Air Force Association

---

Independant Non-Profit Aerospace Association
Lance P. Sijan Chapter #125
Colorado Springs, CO

Sijan Chapter Chosen AFA “Unit of the Year”

Submitted by Tom Cavalli, Chapter President

The Lance P. Sijan Chapter was named the Unit of the Year for 2008 by AFA National. Officially this award is known as the Donald W. Steele Sr Memorial Award and it is AFA’s highest unit award. The official description describes the awards as “a single award shall be made to the AFA Chapter which has distinguished itself in all fields of the AFA mission – new member procurement, community relations, aerospace education, overall programming, best single program, and communications – over and above the service for which Exceptional Service Plaques (Unit) and Membership Achievement Plaques are awarded for such service. Direct nominations for this award will not be accepted. The Awards Committee will select the recipient from among units selected as the outstanding chapter in their respective size categories.”

Now as impressive as this may seem, this is not the first time our chapter has won this distinguished award. The first time we won the award was in 1984 when we shared the award with Scott AFB (IL). The second was in 2001 (when Joan Sell was our chapter President). 2008 marks the ‘hat trick’ for the Sijan Chapter, and each Sijan member should be justifiably proud of this award because you all earned it!

The officers and dedicated volunteers that actively support this chapter have raised the bar and other chapters are taking notice. In August I got both good news and bad news. The good news was that we won the award. The bad news was that I was expected to give a presentation at the AFA National Convention on how we did it. I immediately thought the best presentation could have been to introduce each active member and officer and have them join me in front of the room. Then reality set in and I realized that would be logistically impossible.

To be honest I did not know how we won. I was unaware of the criteria. When I wrote our nomination package, I was just trying to win the Extra-Large Chapter of the Year Award, and never knew how a chapter got selected for the Unit of the Year Award. After our selection I did some research and discovered that a chapter cannot be nominated for the award, it is presented based upon selection by a committee of AFA National officers. I guess our continued success in membership and Community Partners and our support to the Air Force Family was finally recognized and paid off.

So what’s next? Most people feel there is only one way from here – down. But I do not subscribe to this philosophy. I truly believe we can set an even higher standard by winning it two years in a row! And here’s why. We have the programs, the focus, and most importantly, the people. Our volunteers are nothing short of amazing! Whenever the chapter plans and executes an event, they really get behind it and dig in. They show up, they bring fresh new ideas, they get along wonderfully with each other, and they follow through – it is really a sight! My job is to turn them loose and stay out of their way.

So let's shoot for two! In my presentation to National, I outlined some new and innovative ideas for programs I'd like to try this year. And, to pull them off, I need volunteers to step forward. As I mentioned at National, every chapter has members, but we all have very few volunteers. I invited all members to become volunteers of the best AFA chapter. If you always had an idea for a project that supports the objectives of the AFA and the AF family, please contact me, I'd love to hear them. Let's add them to our list of accomplishments for 2009!

---