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El Diablo

By El Diablo
in General geocaching topics

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
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Posted (edited)

Hmmm.... I wonder how many people voted for organizations that they are:

 

1) not affiliated with

2) not the state they reside in

 

Hey Jerry!

 

There have been a few that I'm aware. Of course I'm sure there are quite a few since people that belong to other organizatons that weren't nominated for the contest and want to vote.

 

Hey Dean!

 

El Diablo

Edited by El Diablo
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JoenGPS

+JoenGPS

Posted
Posted

Add a vote for SJG from us. This is a model geocaching organizations both in the geocaching community and elsewhere. We have never met folks so willing to help out the community and each other in time of need. We are proud to be members of such an outstanding group!

SJG.jpg

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sofiecat

+sofiecat

Posted
Posted (edited)

log a vote for South Jersey Geocaching. over the years i have belonged to quite a few clubs,and orgenations. south jersey geocaching is by far the best of them all. there is always something going on, and the support for members, or any one involved in geocaching is oustanding. SOUTH JERSEY GEOCACHING, where friends meet! :huh:

Edited by sofiecat
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nuke eng

+nuke eng

Posted
Posted

Log one more vote for the Alabama Geocachers Associtation. Before I ran into this great bunch of people, I was pretty much a solo cacher, wandering around the country, but without a lot of "affiliation." It was fun, but not nearly as much fun as the daily communications on their web site, the many events, and the great people. I love the looseness of the whole thing too. Participate if you want. Don't if you don't. Go to some events, or only a few, you're still welcome.

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teresajeepin76cj5

teresajeepin76cj5

Posted
Posted

AGAlogo-1.jpg

 

 

 

I'm sorry all you other Organization may be good but the AGA is the best. We act like family, so don't mess with us. :huh:

 

I just started caching in December. I must tell all of you that I have been to 4 different group meetings. I just wandered into a coffee house in NC one night amongst a group of cachers and before I left I felt like I had made some friends. I also just popped into a meeting near Mytrle Beach one night on vacation and was taken right in. The way I got hooked into SCPC was by just showing up at a roadside park and started picking up trash with a bunch of strangers. Most of my friends think I am crazy but I think I could not have picked a better thing to get hooked on. I think I could just wander into any of the groups on these pages and be invited in with open arms. I am proud to be a cacher. (Sappy I know but gosh I am feeling the love) LOL

I know all the groups are the best just one will be luckier than the rest. Good luck everyone.

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The Walkabouts

+The Walkabouts

Posted
Posted

MiGO-tshirt-08.jpg

 

I Love MiGO! :anitongue:

 

Michigan Geocaching Organization (MiGO) was formed by the vision of a few at an event early in 2002. MiGO has been a Michigan 501©(7) non-profit organization since 2004. No board member, Executive Committee member, Chapter Vice Presidents or any other member have been paid a penny for their volunteer work with the organization. MiGO could have said we had over 1400 members early last year, but realized no member ever dropped off MiGO rolls, so now, with expiring memberships, we can actually say we have over 700 active members.

 

MiGO holds 'Geocaching 101' clinics for schools, scouting groups, churches, senior centers and day camps for kids. Our 1-800 number receives calls from throughout the state and we seek out local volunteers to immediately help the callers. Our state, like most, has an organization called the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA). This organization is the group that every park system in Michigan belongs to, including the Michigan DNR. MiGO has set up a booth in the midway at the annual MPRA convention for the past 5 years. MiGO has a couple of instructors that are certified to teach a class on geocaching at the MPRA training center, where attendees get a continuing education credit toward their recreation degree. MiGO works side by side with MRPA all year long and in 2004 we were presented with the community service award from Oakland County parks during the MRPA annual convention. Every state has a Chapter of the National Recreation and Parks Association, check out yours here.

 

CITO: Michigan is our playground and MiGO is doing its part to keep our playground clean. From Adopt-A-Highway projects in each of it's four Chapter's, to the multiple CITO events throughout Michigan all year long. MiGO's Northern NL Chapter Vice President held so many Forest clean-ups last year, that the Michigan DNR division called Adopt-A-Forest and asked him to join their Board of Directors. Chad accepted the position, but still heads the MiGO NL Chapter.

sign002.jpg

 

MiGO Scholarships: In 2007, MiGO initiated $500 yearly in scholarship funds. These scholarships will be awarded to an applicant who is studying toward a degree in outdoor recreation, conservation, environmental studies, or a related field.

