Thanks for the warm welcome Ron, appreciate it!!
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, it was my 21st birthday and I was out for most of the day. Thanks for making me feel right at home. Some people tell me I'm crazy for devoting most of my free time to lighthouses at such a young age -- but I enjoy every minute. (I wish it payed sometimes, but the joy of saving something so precious is more valuable then any dollar amount.)
So...
My name is Dave Lombardi and I'm the President and co-founder of the Dutch Island Lighthouse Society. My paying job outside of the lighthouse community is Radio. Radio is my first love and I studied the technique in college for a short time. I'm currently a Producer for Lite Rock 105.1 FM in Providence.
Okay.. My fasination with lighthouses started when I was in the 8th grade when I did my coastal research project on the Point Judith Lighthouse. My civics teacher really liked lighthouses so I asked him about his feelings on the topic and he told me to pursue it. To make a long story short I got an "A-" on my report and a "D" on my presentation (I was very shy speaking in front of the class, so I said two words and put in a movie about New England Lighthouses and it did the presentation for me.)
Doing the reserach on this project I picked up one of the most inspiring books on RI Lighthouses. "The Lighthouses Of Rhode Island, by Wally Welch. Never being a huge reader the book was easy for me to understand because it was mostly a pictorial guide. It gave small histories of the lighthouses on each page. From that summer on I religioulsy read the book cover to cover every day and every night. (Practically memorizing the pages.) It was then I knew lighthouses were my thing and that I enjoyed them so much. I even wanted to be a lighthouse keeper!
15 and not being able to drive I made my mom take me to almost every lighthouse in Lil' Rhody. It even got to the point where if she asked me what I wanted to do it was followed by "Lighthouses are out of the question for today"... Okay so I was abit obsessed but am I alone here? LOL
So for 6 years... lighthouses especailly our local ones have meant a great deal to me. This is why I contacted the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) to see if they could assist me with the preservation of Dutch Island. After a few meetings and some paper work the 125 year-old Dutch Island lighthouse was leased from the US Coast Guard to the ALF !! Our local chapter the Dutch Island Society was formed
in May of 2000.. And as they say the rest is history!
Over the past year-and-a-half being a President of preservation group has it's depressing downfalls. Sometimes, money never seems to come in and the whole effort seems worthless to me. But I've learned to keep at it cause people may seem greedy some days then they are very generious. My job is the educate our members and ecourage them to make contributions.
We've raised a good amount of money so far, however we are still far away from reaching our goal.. I would really love to have our contractors start some of the restoration next year but only time will tell.
Just have to keep positive and keep thinking of ways to raise money -- and sure enough it will happen. Some people have told me this will never happen cause Dutch Island isn't a "Castle Hill" or "Nubble Light" which many people visit every day.
But I keep telling them... It'll get done, you just watch!
Well I'm sure I've said enough...
All the best,
Dave Lombardi
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Dave Lombardi
President
Dutch Is. Lighthouse Soc