AUCTION BENEFITS STUDENTS

AU Scholarship Auction - Success!

Ron Pairan, AU Vice President

On behalf of the American Racing Pigeon Union, I would like to thank the very generous breeders who donated some fantastic birds for our successful 2017 AU Scholarship Auction conducted during the convention.  The AU awards three $2,000 scholarships each year to AU members or relatives of AU members, under 23 years of age.

The following is a list of those donors:

Zohorovic Ado (Ado Family Loft)

Erio Alvarez

Scott Bennis (Dakota Loft)

Alex and Cindy Bieche

Steve Cappellini

Crazy Al and Joanie Christeleit

Ken Christopher

Ken Easley

Mike Ganus

Bobby Gonzalez

Andy Guimond

Jones Boys

Duncan Harvey

Brad Hoggan

Steve Mardis (CBS)

Frank McLaughlin

Ed Minvielle

Rick Nanez

Ron Pairan

Damon Raze (Mystery Loft)

Hernis Rodriguez (Grande Loft)

Manuel Rodriguez (Gallo Loft)

Sal Rodriguez (Sal’s Loft)

Vin Sciaraffa

George Scott

Serrao and Bartz

Mike Sherwood

David Trunnell

Kevin Williams (Never Happen & Tim)

I would also like to thank Karen Clifton and Deone Roberts, committee members Shannon Demler and Bob McKenna, as well as all the AU Board members who helped solicit donations.

Bob McKenna received the birds, vaccinated them, had their pictures taken, and shipped the birds to Arizona.  During the auction, Bob was on the phone with iPigeon, while his wife Naomi took care of the technical work. The auction would never have taken place without the help of Dick Doud. Dick received the birds and housed them before the auction. On the day of the auction, he brought the birds to the hotel, along with the show cages, and agreed to ship the birds to their new homes after the auction. Thank you Dick!

$17,000 Raised For Kids' Backpacks.

$17,000.00 will provide over 8,000 backpacks with food for children that have no food in their home on weekends.

The Mount Airy Racing Pigeon Club and the Surry Sunrise Rotary joined forces again for the increasingly successful "Flight for Kids" event.  It has really had a positive impact on the community.  The kids receive food for the weekend, AND the racing hobbyists receive the  community's support of the backyard hobby.

The birds show us speed and amazing homing skills.  These skills continue to be used alongside people to benefit others.  

Greater New Orleans Combine Auction & Seminar

A Note From Vick About The Event

The event was a great success. It was a special day as all the pigeon folks gathered together to just talk racing pigeons. The GNOC really appreciates and thanks everyone for supporting this event. We had folks that drove 100 miles one way to be there. That shows the passion is still alive for pigeon sport.

The event had many key attractions including 25 world class racing pigeons and an awesome seminar by Frank McLaughlin. Frank  touched on many key topics that included racing, feeding and medication. There was a strong emphasis on the over-medication of our racing pigeons.

Ed Minvielle and Dean Ledet set up a portable sale counter for Siegel Pigeon supplies which I’m sure everyone truly appreciated.  Kenny Becklehimer was so nice to donate the food for the event in the past. It is truly a privilege to be surrounded by a group of people that are always willing to make the sacrifices to just make things happen.

For all the others that helped out getting the place set up that morning, selling tickets and donating prizes, thank you so much.

A special shout out to Tom Wesner for making this all happen. I have to admit I didn’t do much this time. Tom and Ian Davies also made all the arrangements for Frank and the birds to make their way to New Orleans.

Nice Job my friends!

I have included some pictures for those who couldn’t make it and we’ll have more information to share at the next combine meeting how it all turned out at the end.

Many thanks and see ya soon.

  

Vick Corso

JOIN US ON JUNE 23, 2018 IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA!

Call or email Johnny Hutcheson (706) 825-6487 johnnyhutcheson@bellsouth.net for entry information.

And if you are on Facebook, check the group page:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1602838706469679/?ref=bookmarks

Open Show Hosted By Independent Homing Club

The Independent Homing Club (IHC) held an open Pigeon Show on January 13, for the following four clubs:

Fremont Club (FRE)

Independent Homing Club (IHC)

Invitational Racing Pigeon Club (IRPC)

Northeast Racing Club (NERC)

Approximately 25 people participated.  Considering the ice and snow storm the day before, that was a great turnout.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and a lot of pigeon stories were told.  It was a pot luck dinner, with a variety of different dishes that were excellent!  We thank everyone who brought the food and donations, and Jimmy Hazek who judged the show.

