Foundation members have a ‘can-do’ spirit

Maybe the lesson in the recent saga of the New Hampton Municipal Airport is this: One does not need to take no for an answer.OK, nobody came right out and told New Hampton Airport Foundation Board members Dan Scott and Jason Lahmann “no,” but there were plenty of pessimists when it came to their dream of obtaining a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division.But here we are, three years later, with a $350,000-plus grant from the Iowa DOT and $113,000 in local  donations and pledges. And Scott and Lahmann have done much of the leg work for the grand and the fundraising.The two men showed an incredible “can-do” spirit when it came to nailing down the grant that will rehabilitate a runway that hasn’t really been touched in the last 50 years. When news broke that the New Hampton City Council might consider selling the airport’s runway, they first led the charge to keep the airport and then went to work on improving it.Scott and Lahmann have been quick to deflect the credit. Talk to them and they will tell you this is a “community effort” and they are not wrong. They have received hundreds of donations and pledges from area individuals and businesses.Without that “local match” and without the scores of letters from area residents that were a part of the grant application, they know this grant award would not have been possible.But it started with the Foundation, namely Scott and Lahmann, and for that we “tip our hat” to two men who showed all of us that passion and determination can still carry any day.