This piece originally ran in the August 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Volunteer families at EAA play a crucial role in the organization. These dedicated individuals contribute their time, skills, and passion to support events like AirVenture and ensure the smooth operation of EAA’s programs. The importance of volunteer families cannot be overstated, as they embody the spirit of collaboration and community.
The Burns Family
Tami Burns, EAA 799426, from Almond, Wisconsin, started volunteering in 2009 at the North 40 camping registration, but within a year she moved to become an aircraft greeter. Now she’s the lead chair there and works with her son Nick who’s been by her side since 2018.
Tami attended AirVenture with her husband for many years prior to that and thought it’d be really cool to volunteer somewhere on the grounds.
“I just really fell in love with just being out in the field and being around the airplanes and meeting the pilots and making a whole new group of friends that you only see once a year,” she said.
Volunteering has become a family affair for the Burnses, and now a big group of them camp together in Camp Scholler, which Tami said has only enriched their experience as volunteers.
The Krapfl/Renderman Family
Courtney Renderman, EAA Lifetime 1207801, has spent her whole life going to AirVenture, and when she was just 9 years old, she was recruited by her grandmother to begin working at the North Main Gate. This was the tradition for everyone in her family, along with stopping for a hash brown from Hardee’s with Grandpa on the way.
When her grandmother retired in 2015, Courtney became the youngest chairperson on the grounds at just 18.
The North Main Gate has nearly 20 members of the Krapfl/Renderman family pitching in each year. Siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins alike all come together for one huge family reunion.
“I love aviation and the incredible science behind it, but truly being a part of EAA is the community that we’ve created through Main Gate North and just having that extra support system and family behind you,” she said.
The Ferguson Family
Deb Ferguson, EAA 1247485, originally from Ohio but now residing locally in Waupaca, is the co-chair for First Aid helping “save people’s vacations” and has three generations of her local family from Waupaca volunteering with her.
After a few years of attending EAA AirVenture Oshkosh she realized that she could volunteer. Beginning in 1989 she was able to allot only one day out of the week to working at AirVenture as she was a nurse with a growing family, but the passion grew, and she eventually started volunteering the whole week with her husband and their four children.
Her children are grown now with kids of their own, but AirVenture has always been the one place they can reunite.
“It’s just one thing that we’ve always done as a family. And no matter how far apart we’ve been at different times, they all come home to do EAA,” she said.
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 Volunteer Spotlight? Visit EAA.org/Submissions.