As a volunteer, Jon Tobin takes a leadership role in every aspect of club activities: trail clearing, grooming, equipment maintenance, membership, running meetings, record keeping, newsletters and club events.
His professionalism, combined with a love and appreciation for snowmobiling, has opened many doors with landowners, the DCR, local police and fire departments, as well as the public water department.
As president of the Burgy Bullets Snowmobile Club since 2009, he rarely has time to actually enjoy riding because he puts so much time and energy into making it happen for everyone else.
He takes time to spend with his family, leaving little time for him to actually snowmobile.
He makes this sacrifice because he truly loves the sport… All year round, snow or no snow, he continues to dedicate himself to the sport.
His passion for snowmobiling is in his blood and it’s what keeps him ticking. Literally.
It’s an honor to present the 2015 SAM Snowmobiler of the Year Award to Jon Tobin of the Burgy Bullets Snowmobile Club.
Jon was featured in another sledmass post recently.
Details from His Nomination:
Leadership positions
Grant Coordinator/Manager
Jon has been president since 2009 and with several board vacancies many obligations also fall on on Jon’s shoulders. He’s taken leadership on trail clearing, grooming, club events, equipment maintenance, membership, leading meetings, talking with local officials and land owners and grant writing.
Fundraising
Not only Does Jon participate in every club sponsored event he takes a major role in making them happen. These events generate donations and revenue for the club. These are the events held in the past year that Jon has taken part of and made happen.
Private Functions held regularly
Chicken BBQ Fundraiser
Annual Club Christmas Party
Western MA Legends of Snowmobile
Valley Motorsports Demo Ride
Vintage Ride
Family Fun Ride
Involvement
Jon can be seen stocking the bar and sweeping the floor at the clubhouse, Grooming and clearing trails, leading club meetings, attending SAM meetings when he can, Keeping records of Membership, writing and the annual newsletter, delegating and seeking volunteers, working on club drags and sleds, updating Facebook page and Sledmass , Grant writing, talking with landowners, Writing trail reports, supporting other clubs by attending their events when possible, appreciating and thanking volunteers and honoring the “legends” who brought the sport to where it is today. When he has time, he snowmobiles too.
Promoting Club Membership
Jon wrote an annual newsletter and with the help of volunteers did a mass mailing of the newsletter along with a membership form. He coordinates with Valley Motorsports and SAM to ensure Valley always has a supply of passes. Jon organized an excel spreadsheet of members for the past 3 years in order to keep better track of membership.
Special Projects
In 2014 Jon wrote and was awarded one of the only RTP Grants for the club. He worked very hard coordinating with local officials to get permission on wetlands and all sorts of permissions for the Grant project to happen. The 2 year project involves reconstructing three bridges and purchasing a sled and groomer to maintain the trails. Once completed, BBSC trails can be safely connected to access DAR state forest thanks to Jon’s coordination with other clubs. Jon organized crews, materials and permissions to complete 2 of these bridges and purchase one piece of equipment within months of being awarded the grant. Volunteers showed up in the pouring rain to work on bridges and club board members did whatever they could to support this project. It’s been a success so far, thanks to Jon’s leadership and the many volunteers who came out to support the project.
Community Service
He has a professionalism combined with a love and appreciation for snowmobiling that has opened doors with landowners and officials. He has professional relationships with DCR officials, Northamoton Water Dept and other City of Northampton Officials, Smith Voc. Ag. High School, Local police and fire dept. and more than Im not aware of for the past 6 years.
He’s attended Conservation Committee meetings.
He collaborated with Valley Motor Sports to host a demo ride at the club two years in a row.
He attended the DCR ceremony accepting the RTP grant award form our local elected officials.
Additional information
Jon rarely has time to actually enjoy the sport because he puts so much time and energy into making it happen for everyone else. He takes time to spend with his family and little time is left for him to actually snowmobile. He makes this sacrifice because he truly loves the sport… All year round, snow or no snow he continues to dedicate himself to the sport.
Annual meeting photo of SAM VP, Jon Tobin, and SAM president Dan Gould by Randy Toth
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