Start eating about 6:00 PM – Annual Meeting start about7:00 PM

COST: Members $10.00 – Non Members $13.59. Payment should be sent to the club address (NWFT PO Box 8147, Omaha, NE 68108) to be received by January 16, 2016

Come and meet the club officers for 2016 and find out walkers choice for Walker of the Year for 2015.

CAR POOL TO DES MOINES FOR NEW YEAR’S DAY MALL WALK

WHEN: Friday, January 1, 2016 at 7:15 a.m.

WHERE: Meet at Mall of the Bluffs, old JC Penney parking lot. Take exit 5 (Madison Avenue) from I-80 in Council Bluffs, turn left to second traffic light, turn right between HyVee and Bucky’s, go to first cross street. Park in lot on right after the cross street. If this area is not clear, park on the left as close to this parking area as possible.

TIME: Meet at 7:15, leave promptly at 7:30. Plans are to return around 3 p.m.

This walk is inside the mall. An optional outside walk route is available. Check out the post- holiday sales and group lunch in the food court. Let me know if you would like to ride or drive to this event. This event may be cancelled if the roads are icy.

If you have anything you would like to donate for the Soup walk raffle, you can bring it to the annual dinner or to the February meeting.

See you soon.

Sandy

New faces, new places!

Welcome to our 2016 Club Officers, shown in the picture here at our December club meeting. These are the smiling faces you’ll see at our meetings, events and walks. Be sure to say “Hi!” to Tricia, Larry, Sandy and Butch when you see them. Thank you to our 2015 club president, Mel, and we’re looking forward to his return to walking when he’s feeling better.

At the December club meeting, we closed out our voting for our 2015 Walker of the Year. And the winner is . . . to be announced at our Annual Meeting, to be held this year at Valentino’s, 5022 S 108th St, Omaha, NE 68137. Cost for members is only $10; non-members pay $13.59. Neither price includes a tip, so bring a couple of bucks for those hard-working servers. The date is Saturday, January 23rd. Social time starts at 5:30, dinner at 6, and the short business meeting at 7 p.m.

We are lining up carpools for the January and February events in Des Moines, a mall walk and a skywalk, respectively, so it will be good walking weather (inside). A group walk of the Westroads Mall Walk (a year-round) is set for Saturday, February 20th at 8 a.m. Our first “traditional” event of the year is scheduled for March 5th in NW Omaha, our April event in Bellevue, and our May event at Prairie Queen Recreation area, west of Werner Park in Papillion. Come join us for some new places to walk in 2016!

Using the power of the Internet!

Voting opens tomorrow for our 2015 “Walker of the Year”. How do members vote? If you have an email address listed with the club, SurveyMonkey will send you an email with a link to cast your ballot. The ballot will list all 6 names as listed in our most recent newsletter, along with their pictures to help you associate names and faces. Vote for one. Butch Spaulding (club treasurer and holder of the email list) sent out an email to all club members explaining how voting will occur this year. If you didn’t get the email, or have questions, please Contact Us and let us know.

Thanks to the work of “The Committee”, the Trailblazers and the Greater Des Moines Volkssport Club are now part of Meetup. What is Meetup? It’s an online social media network, where people with similar interests can “meet” others nearby. There are Meetups for dog lovers, for cooks, for art lovers – and now, for walkers! Check it out at: https://www.meetup.com/Meetup-Walk-Omaha-for-fun-fitness-and-friendship/

P.S. Want to become a club member? Use the “Contact Us” form to send us an email. Our application form is undergoing revision and will be posted when updated. Club members get to vote and get discounts on some events. Plus, you’re helping the club put on great walks!

Pie Walk – Workers’ Walk

A few of us got together this morning to do the Pie Walk Workers’ Walk, scheduled for November 7th at Morning Star Lutheran Church, 221 S. 85th Ave., Omaha, starting at 9 a.m. Both the 5k and the 10k walks go through established, tree-lined neighborhoods, while the 10k goes to and up the Keystone Trail for a ways. We found a shortcut, if you need one!

Need a walking buddy for this walk? Got one, two, or three . . .

We need volunteers at the Start/Finish Table, workers to staff the checkpoint along the 10k route and folks to greet people and be walking buddies. Bring some pie to share – we’ll have some volunteers to help eat them!

Or, if you like to read while you’re walking, check out the Little Free Library on the route!