august 31, 2015 message from chairperson maria...
TRANSCRIPT
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1
Message from Chairperson – Maria Shea
This year, we are honored by OPC to receive the Ex-
ecutive Director’s Award (2013-2014) -2nd Overall
Sponsoring Committee in OPC
Congratulations to all our cadets that we break our
record for Fall tagging and maintain Spring tagging
by offering 2 shifts to minimize the interruption on
their weekend schedule.
I would like to say thank you especially to all our SSC members and parents helpers. Without them, 351 cannot be as successful as today. I am pleased that we have a great and strong SSC team in our squad-ron. We can work together in harmony. Thanks for all your help. I am looking forward to working with all of you in the coming year.
We are always looking for volunteers in our events. So parents do join us and work together to help our cadets as a SSC member, CV (Civilian Volunteers) or monetary donations.
We would like to hear from you. Please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Welcome Message from Commanding Officer
– Major Adam Mobbs
Welcome to a new training year! The staff and I are
excited to tackle the 2015/16 training year with great
enthusiasm. We once again have high expectations
for our cadets, we expect them to embrace their du-
ties and strive to become high performers within this
dynamic organization. For this upcoming training
year, you can expect the following minor changes: 1.
New Staff: 2Lt Wallace Sit will be joining us from 110
Squadron as Assistant Training Officer. 2Lt Sit will
oversee Thurs evening training; 2. Continued In-
vestment in Marksmanship: We will be investing in
some additional training tools to further the marks-
manship program; 3. New Level Officers: A slight
tweak to Level O’s (to be announced in
Sep); 4. LHQ Cleanup: We will be working with the
SSC to ‘cleanup’ the LHQ. As always, if you ever
have any comments, suggestions or concerns,
please feel free to approach me after final parade. It
is always a pleasure chatting and gathering insight
from those who believe and support the program.
SSC Finances
Due to our exceptional good tagging result, we had
surplus this year, so we expect to fund more extra
activities coming year. Every year will be another
challenge for us. Due to unforeseeable tagging re-
sult, rising expenses, etc, we are welcoming parents’
suggestion to find more sources of income to main-
tain extra activities for our cadets.
Nevada Program
The OPC Nevada program is a shared fundraising
initiative across the province. It is fully voluntary, but
does provide a good opportunity to generate extra
revenue for any Air Cadet Squadron.
Nevada Break-Open Ticket is a lottery ticket that
sells in the participating location; funds will go directly
to our cadet and benefit our Squadron.
How Can You Help….
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1
Sell the Nevada Tickets!! Parents, if you are holding a
business or know someone who is and are interested
in being one of our Nevada Retail Locations, please
kindly contact SSC and we will be happy to provide
you with a full detail. The OPC have created a reve-
nue sharing opportunity with the license to increase
your profit and support our local fundraising activity.
Help in the Nevada Program!! Volunteers, please
contact our SSC members if you want to help out in
this program. The more assistance we may be able
to get, the greater support for our Cadets.
Halenda’s Pepperoni Stix – NEW
OPC is launching a new SSC Fundraising Program
by selling Halenda’s Pepperoni Stix. We will be plan-
ning to sell them at our canteen during our coming
cadet year.
Ontario Provincial Committee of the Air Cadet
league of Canada (OPC) Lottery
The OPC Lottery is a long-standing annual project
and an essential source of revenue for the Air Cadet
Program in the Ontario province. Based on the size
of the squadron, each squadron is required to sell a
minimum number of books of tickets (quota). In 2014
– 2015, we sold 270 books.
A portion of the sales proceeds is used to pay for all
lottery costs (ticket printing, prizes... etc.). The re-
maining proceeds are used to support OPC gliding
program, the Air Cadet Effective Speaking Competi-
tion and to cover the hosting expenses associated
with the International Air Cadet Exchange Program
as well as to contribute to the OPC overhead costs
associated with supporting the Squadron Sponsoring
Committees.
We need to fundraise in order to offer a full and at-
tractive program. One book per cadet is mandated in
order to be considered for the prestigious senior
courses such as Gliding and Power courses. It is
very important to recognize that it is every cadet's
responsibility to buy or sell OPC tickets. Exceptions
will only be granted if there is a valid reason and the
cadet must inform the Commanding Officer in writing
from his/her parents or guardian. Cadets who do not
purchase any book will be reported to the Command-
ing Officer. Selling of books will begin in September.
Each book is $50.00. Cash only and no cheque
please.
The coming year, we had been assigned again
with 230 books and will need parents/cadets to
help selling extra books.
Tag Days
Tagging is the major fundraising event. We are
only allowed to have it twice a year on fall and
spring. It is mandatory that ALL cadets to partici-
pate in this event. We will need parents’ full sup-
port by STAYING BEHIND to drive their sons &
daughters to and from the tagging stores
Squadron Photo Sales
Every year, we will have a photo night. Please sup-
port the Squadron by ordering those photos when
available. All photo proofs will be posted during pa-
rade night for selection and ordering through SSC. All
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1
funds collected will be going back to the Squadron’s
activities.
