AU'S HELP-A-BEGINNGER

First Year Flyers

Do you need a mentor?

Sign up to have a mentor!

Let us know by emailing augrow@aol.com

What is this about?  Perhaps you have finished one season already and you want to learn more, faster.  Perhaps you just joined the hobby and you're wondering where to start.

That's where Help-A-Beginner can assist.  

The Help-a-Beginner program is made up of volunteers who want to help beginners (2nd year flyers) with advice & possibly some birds. Many good flyers & breeders across America donate their time and birds to help improve a beginner's chances of winning diplomas in their second year.

Often the beginners and Breeders/Mentors have established lasting relationships that span more than the one year a beginner is in the program. Moreover, many beginners have polished their skills to the point that now they are mentors in the same program that helped them. If you are applying to this program simply to get birds, then you are totally missing the point.

The Real Opportunity for this program is to talk One on One with someone who wants you to be successful and who wants you to enjoy the sport. Ask the how to questions of feeding, training, breeding, and medication. The answers are not complicated coming from someone who understands the problems that may occur, Especially since that someone has been there and done that generally before.

If that sounds like what you are needing, email augrow@aol.com.  You will be paired with a mentor to get you going.

Or call 1-800-755-2778.

CHER AMI 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

The AU's lobbyist, Greg Smith, has been working with various governmental agencies to include them in a tribute honoring the 100th anniversary of Cher Ami, which will take place on October 4, 2018, in Washington, D.C. 

Two small tours will be given at the Smithsonian Institution. These tours will allow the invited guests to see Cher Ami and other World War I artifacts. The AU will be represented in Washington, D.C., by our Northeast Zone Director, Robert McKenna, as well as our lobbyist, Greg Smith.

Let's keep the anniversary celebration going through Veterans Day! We hope you will join us for a month of events to honor Cher Ami's service.

We encourage clubs to designate a race to commemorate Cher Ami. We have a club in Maryland that has announced they will name one of their season races as the "Cher Ami Classic." We hope many clubs will join us in honoring Cher Ami between now and Veterans Day.

Smithsonian

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_425415

Cher Ami was a registered Black Check cock carrier pigeon, one of 600 birds owned and flown by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I. He delivered twelve important messages within the American sector at Verdun; on his last mission, October 4, 1918, he was shot through the breast and leg by enemy fire but still managed to return to his loft with a message capsule dangling from the wounded leg. The message Cher Ami carried was from Major Charles S. Whittlesey's "Lost Battalion" of the Seventy-seventy Infantry Division that had been isolated from other American forces. The message brought about the relief of the 194 battalion survivors, and they were safe behind American lines shortly after the message was received.

For his heroic service, Cher Ami was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with palm. He was returned to the United States and died at Fort Monmouth, N.J. on June 13, 1919, as a result of his wounds. Cher Ami was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931, and received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Pigeon Fanciers in recognition of his extraordinary service during World War I.

HELP FOR BEGINNERS

Donations to assist beginners . . .               

To assist those just coming into the hobby, American Racing Pigeon Union members have offered items such as clocks and birds.  

We have a list of donated items to help beginners.  As we receive donations, we will update the LIST in each e-Update newsletter so you won't miss an opportunity.