Donations For New Club Mowers

April 17:

Okay guys,

I am proud to say that we have reached our goal of $1800.00 in donations, and will be moving forward to purchasing a new mower!

I can not express my gratitude enough to the club for coming together in these hard times! It is very refreshing to know that we have such great support with our members! We should all be proud to be a part of this club and the fact that we absolutely have some of the greatest people a club could ask for.

We should have the mower ordered and delivered very shortly, and with that I will be closing the donation process. With any donations that may still be lingering in the PO Box possibly, we will decide at the next meeting whether to put it towards any further mower accessories or otherwise.

Again, I want to thank all of you, I am very proud to be a part of such a great club!
More to come as things unfold!

-JR Graham

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April 10: -Al Barrington

As of today’s PO Box check 4/10/2014:

Received so far Total $1,810.00

Proposed cost of new mower $1,800.00
Pledged at MAR meeting $1,000.00
Needed to reach goal -$10.00

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April 8:  -Al Barrington

Thank you all who contributed to the effort to purchase a new field mower to replace our dying squadron.  Here’s what’s happening.

Today’s trip to the PO Box yielded a few more generous donations.  Here’s the update.
Received so far     Total    $1,500.00
Proposed cost of new mower    $1,800.00
Pledged at MAR meeting    $1,000.00
Needed to reach goal    $300.00
Note:  The proposed cost has changed to reflect the cost of the John Deere D125 which has been recommended by Jim Corbett because it has a few better features that make it a better value.
Jim and others have done a lot of research to find something we will be comfortable living with for the next twenty years.  So, this is viewed as a long term investment in our field maintenance.
Here’s what Jim wrote to me before I received today’s donations:
My thoughts

John Deere Mowers

Home Depot ONLINE
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment/John-Deere/N-5yc1vZt7Zbx5c?cm_mmc=SEM|G|BT2

D125 42 in. 20 HP V-Twin Hydrostatic    $1,799.00
Special Offers and Rebates

D105 42 in. 17.5 HP Automatic         $1,499.00
Special Offers and Rebates

D140 48 in. 22 HP V-Twin Hydrostatic    $1,999.00
Special Offers and Rebates

D110 42 in. 19 HP Hydrostatic        $1,699.00
Special Offers and Rebates

D105    $1,499.00    Automatic
D110    $1,699.00    Hydrostatic
D125    $1,799.00    Hydrostatic    Highback seat
D140    $1,999.00    Hydrostatic    2 More HP

My opinion
From viewing the advertising, the best bang for the buck
would be the D125 at $1,800

The donations are at
$1,140.00
If the club kicks in $400 that would equal
$1,500

If we can come up with another $100 I would be willing to pay
$200 for the OLD FORD mower

That would bring us to
$1,800

Then I suggest that we talk to the three places close by that sell the
John Deere mowers
(Harrisburg, Glenwood and Hope Depot)
and see if we can get one of them to give us a sponsorship of a couple
hundred.
with that money going back into the Club Treasury.

– end-

We are also checking into some sponsor support toward this effort.  I’ll keep you posted as I have more to tell.

Happy Landings.

AL Barrington
Treasurer, ERCA

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April 5, 2014:
We received one more generous donation for the new mower

Received so far Total $ 1140.00

Proposed cost of new mower $1,500.00
Pledged at MAR meeting $1,000.00
Needed to reach goal $ 360.00

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April 4, 2014:
We received two more generous donations for the new mower. . .

Received so far Total $ 940.00

Proposed cost of new mower $1,500.00
Pledged at MAR meeting $1,000.00
Needed to reach goal $ 560.00

Again, Thank you to all who have donated to the mower fund, we are getting closer!
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March 28:

From Al Barrington, As of 3/28/2014:
Pledged at meeting $1000
I collected $365 in cash donations from some of the members present at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Another $225 has come in to our PayPal account.
Unknown yet what has been sent to our PO Box.

Proposed purchase of New John Deer mower at $1500
Total received so far = $590
Needed to reach goal = $910

Club approved to spend up to $400 of treasury to cover difference between final cost and amount donated.

So as you can see, we are getting there. I would really like to see the proposed use of the $400.00 club funds be used towards the second mower if at all possible, however that may be a lot to ask of the club members. We shall see how it go’s over the weekend and into the next week. At least with this rainfall we have currently going on, it give’s us a little more time between actually needing to mow

I would like to just say again a big Thank You to those that have already donated, and to those that will be sending in a donation for the cause!
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March 26:

Hey guys,
So for those that are not aware, the club mower’s have been reaching the end of their life span. Of the 3 mower’s we have, the FORD mower is nearly dead and basically no good, the Wizard has been one problem after another, and the Husky is starting to slip away as well. We are at a point where putting more and more money into them to keep them running is getting expensive, and nearly pointless.

At our last club meeting (March 25 2014) we had passed a paper around for the members present to write down a donation amount they would consider, and we came up with $950 just within the small group of members present. We are certain that more members would chip in as well for this expense, if those who were not at the meeting only knew about it.

We are currently wanting to end up buying two (2) new John Deer 42 inch mowers. They run right around $1500.00 a piece. As you all know, the club treasury does not have the money to purchase these outright, and with the upcoming expenses for the year, it is doubtful that we would generate the funds this year.

So, that brings us to our only option of asking the club members to chip in and donate whatever you can to help pool the money together for at least one new mower, and with any luck, a pair of new mowers. Please, if you are unable to donate, DONT. We are all fully aware of the poor economy and that a lot of us are struggling to get by as it is, so only donate if you can afford to do so!

There is a couple ways for you to make a donation for the cause;
1. Send a check or Money Order to the club’s PO BOX, at;
Eugene RC Aeronauts, Inc.
PO Box 26344
Eugene, OR 97402

2. Send a digital transfer via paypal to albarrington@msn.com
3. Give a donation in person to a club officer such as Roger Dahl, JR Graham or Al Barrington.

PLEASE MAKE A MEMO NOTE LABELED ‘MOWER DONATION’ OR SIMILAR SO WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE MONEY IS INTENDED FOR!

I will update this page as donations come in to keep track of the amounts collected, and once the second mower is purchased we will close the donation process.

If you have any information relating to mowers, please let us know! Even better, if you have some sort of connection to obtaining new John Deer mower’s we would love to hear about it! Warren Edwards had done a lot of research on the different mowers out there, and has concluded that the John Deer is the best one going for operation, motors used (Briggs), belt driven and future maintenance.

Thank you everyone! If you would like to comment on this subject, use this link to log in and view the forum thread. And please do not be shy about posting your comments, be it good or bad!