President's Message September 2020

Presidents Message by Jim Buelow    9-02-2020

Jim Buelow and Maggie, Lake Anna Rally

Hello Dogwood Family,

 I hope all is well with all of you and that you are SAFE and healthy. Susan and I are well and just returned from a great time at the Lake Anna Rally. Thank you Andrea and Roger Monaghan for hosting and for all of you who attended. And on a personal note, I had an absolute ball riding the float behind the Monahan’s boat. Not many takers to go on a ride, but I did, along with Maggie Curtis, a friend of the Monahan’s. Roger told us he could dump us and that he did, twice. I have a battle scar on my elbow as proof (LOL).  Maggie’s husband Dusty was our spotter and took video of our ride (thank you Dusty) and I will ask Paul to post them on the Dogwood blog. Now for some Dogwood business.

Covid 19 numbers are finally decreasing in most areas, however, it remains a serious threat to our health, and I ask that all of us continue to wear your masks, social distance, and obey safe health practices, not only at our gatherings, but where ever you may go. We will get through this.

Elections for the 2021-2022 term will be held at the Christmas Rally and I am happy to report that we have nominees for all but one Nominating Committee position.  Thank you Buck Buchanan for a super job as Nominating Committee Chairman. Nominees are as follows:

President – Ed Herbert

VP Membership – Pat Allen

VP of Communications – Dave Meyer

VP of Rallies – Henry Kuiken

Secretary – Jean Herbert

Treasurer – Pat Allen

National Director – Ed Fisher

Alternate National Director – Rich Bonewitz

Nominating Committee:

Chairman – Jim Buelow

Member – Rich Bonewitz

Member – Vacant, need a volunteer ASAP please

Appointed Positions:

Safety Committee Chairman – Butch Jones

Care Person – Patti Kuiken

Thanks to all of you who have stepped up to serve Dogwood for the upcoming term. I think you have a great team and will serve our chapter very well.

New Member Update – Welcome new members Walt and Helena Confer from Allentown, PA, Dave and Terry Moberly from Lake Anna, VA, and Pace and JoAnn Mimms from Powhatan, VA.

Walt and Helena had hoped to join us at the Americamps Rally in July, but were unable to attend because Helena was recovering from surgery. We look forward to meeting you at a rally in the near future.

Dave and Terry joined us at the Saturday luncheon at the Lake Anna Rally, and Pace and JoAnn joined us at the Friday gathering at Lake Anna.  It was a pleasure to meet all of you, and we hope you enjoyed the rally.

Thanks to all of you for joining the Dogwood chapter, you won’t be disappointed. 

Garden Flags – During the July Americamps Rally, Andrea Monaghan brought up the idea of a Dogwood garden flag similar to our Mirror Covers. She discussed it with Nanette Meyer who is one of our members who provides Mirror Covers. Nanette has since produced a Garden Flag. She will bring a sample or two to the Christmas rally at which time we will discuss if we would like to add them as a Dogwood item. Thank you Nanette and Andrea.

Rallies – Past and future rallies for 2020 are covered under the Rally Master report, but I want to make a few comments. We still have the Urbanna Rally and the Christmas rally scheduled for this year and hopefully, the Covid thing will go away soon and we can have a great turnout for those gatherings. Put them on your calendar. And at the Christmas rally, we will try to set the schedule for 2021 rallies. Please bring your ideas for rally locations, activities, etc and a willingness to host a rally in 2021. And thanks to all of you who stepped up to host a rally this year.

FMCA Executive Board Issues - Please take the time to thoroughly read Ed Fishers National Directors Report. There are some major issues concerning loss of membership and financial shortfalls taking place at this time, and to make matters worse, there is a major divide among members of our Executive Committee. If you want additional information on the issues, you can log on to FMCA.Com and look under Governance to view documents, letters, etc.

We had a great response from members to provide inputs for this newsletter. Thanks for submitting your stories, and we hope the entire membership takes the time to enjoy this newsletter. And my sincere appreciation to Paul Cummings for producing another great newsletter.

In closing, I also want to thank you, the Officers, Committee Members, Hosts, and Members; for all that you do to make Dogwood the great chapter that it is. Take care and SAFE travels.

Regards,

Jim Buelow

Dogwood President