Happy New Year! and welcome to our new members.
My Name is Lou Adzima, I am assuming the duties of Association President for 2023. I finished six years as a Navy Photographer at NAS North Island and then 32 years as a civilian in the Photo community. Like many of our membership, I’m a long-time member of the association. I do remember seeing Lynn Rybarczyk signing up people in front of the Cutting Edge woodworking store to form SDFWA. I have always been interested in woodworking through high school and as a hobby in the navy. Building for my children and restoring furniture, probable like many of you.
As a member of SDFWA I have volunteered to be the Historian, Secretary and Videographer. I have worked setting up the Design in Wood show at the fair and as a Floor Ambassador during the fair. Volunteers are who we are and how we can grow to strengthen this community to be a greater organization. Our chair shop at the Fair also requires demonstrators using hand tools most people don't even own, to make parts in the in the 19th century chair shop. Visitors to the fair are so impressed with this shop it is one of the main events of the show.
We are one of the largest woodworking guilds in America. This has only happened through the volunteers stepping in to fill key positions. That’s what brings us together this common interest in wood. Cutting, sawing, drilling, gluing, carving, recutting, jointing, planning, and sanding, everyone loves sanding! If you ever do any of the above, you need to volunteer and help guide us into the future and make optimal — and sustainable choices.
Some Committee chairs have retired including Del Cover who provided the great speakers at our meetings, and Dale Stauffer who guided our shop tours. Both have provided years of service to SDFWA. If either position is of interest to you, please let us know. Dedicated people are required to establish the leadership around these solutions and deliver reliable results.
If you care about our community’s well-being, we invite you to join us and help keep it moving in right direction. We will help educate participants on how to apply your skill set to add support to our foundation.
This guild has been built on the good work of others before me including my immediate predecessor, Jeff Romek. My thanks to Jeff for all his hard work this last year. I would like to continue to build on all the work he and the Board accomplished, including improved general meetings, fixes to the website, opening up Board interaction with officials at the San Diego Fair, and other successes. My hope is to bring the elements of the Association that were suspended due to COVID-19 back even better than they were pre-COVID!
Lou Adzima
President
San Diego Fine Woodworking Association