Congratulations to the winners, listed here:

Best Hen - Steve Zurcher

Best Cock - Larry Ryan

Best in Show - Larry Ryan

A big THANK YOU  to following vendors and suppliers who donated to our show.  They are:

Foy's Pet Supplies

Vita King Products

Global Pigeon Supply

Siegel’s Pigeon Supplies

Breakthru Products

Wins More Vitamins

Alex Bieche

BoviDr Laboratories

Lizzie Mae Pigeon Feeds

Racing Pigeon Digest

Star Labs (PrimaLac)

Kastle Pigeon Supplies

Mount Airy's Flight for Kids

Mount Airy Racing Pigeon Club, a 12 member club in the Piedmont section of North Carolina, recently assisted local Surry Sunrise Rotary Club in a fund raising project to benefit less fortunate kids in both the Mt. Airy city schools and the Surry County schools.  The project was named "Flight for Kids," and consisted of the Surry Sunrise Rotary selling 200 tickets, at $100 each, for participation in a pigeon race that would run 100 miles from the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The members in the Mt. Airy RPC that participated were Steve Norman, Larry Marshall and Bill Williams, all of whom have lofts in the city limits of Mt. Airy.  Other club members assisted in the shipping and race calculations.  The project was a great success and was featured in the Mt. Airy newspaper.  The event raised $16,000, which was split between the two school systems.  They used the money for their "Backpack Program" to benefit hungry children.  

This was the second time the project was conducted and a third "Flight for Kids" is already in the planning stages. This is a wonderful example of what pigeon flyers can do for their communities.  You can see their newspaper coverage here http://www.mtairynews.com/news/57822/rotary-donates-16k-to-schools.

Member Steve Norman commented about the event," It really is a lot of fun and good for both the community and our hobby.  All it takes is an active civic club in the racing club's area and they are off and running.  We are not the only club that does this.  There should be races all across the country.  Seeing people working to help others through a hobby or sport does work wonders to revive the spirit of the club."

READ ABOUT THE DAY OF THE EVENT!

2017 AU Convention Photographs

2017 PHOTOS

2017 Convention Website link (until June 2018)

Shasta Racing Pigeon Club (SRP)

Veterans Day Parade

AU members do a wonderful job promoting the hobby, so we list the activity information in our quarterly Update newsletter.  But sometimes there is just not enough room to get all the information in the paper publication.  Hence, this post to show off the Shasta Club's work!

The Shasta Racing Pigeon Club (SRP) participated in the 25th annual Veterans Day Parade in the small town of City of Shasta Lake, CA on November 4, 2017.  The club entry was its race release trailer decorated with banners and bunting.   Along the parade route members Scott Hepburn and Ron Schmidt released race birds to the excitement of the crowd.  Also, member Lex Winkler carried a racing pigeon during the parade so the spectators could see one of the birds up close.  In addition, the club had an information table at the post parade lunch held at the Veterans Hall which was staffed by Loli Martino, Shari and Tim Skalland. 

To promote the local interest in racing pigeons, the club recently published a tri-fold handout that was given out during the parade.  It is available at senior centers, veteran organizations and other community organizations.    To make it easy for interested parties to contact us we established an email address (shasta.racing.pigeon.club@gmail.com) and a dedicated club phone number (530- 962-0341). In addition, the SRP Club established a Facebook page that highlights our other activities and member lofts.

During the summer months SRP members Scott Hepburn and Ron Schmidt were guests on several local morning radio shows where they spoke on the hobby of racing pigeons.  The pair also spoke at a local summer camp where a mother and son became interested in racing pigeons.  Since that time Scott has helped the pair with modifying their chicken coop to house racing pigeons and supplied 12 young birds to start.  The club recently donated funds for this young man to continue his efforts to place American flags on the graves of veterans in Northern Ca.

So, you see why we have to show them off?  That's a fantastic effort club members put forth in connecting with their community.  Great work!