​Friends of Lake Norman State Park Membership Update


Greetings everyone.  Hope you all have been enjoying the summer and have made it out to Lake Norman State Park to take advantage of this wonderful community asset!  I’m Michael Polzin and I am the President of the Board of the Friends of Lake Norman State Park (FLANO).  Since our initial meeting back in March, a great deal has happened and I wanted to update you on all of our progress.  Key accomplishments to date include:
· Our group submitted for and was approved by the North Carolina Friends of State Parks as a fully sanctioned FSP Chapter along with approximately 35 other Friends groups throughout the state.
· We have set up various financial management tools including currency and online payment systems, bank accounts, and a post office box to manage membership fees and donations in support of Park improvements.
· We have developed a great logo (see attached) thanks to the great efforts of one of our Board members – Kathie Kemp.
· We have a beautiful full color brochure about the group thanks to the combined efforts of Kathie Kemp and Debbie Page who designed the brochure and Alison Hemingfield whose company had several thousand printed for us for free
· We have developed and launched an excellent web page thanks to Debbie Page.  If you haven’t already, check it out at www.friendsoflakenormanstatepark.org
· We have participated in several community events such as a Bike-a-thon at the park, Troutman’s Party in the Park, and an event with REI.
· We now have 22 paid members and have raised almost $1000 to be used for Park improvements.
Not bad for just 5 months and this is only the beginning.  The first big project we are going to help support is a complete renovation of the Group Campground.  It’s a high priority project for the Park Rangers and it will bring in more visitors to the park.  We are also considering new initiatives on trail development/maintenance as well as a recycling program to collect discarded fishing line that can harm the wildlife in the Park.
 
At this time we are looking to continue to expand our membership and make ourselves better known to residents of the area and to local businesses.   To that end, we have recently established two committees. The first is the Out Reach committee.  This committee will develop programs and identify local events that we can use to get out the word about the park and our group.  For example, one event that we recently supported was the Bio-Blitz the Park held this past weekend.  This event brought in local wildlife and plant experts so that the Rangers could better catalogue all the species residing in the Park.  It was a great way to get out and explore the park!
 
The second committee is the Sponsorship committee.  This committee will focus on getting in contact with local business (big and small) with the aim of getting those businesses to donate money and/or equipment, or allow us to partner with them on events.   We have had some great support already thanks to the good people at REI and we know that many other businesses would be interested in getting involved as well.
 
We are looking to get some additional people to get involved with these committees and help take our group to the next level.  We aren’t asking for a huge time commitment as we all have busy enough lives already, just a few hours here and there to attend committee meetings and participate in executing some of the events/programs that you would be helping to develop.  If you would be interested in getting involved, please let us know which committee you would like to join.  If you prefer not to be on a committee but are interested in volunteering to help in other ways, please let us know that as well.
 
We are very excited about what this group has achieved thus far and are looking forward to making continuing contributions to our favorite local attraction - Lake Norman State Park.
 
Thanks to you all for your interest and I hope to hear from many of you soon.
 
Sincerely,  
 
Michael Polzin, President