History of the USS DaVinci

BACKGROUND - MEETINGS - NEWSLETTER - CHAPTER AWARDS - CHARITIES

BACKGROUND
The Shuttle DaVinci was born on April 11th, 1995 three months after its future Captain, Freddy Heller, moved to Columbus, GA. Eleven months later on March 16th, 1996, we became the fleet’s newest Intrepid Class Starship, NCC 74671, during ceremonies held at the Region 2 Sunny Summit. The USS DaVinci had arrived!
Membership in the DaVinci has gone up and down over the years. At it peak, the DaVinci had nearly 100 members. Currently membership stands at 42, half of which are also Starfleet members. Our members range in age from pre-school to over 70 years. We are quite the diverse group.
Although primarily a Star Trek fan club, I like to think of us as a science fiction fan club as well. The DaVinci has fans of the entire sci-fi genre from Star Trek to Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica!
The DaVinci is affiliated with Starfleet - the largest Star Trek or Sci-Fi fan association in the world (we are in the Guinness Book of World Records)! We are part of Region 2, which encompasses Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and the Caribbean. Both Region 2 and Starfleet as a whole also get together on a regular basis. Region 2 has its annual summit and Starfleet has its annual conference. I encourage everyone to join Starfleet as well. It is a great organization and a "family" as well. If a member joins Starfleet, I automatically promote them to acting Ensign and the dues for the DaVinci are cut in half. To learn more about Fleet' go to sfi.org and browse.

MEETINGS
The DaVinci meets the first Thursday of each month. The meeting lasts from 1 to 1-˝ hours and sometimes we go out to eat following the meeting. During these general membership meetings topics range from upcoming DaVinci events to Starfleet events to the Sci-Fi world in general. The latter is often a topic for hot debate. We also play game for prizes and the title of DaVinci "Gamester of the Month."
In addition to the general membership meeting, the crew gets together on the third Monday of each month for the “DaVinci Night Out”. The Night Out is held at a different restaurant each month and is a time for the crew to enjoy a good meal and socialize with one another. It is also a time for the DaVinci to be noticed as uniforms and club tee shirts are the norm.
We also get together on the following special occasions: our anniversary party in March, the 4th of July cookout, the "Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall" cookout in September, and our Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas parties. Finally, we get together any time the feeling comes over us! We have had pool parties, movie marathons, your favorite TOS and TNG episode parties, premiere parties, mourning parties when a show leaves the air, and much more!

NEWSLETTER
The Pilot, a monthly publication, is the official newsletter of the USS DaVinci. The Pilot contains information important to the crew, upcoming events, news of the Trek world and Sci-Fi world in general, and anything else that the crew finds interesting. Articles from crewmembers, Trek and non-Trek, are encouraged.

CHAPTER AWARDS
Region Commendation, 1997
Newsletter Award, Honorable Mention, 1997
Overseas Coupon Project Award, 2000
Brenda Bullock Mothership Award, 2001
Certificate of Appreciation from the GA Department of Transportation, 2002
Overseas Coupon Project Award, 2002
Overseas Coupon Project Award, 2003
Overseas Coupon Project Award, 2004
Region Two Service Commendation, 2004
Region Two Commendation, 2006
Brenda Bullock Mothership Award, 2007

CHARITIES AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
The USS DaVinci supports Caring for Babies with AIDS, Starfleet Stampede, the Overseas Coupon Project, and the Columbus Ronald McDonald House. We also participate in the Adopt-a-Highway Program.

If you have problems with this webpage, please send your comment to USSDaVinci@gmail.com