donation

Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday is #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. We hope you’ll join thousands across the nation in giving to organizations that matter to you. Now in its fourth year, #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving. Created by 92nd Street Y—a cultural center in New York City that, since 1874, has been bringing people together around the values of service and giving back—#GivingTuesday connects diverse groups of individuals, communities and organizations around the world for one common purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving. Do your part today by giving to the AMA. Directly donate here on the AMA Foundation website or use AmazonSmile. Simply visit AmazonSmile and select the Academy of Model Aeronautics Foundation as your charity. Then shop away! Amazon will donate 0.5% from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases back to us. Please consider a gift to the AMA Foundation today and throughout the holiday season to help the AMA reach out to the youth who are the future of our hobby, preserve timeless artifacts and memories, and fight to protect your right to fly. Your support for the AMA Foundation today will change lives tomorrow. To learn more about the AMA Foundation visit amafoundation.modelaircraft.org. To learn more about #GivingTuesday visit givingtuesday.org.  

Richard “Rich” Lopez was born on April 7, 1948 and grew up in San Francisco. As a young child, he built plastic static models of planes and cars. At age 12, he flew ½ A control line models in the street in front of his house. He joined a local hobby shop flying club and competed in combat, stunt, and balloon bust events. He would later joined three Bay Area clubs: the Piston Poppers, the Flying Tigers and Komita. His childhood interest in model aviation would spark a lifelong love of the hobby. Rich loved to compete and was a force to be reckoned with. He won numerous competitions and awards in his lifetime, including the AMA National Aeromodeling Championships. Most notably, he won the 1989 U.S. Team Trials and represented the U.S. as a Control Line Combat pilot in the 1990 World Championships in France. Rich had an immense interest in model design and strived to perfect his equipment. He designed many Control Line Combat models – the Matador for AMA combat, the Lil Matador, and Lil Snip for ½ A combat and the Samurai for FAI combat – a few of which were published in model aircraft magazines. The Matador and Lil Matador were kitted by Midwest Models. Sadly, Rich Lopez, 67, passed away peacefully at UCLA Medical Center on October 5, 2015 after a three-year battle with cancer. In October, friends of Rich came together donating an AMA Walk of Fame brick in their friend’s memory and honor. The brick will be placed at AMA headquarters in Muncie, IN in early 2016. Rich Lopez will be sorely missed by family, friends and members of the model aviation community. Visit the AMA Foundation website for more information on how to make a donation in memory of Rich Lopez. Click here to learn more about the AMA Walk of Fame program.   [caption id="attachment_2273" align="alignleft" width="807"] Thank you to the friends and family members who contributed towards the purchase of an AMA Walk of Fame brick in memory of Rich Lopez.[/caption]