Minutes from the final meeting

We had a productive final face-to-face meeting this afternoon, January 17, 2026, of the QCWA Kansas Sunflower Chapter #79. Thank you for Treasurer David Foster, NØKAT, Dennis Duty, WØEDJ, John Minor, WDØEDK, and Catherine French, KE5CEJ for attending and having the important decision needed as we shut down operations.

It was decided that a refund of future year chapter dues in the amount of $32 will be made to Daryl J.D. Stout, N5VLZ, as he had already elected to pay dues for 2026 – 2033.

It was decided in principle that we will give a grant of $1,000 to the Little River Radio Club, KFØKRY. This is a rural middle school amateur radio club. Joe Pajor, KBØKFH will work with Larry Cannon, KØSFV, to finalize arrangements for the grant and get a cashier’s check to the club. Catherine volunteered to be the person who will receive documentation of the use of the grant funds by the school club. A copy of their grant application email is attached to this email.

It was also agreed in principle that the remaining funds (approximately $400) will be offered to members of local amateur radio clubs who become licensed or upgrade their license class. The award will be $75 per applicant. If funds are not used for this purpose, the remaining amount will be equally divided and paid to chapter members. Catherine volunteered to develop this part of the plan in more detail and will be sharing the specifics so that chapter members can have input into the final design.

If there are any remaining funds after the disbursements described above, those funds will go to the Wichita Amateur Radio Club exclusively to cover the costs of the VE test sessions.

Catherine also volunteered to scan approximately two file drawers worth of records of the chapter. She is asking for others with scanning capability to assist her in getting this work completed. Please email her at ke5cej@hotmail.com, if you are willing to help.

The chapter banner and stand and any other chapter equipment or records that might remain will be stored by Larry Cannon in his personal storage unit in case someone wants to take the chapter back active.

Lloyd Colson, KC5FM, would like to see the chapter evolve into a virtual chapter. If you would like to join him in pursuing this idea, please email him at colstonl@gmail.com.

President’s message on closing chapter

We had eight members and one guest attend today’s chapter meeting (November 15). We reviewed the survey results that all of you have received by prior e-mail. No one was willing to serve as officers for 2026. The consensus was that, regrettably, the chapter will cease operations.

I will be reaching out to QCWA National to understand the process and procedures of going inactive.

We have $1,434.63 in our chapter treasury. This is the net result of local dues ($4/year) and donations made by members to the chapter (most often someone paying their dues with a $5 bill and just asking that the difference be considered a donation) over the many years of chapter operations.

Our attention will now turn to what to do with the $14,34.63. Many ideas were discussed today from the wild ones like buying lottery tickets or free lunches at meetings until the money runs out to the more sincere including how do we use the funds to further amateur radio locally.

Ultimately it was decided to poll the chapter membership as to how we should distribute the money. One member has prepaid his dues through 2033. His future dues will be refunded as a part of this process.

Please watch for and participate in the survey that will be coming out shortly.

We will meet one more time, at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 17, 2026, at Walt’s East Restaurant to make final decisions on how to distribute the money and any other necessary business. Please join us if you can. Thank you.

If these decisions cause you to decide that YOU want to serve as a chapter officer, e-mail JTPajor@aol.com to volunteer.