Post #699983 by croe67 on Wed, Nov 20, 2013 9:17 AM

I, too, have no idea who Tikiskipper is, or whether that ID is actually a FOM member - or not.

As part of the present FOM leadership, I can say that we wanted to keep George local to preserve an important piece of Columbus tiki history, as preservation is a core component that does define our FOM goals. And, having a public location where he can be enjoyed by many was also an important part of the goal, with a few public locations considered.

As mentioned above, Charitable giving is also core to who we are. We raise funds - often through events such as Ohana Luau at the Lake - and then we give away a good chunk of that money away to charitable causes - either locally, as Hot rod Hula Hop did: http://www.fraternalorderofmoai.org/news/index.php/2013/09/25/hot-rod-hula-hop-5-proceeds-donated-to-cure-cmd - or, our national charity is the Easter Island Foundation, with the FOM now providing THREE Scholarships to students from the island of Rapa Nui who wish to bring their skills back to enrich their home island - you can read about our very recent 2013 donation here: http://www.fraternalorderofmoai.org/news/index.php/2013/11/04/fom-sends-2013-donation-to-eif

So, yeah, we enjoy preserving a bit of tiki history when we can, we raise money for good causes, we put on events & we have a hell of a lot of fun together while doing it all - and pretty much always with a drink in our hands. The FOM has grown far beyond it's initial roots & we are doing some fun stuff that can & does make a difference.