 

Education: Educating Michigan geoachers about responsible outdoor ethics is a program MiGO Leadership truly believes in. In 2006 we brainstormed how to use our site and programs to educate people on this important issue. We all have heard of "Leave No Trace" and the other organization called "Treadlightly!" that supplies organizations with ethical brochures, coloring books, banners and many other educational supplies for cost of shipping only. MiGO quickly became an alliance member of TreadLightly!. We since have 4 MiGO members who are certified and licensed Treadlightly instructors in the state. I believe Groundspeak and MiGO are the only geocaching groups affiliated with any outdoor ethics Educational organization.

 

Youth Education: MiGO is currently working with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) to hold 'Geocaching 101' classes for 80 youths per week, 3 classes per day, during 8 week-long Youth Camps, to be held at the MUCC summer camp at Waterloo State Park campgrounds. Geocaching will round out MUCC's classes for outdoor recreational activities which include Archery, Kayaking, Canoeing, Riflery, Plant and Tree Identification, First Aid, etc. All classes are offered each week during the 8 week period.

 

Geocoins I don't think Geocoins really tell how good an organization is but if you want to compare them, MiGO produced an annual geocoin in 2004 using the GX logo and in 2005 we minted a trackable version, 2006 Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, 2007 Mackinac Bridge, 2008 we'll soon have the

Edmund Fitzgerald coin. We've also minted four seasonal coins in 2006 and 2007, for a total of 16 coins minted. A couple of MiGO board members got so good at the Geocoin business that they ventured off to start personalgeocoins.com, geocoinstore.com and more recently, pathtags.com.

 

Recognition: Cyclops, a past Chapter Vice President, along with others, donated their time by having outdoor booths and teaching 101 classes for a couple of years at both Michigan REI stores. MiGO received notification form the REI corporate offices that we were nominated to apply for a grant. MiGO was shocked, since they had no idea of the possibility of a grant, but quickly assembled a proposal for the grant of $5000.00 to be used on educational supplies and CITO tools. MiGO, after winning the bid, is now in the process of building the MiGO Lending Library, complete with 14 GPS units, 10 geocaching DVD's. 5 types of Geocaching and GPS Books, (30 books total), and various classroom handouts and literature on MiGO, geocaching, and outdoor ethics. These materials will be free to use for the price of shipping only, with a Credit card used as a deposit. 100 quality CITO trash grabbers are also on the way and will be divided equally among the 4 MiGO chapters.

REIGrant.jpg

 

Service Awards: Every year, at MiGO's Annual Winter Social, the Board of Directors awards certain members with a limited edition silver coin in recognition of the time and effort they put into raising awareness of geocaching throughout Michigan, i.e. teaching Geocaching 101 classes, hosting events, promoting outdoor ethics and all around involvement in geocaching in Michigan.

 

* You've already heard about the MiGO cache rescue mission that has been operating since 2003.

 

* You've already heard that after four years of negotiation, MiGO got the DNR to drop the current permit fee of $35.00 per cache placement on state lands down to FREE for MiGO members.

 

Thanks for the topic,

Gary

 

Our vote is for MiGO <_<

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
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Posted

It was a good contest. As I said before, there is a lot of pride out there for the organizations. It started off being a very close race, and then one pulled ahead and never looked back. It was amazing to see the support for this organization that flooded my email.

 

Congratulations!

 

El Diablo

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PJPeters

+PJPeters

Posted
Posted

It was a good contest. As I said before, there is a lot of pride out there for the organizations. It started off being a very close race, and then one pulled ahead and never looked back. It was amazing to see the support for this organization that flooded my email.

 

Congratulations!

 

El Diablo

So, is there an official announcement?

 

I've seen many interesting groups here, and loved to see just how proud everybody was of their respective groups.

 

Thanks for the contest, and the opportunity to participate!

