Well I did it again - opened my mouth and made a suggestion. And promptly got stuck with work! Recently an active member of COP commented that members don't realize the many contributions our organization makes. Awed at the profound truth of Randy Bennett's comment, I suggested that our newsletter highlight our donations and contributions in the future. Within 24 hours, President Keith "Orca" Finn asked me to write the first such article! I agreed to review the past year. And let the newsletter editors take it from here.

In September 2001 the COP Board went wild. We voted to give $5,000 to the West Virginia Association for Cave Studies, to be used for cave conservation. We also gave $5,000 to Chillicothe to help repair the pool in the park we use for the TOSRV food stop. And there was the first reading on a motion to give $10,000 from the Bicycle Development Fund to the Ohio to Erie Trail Fund, to continue building the trail. (This motion was approved at the October meeting.) At the October meeting the Board continued its spending spree with a pledge of $50,000 from the Bicycle Development Fund towards "rehabilitation" of the Thomas J. Evans multi-use trail from Johnstown to Newark. This pledge was contingent on matching funds by May 30. Unfortunately, the matching funds could not be obtained. At the March 2002 meeting, the Board approved a one time payment of $1,500 to Randy Bennett for his expenses and fine work running XOBA, and $500 to the Ohio Bicycle Federation in support of the good work the Federation does on behalf of bicyclists around the state. The contributions noted above total $72,000, for less than a year. We can certainly be proud of the many good causes COP has supported!