Minuteman

On March 3rd we held our annual meeting. Once again Rich Garick did an outstanding job with the play and dinner. We thanked Rich with a Mercedes Benz wheel clock. We held elections with most Officers returning. Stephen Coulter was elected Secretary. I'd like to thank Nancy for her past work as Secretary and her continuing work as Webmaster. We also elected Dean Conclin to the Board of Directors. I want to thank all the Officers and Board Members for their contributions to the Section.

For me the highlight of the meeting was presenting Mark Fancy with the Northeast Officer of The Year award. Mark went above and beyond the call of duty in 2012, making trophies for Germanfest and Farberaylle, running Farberaylle, judging at Germanfest and his work with the Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and being a father and husband. I have not felt this strongly about anything with the Club since I convinced the National Board that Chrysler Crossfires should not be allowed at our events. Mark you did an outstanding job and the award was well deserved, Thank You!

You may have noticed that there are fewer events this year than in the past. The reason is that no one new is stepping forward to run events. The same 10-15 members run and volunteer for events every year. Each year I ask for recommendations for new events and members to run them. Only Nancy and Bonnie Fancy have come forward with an event.

The members that are running the current events may be tired or disenchanted with doing all the work. National By-Laws state that we have to have an event every quarter, if these members decided not to do it, the Minuteman Section would cease to exist. We need new events and members to run them and we need them now!

Speaking of members stepping up, I would like to thank Arthur Aucoin for replacing me as Chief Judge at Germanfest. Arthur has been involved with Mercedes Benz first with Hatch and Sons and currently as a Partner and Lead technician at European Auto Solutions. He has Judged shows around the northeast and will uphold the Germanfest Judging tradition of Cleanness and Originality.

As always I can be reached [email protected]

Happy New Year to all I hope you had a nice Holiday season.

Back in 2006 the Section Bank balance was $3-4,000.00, with the cost of printing and mailing the Newsletter between $5-6000.00 and the Annual Dinner subsidy around $2,000.00. With our rebate from the National Business Office of $6,200.00, it was clear this model wasn't going to work.

We asked Nancy to design a Website that would inform members of Section news and events and also serve as a vehicle for banner advertising that would bring income to the Section. We partitioned the NBO and were granted permission to sell Banner Ads on the website. We then solicited dealers and other's to buy Banner Ads. This was met with great success and also tied into the sponsorships of events. It all goes back to the website as the starting point.

Now it was time to do something about the Newsletter expense. The Club By-Laws state the Newsletter has to be delivered to members 4 times per year, it doesn't say how to deliver it. Back to the NBO for permission to email the N/L, Granted. This took some work to get the emails merged to a program that could be used with Constant Contact. It took some time but when it was finally done we not only saved $5-6000.00, but had an email program that allowed us to send event notice's and emails with breaking news.

The bottom line is that as reported elsewhere in this edition we have a healthy bank balance and are putting money in a CD for a rainy day. We return far more to the members through subsidized events than the law requires.

I want to thank the entire Team for all their hard work in making this happen, and most of all our Sponsors. We truly have come a long way.
 

Farberallye XXXV Presented by European Auto Solutions concludes today in Sturbridge, MA. Event Chairman and Minuteman Treasurer Mark Fancy along with his wife Becky put on a fantastic event. The Raylle went through some of the most beautiful scenery in Central Mass., the dinner at the Publick House was one of the best in recent memory. Nancy and I live in the area and you would think local knowledge would give us an advantage, Not! I would like to congratulate North East Regional Director and Minuteman member's Ernie and Bonnie Fancy on their win, and thank them for hosting the Welcome Reception in their beautiful new home. Thank you to Section VP Ed Owen of European Auto Solutions who has been sponsoring the event since 2006. EAS has become a true friend and one of the biggest supporters of the Minuteman Section. Thank you goes out to Mercedes Benz of Westwood's and Minuteman member Jim Parker for supplying the raffle items. Most of all thank you Mark and Becky for all your hard work.

Germanfest XXVI Presented by Intercity Lines drew sixty two cars from all over the Northeast making the completion tough. This event chaired by John Slamin takes the largest amount of volunteer's of any event we run and John's staff dose a great job. The event could not take place with out the generous support of all our sponsors who are listed in the event report on the website, thank you.

I want to thank Ken Bourque for another great Nautical Cruise Presented by AlphaCars, Ken they just keep getting better!

With all our events done for the year the work of the Officers and the Board along with all the Event Chairmen continues through out the winter. Next year will have some that are old and some that are new and we hope to have a General Membership Dinner sometime early next year. I'd like to have it somewhere in Metro West making it convenient to most of the members. If anyone has an idea for the facility, please let me know. As always we need volunteers for existing and new events so please consider helping out.

Nancy and I would like to wish everyone a great Holiday Season and we'll see you next year.