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TheAlabamaRambler

+TheAlabamaRambler

Posted
Posted

It was a good contest. As I said before, there is a lot of pride out there for the organizations. It started off being a very close race, and then one pulled ahead and never looked back. It was amazing to see the support for this organization that flooded my email.

 

Congratulations!

 

El Diablo

 

The world awaits with bated breath!

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
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Posted

The winner is..............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to recommend the North East Florida Geocaching Association, NEFGA, for this honor.

nefga_3x5_oval_107.jpg

 

The mission statement for NEFGA is:

The Northeast Florida Geocachers Association promotes the sport of geocaching, educates new and continuing members in the sport and provides fun, creative and educational "event caches". The NEFGA is a central place for the sharing of geocaching-related information for Northeast Florida.

 

For many organizations, this would be mere hyperbole. For NEFGA, it is a way of life.

 

Consider my initial meeting: I went to an event in the Ocala National Forest, hosted by The Federation, who was, and still is, a central figure in NEFGA. I had never been to an event before, and had never even met another cacher before. Up to that point, I was kinda wondering if the existence of other cachers was just a myth. As I approached the event site with a degree of trepidation, Fed called me over, introduced himself and right away started talking to me about one of my caches. I thought it was so kewl that someone with a gazillion finds under their belt would still be able to put a face with a hide, especially since it was a face he'd never met, and a find he hadn't done. As we chatted some more, I mentioned how much I admired his personal geocoin, (which hadn't been available in a long time), and he reached in his pocket and handed me one. It sits on my desk in a place of honor, to this date. What really sets this group apart from all others is the fact that this greeting was not unusual by their standards. This level of enthusiasm is routine for NEFGA'ns. Welcoming newcomers is one of their strongest traits.

 

NEFGA hosts an annual event called "Florida Finders Fest", which has been voted the best event in the state. The theme of "FFF" is Food, Finds and Fellowship. They produced a way kewl geocoin for the event this year, and that coin is another one of my little treasures. This year's "FFF" had 117 attendees, and judging by the logs, next year's will be even bigger. The three day weekend encompassed 4 separate events. A chili dinner, the main event, (which included a 6 mile hike caching challenge, a poker run caching challenge and a still ongoing TB race), a late night Jeep caching run and a CITO.

 

NEFGA is so into events they even produced an 18 page .pdf file detailing everything you ever wanted to know about Event Hosting 101. NEFGA also regularly holds what they refer to as "Invasions", where they will load up a boat load of cachers and target a specific geographic area far from home. The fun and camaraderie found in this group is unequaled anywhere.

 

NEFGA produces a regular publication called The Ammo Can, which is chock full of member submissions, to include interviews, event coverage and great caching stories.

 

For those of us who love geocoins, we can all offer thanks to NEFGA for their instrumental work in creating the ability to have unique icons for coins.

 

NEFGA hosted GeoWoodstock 3 in Jacksonville, an event many multi GW attendees claim as the best GW ever.

 

NEFGA also hosts an annual caching for the holidays event whose goal is to accumulate toys for needy families. Last year's collection was so large it just barely fit into a Cherokee when it was time to make the delivery.

 

NEFGA keeps on the cutting edge of geo-trends, hosting events to teach members about paperless caching and Waymarking, as well as regular caching classes for beginners.

 

Bottom line? No organization opens its hearts to everyone quite like NEFGA.

 

You guys rock!

 

El Diablo

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OHail

+OHail

Posted
Posted

Woohoo! A great group of people!

 

While my heart rests with the AGA (thanks to all who voted!) I am also a member of the NEFGA and display their sticker on my truck window as well.

 

Anytime you find yourself in their area of Florida look them up!

 

I agree with what TAR said except I don't have their sticker on my vehicle. I have met many of the members of this organization and they are a great group of folks. They were my choice to win if we (The AGA) didn't.

 

Congrats to the NEFGA!!!

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trippy1976

+trippy1976

Posted
Posted

I hope you get your staff, I have been waiting over a year for one I already paid for. :o

 

Seriously? Unbelievable. I can understand being disgruntled about a purchase gone bad but really - this is a great thread... I actually appreciate the bump (because I saw it and read it) but really think this was misplaced in such a high spirited thread.

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