Grease Monkeys: Swinging on a Distant Branch
The foundation of the Grease Monkeys was within a small group of friends who met in San Marcos, California. The intention was not to remain there, or even focus on that one city. The serendipitous joy of meeting another member would be less if we had a geographic restriction. Surprise meetings and suddenly acquiring a new friend, is the value of any large, fraternal organization.
Generous Mechanics are being rewarded for their generosity in the Central and Northern California Regions, but soon will be followed by Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and South Carolina. Thanks to the uniformity of United States', First Class Mail, sending the gift packages has been both easy and affordable. The most difficult thing about the distance is obtaining trust from contacts, and because of the vast distances between members, the chances of unplanned meetups might reduce the benefit of being a founding member.
Founding member Paul Shinn recently lobbied for the FROGMEN to approach the Model A Ford Club of America to apply for Special Interest Group recognition, explaining that it would be far easier to obtain the trust, explain the goals, and promote those chance meetings as a SIG. While that is true, MAFCA rules do require a minimum number of MAFCA members (which we have easily surpassed) and an elected board to represent those members, which will take a while as few Founding members have contacted FROGMEN Headquarters to express an interest in Active membership.
Without greater willingness to volunteer or interest in developing events and growing the Order, (and I don’t mean to lobby readers for that to happen in any way other than organically) no meetings to write up Bylaws or elect Officers will be organized. Founding members in a way get to vote on the future of the organization. Members sending in a filled out application or filling out the online form at https://forms.gle/8ee39RkAsku3F7RF6 is a “Yes” vote for forming an active group. Not filling out the forms before July 4th is a “No” vote.
Rather than as a SIG, the Grease Monkeys can find another way to recognize all of the amazingly Generous Mechanics in the world. You just have to follow the Monkey Way and go out on a limb.
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