Amy Crozier, EAA 1220935, was introduced to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2013 when a friend gave her tickets to the show. After watching the Wednesday night air show with her daughters, she brought her dad, a veteran, on Friday as part of the Salute to Veterans. Following a great day with her dad, who died unexpectedly only months after the show, Amy decided to give back to EAA by volunteering.
“We just had the most fantastic, fabulous day ever,” Amy said. “He was treated like royalty, as he should be, [and he] was in the parade. We saw everything. We got to experience it all. … It was just wonderful.”
Amy noted that on the way home, her dad told her itwas one of the best days of his life.
“A few months later he died, passed away unexpectedly,” she said. “Anyway, I took it upon myself, because of that day and all the great memories, that I wanted to be a volunteer at EAA and give back to what we’d gotten that day.”
Amy volunteers primarily in the Vintage area as the VAA Red Barn hospitality chairman, though she helps out in the Warbirds area on the Friday of AirVenture when veterans are honored.
In her duties in the Vintage area, Amy primarily answers a lot of questions and welcomes visitors to the area.
“I answer a lot of questions,” she said. “I make sure we’ve got the popcorn. I have to make sure I have other volunteers there working. So, it’s mainly just greeting people, smiling, welcoming, asking if they have questions. If they want to tell me their story, I listen. A lot of times it’s listening.”
Like many volunteers, Amy comes back to AirVenture to volunteer each year because of the volunteers she’s with and the relationships she’s developed.
“It’s the family atmosphere,” she said. “The Vintage family just took me under their wing and just totally welcomed me even though I knew nothing about aviation. It’s just been the warm welcoming of the people that have been here for years. You don’t feel like an outcast. You don’t feel like you don’t belong. It’s definitely got to be the people, the family feeling, the welcoming, warm atmosphere that you get. Somebody says, ‘Hi! See you again next year.’ You can look forward to it. It is the family warmth.”
Volunteers make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — and just about everything else EAA does — possible. This space in EAA Sport Aviation is dedicated to thanking and shining the spotlight on volunteers from the community. Sadly, it cannot capture all of the thousands of volunteers who give so much to the community every year. So, next time you see a volunteer at AirVenture or elsewhere, however they are pitching in to make EAA better, be sure to thank them for it. It’s the least we can do. Do you know a volunteer you’d like to nominate for a Volunteer Spotlight? Visit www.EAA.org/submissions.