Canteen Sales
On every Thursday during break time, SSC will oper-
ate a Canteen for cadets’ refreshments. All funding
will be going back to Squadron’s activities. Please
provide some spare changes for your sons and
daughters to support this event.
Christmas Banquet
This year our Christmas Dinner was held at Rouge
River Community Centre. We had invited parents and
guests this year so we can join our kids and get to
learn more about the cadet program.
Awards Banquet
This year our Awards Banquet was held at the Dragon
Legend. Everybody enjoyed the unlimited supply of
food and drinks.
We invited parents and guests to share and recognize
their kids’ achievement and enjoy the fun atmosphere.
All parents are encouraged to join next year. SSC has
subsidized part of the cost to participate cadets and
this year’s grand prizes for raffle are 2 CASH prizes.
Please provide them with some money to support this
event for next year.
Annual Ceremonial Review
This year our Annual Ceremonial Review was held at
Markham Village CC Arena. We have a successful
28th year for 351 Silver Star Squadron. This is the
most important date for all cadets to show what they
have learnt for the whole year.
I would like to thank you for those parents’ donation
for a lot of different refreshments and drinks. Thank
you parents again…
Parents Info Night
With the successful
feedback in last year,
we held our parent’s
night again this year.
Hoping by hosting this
night, it will continu-
ously helping new par-
ents to know more
about our squadron,
the program and some
form of communica-
tion with our new and
existing parents.
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1
Notes from parents:
1) I was thrill with the orientation presented on the
parent’s night because when I registered my son for
the Air Cadets Program. I had doubt and uncertain
fear in my mind hence I have only little knowledge of
this program.
After the parent’s night orientation I feel extremely
confident that I made a right decision for my son to
register such an amazing program. The parent’s night
not only gave me the confidence but also gave me
the information and knowledge that I need such as
who sponsor this program, what type of activities the
Cadets will be involving and who should you engage
if you have any questions and concerns. I would en-
courage parents to attend this extremely informative
parent’s night.
2) My son started to attend Air Cadet program last
September. We found out that there was a Parent
Info Night for the new member's family. Both my
husband and I attended it. The parent info night is
very helpful for parents like us whose kids are new to
the program. Firstly, it's great to get to meet the
staffs and the volunteers. The CO explained the de-
tails such as the events, uniform supply, the field
training exercises and summer training, how the ca-
dets are expected to perform, how parents can be
involved. All this gives us a good picture of the pro-
gram. Furthermore, it gives us a chance to meet
other parents. We make friends with a few parents
and exchange some ideas and information. Overall,
the parent info night is informative and helpful for first
year cadets and their family.
Testimonial from June Ng – Service Award SSC
member
I remembered when my friend introduced me to Air
Cadets when her sons were in it. I thought this
would be a fun after school activity for my daughter
so I got her to enroll. She didn’t like it going in the
first night, but she was sold by the end of it. She
ended up joining band and rifle coach as well. I
watched her learn respect and discipline as she
gained leadership and survival skills. Although
sometimes I worry, I’m glad that she fell in love with
aviation and achieved the glider pilot and power
pilot scholarships. I decided to join the SSC (what’s
the full name of this…) in her last two years to see
what was keeping her busy every night of the week.
Getting to know other cadets and seeing them pro-
gress in the squadron made me feel proud. It was
also a lot of fun making new friends, many of whom
I now consider close friends. Taking on different
responsibilities myself allowed me to use my time
productively. Overall, the experience was great and
I wish everyone the best of luck in anything they
chose to pursue.
Testimonial from Sylvia Chiu –1st year SSC
member
It is my pleasure to be a new Squadron Sponsoring
Committee member of 351 Silver Star Squadron.
Volunteering at 351 Squadron Sponsoring Committee
is a valuable experience to me. In the past five
years, as a parent of this squadron, I do not really
understand why my sons love air cadets much. This
program is full of fun and educated activities in avia-
tion. After joining the SSC, I am finally realized how
much fun my sons have in this program. Not only
him, I also have a lot of fun working with the staff
and our SSC members in the past year. I can see
the efforts that our SSC members put it on each ac-
tivity and event. From organizing and fundraising ac-
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1
tivities to Christmas dinner and the annual ceremo-
nial review, our SSC members were very excited in
each involvement. Our members have shared a
common commitment to service our squadron better.
I feel excited to be a part of the talented, experienced
and enthusiastic team at 351 SSC. Our team is
based on trust, cooperation and supporting. I highly
recommended young people to join Air Cadets pro-
gram. The Air Cadets program allows a young person
to have a positive and discipline experience. Also I
ask all our parents to join our SSC and share our joy
to make the squadron better.
August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1