President’s Year-End Report 2006
Jeanette & I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! This is the season for family & friends take a deep breath, relax and enjoy! Lets also keep in mind our military men & women who are serving far from home during the holidays, sacrificing so much to keep evil from jeopardizing our nation. Pray for their safe return.
As this year in our clubs history is about to close, I congratulate our 2006 wagon masters! They put together four very successful rallies, spanning four states and one province: Washington, Oregon, Missouri & British Columbia. The memories these rallies generated will be talked about for years & re-lived with each visit to our websites Good Times. They provided the spark for friendships that last through the years and the inspiration for future club rallies.
In June, when our membership was traveling in different directions to attend important rallies, our Trek club still managed a successful prize booth effort at the FMCA NWAlbany, OR rally for the second time. Day after day we awarded lucky winners lots of terrific prizes. We had a wonderful volunteer response, and I feel, enjoyed the best volunteer effort at the rally. This August well have another opportunity for a club effort at the FMCA International Convention in Redmond, Oregon. Include this one in your summer plans. A 2007 Alaska Rally has been scheduled and several more rallies are about to be announced, so watch our club homepage tickertape for information as its posted. Also check the Web for your officers end-of-year summaries & financial report.
How about that Greg-ster and the excellent website he created! Last I looked, we passed our 2005 total hit # (4430). In early December, this years count was already up to 4500. This shows a lot of interest from visitors as well as club members. During 2006 we signed up 12 new members due to this communications, information & publicity tool. . . covering the server expense. Our club is so fortunate to have a Webmaster willing to donate his time & outstanding skills developing & managing this site!
In October you saw the flexibility of our club. We conducted our first ever e-mail election and general membership website meeting. Forty-five percent of our membership participated. You saw that the Treasurers duties passed from Pat Bohn to Lou Eddy and VP/Rally master from Dean Weibel to Lee Keeler . . . and re-elected Ed Block, president, Barb Brown, secretary, Judy Schindler, FMCA director, and Bob Beers, FMCA alternate director. I agree a face-to-face meeting is desirable but with our mobile membership, ever-changing rally schedule & FMCA quorum requirements, this email/Web option is a great tool . . . i.e. Plan B.
This year membership hit an all time high (57 coaches). This is a tribute to the board, members & volunteers without their efforts this club couldnt exist and my wholehearted thanks go out to you all. Presently our annual membership renewal is underway. Send your dues and any contact update to Barb Brown, secretary. Im hoping to see our numbers remain in this 50+ range.
Good news! All your best wishes and prayers have been answered. Gene Nemish, Larry Wilson and Jeanne Davis are all on the mend and our club family will be complete when we see them back on the road. Happy Times!
My 2nd year as club prez is just approaching and I look forward to working with our 2007 executive board & all of YOU, your enthusiasm & good ideas for another year of FUN.
Ed Block, President NWTFC
Vice President/Rally Master Report
The NWTFC has had a good year of rallying and having fun together. We had two great rallies planned by members as well as attending other rallies offered by FMCA and SMC.
In February we attended a four day rally at Burlington, WA, with Ben Paschall and Penny Braden as Wagon Masters. It turned out to be cold but clear and the rec hall provided a place for the gatherings and potluck. A dinner at the local casino also was fun.
The other NWTFC sponsored rally was fifteen days in late September and early October in the Canadian Okanagan wine valley. Wagon masters Ron and Ginny Rawson planned the event. We visited many wineries, did a lot of tasting and camped by lakes in Osoyoos, Oliver, Penticton and Kelowna.
Many members also attended the FMCA NW rally held at Albany, OR in June while several other members trekked to Independence, MO for the NWTFC pre rally to the National Trek rally in Sedalia, MO also held in June. Good times were had at all these events.
Some members attended the Safari NW rally in Newport in late June and others attended the Monaco combined rally in Salem in September.
More detailed reports for all these rallies can be found elsewhere on the website.
All in all, it was a good year of rallies with a lot of fun together and a lot of new friendships made. Next year in early spring, a rally is being planned for the Skagit Valley tulip festival and then in June through August, the Beers are caravanning a rally to Alaska. Should be lots of fun. A late summer rally is also in the works for Diamond Lake area in Oregon. Watch for further information on these upcoming rallies.
Respectfully Submitted
Dean Weibel
Vice President / Rally Master NWTFC
Secretary’s Membership Report
As of 12/31/05 the NWTFC had 57 paid members. By the March 31, 2006, cut-off date for members to pay their 2006 dues, 50 of the 57 members had renewed. Another paid member expressed wishes to cancel on April 7, leaving 49 active members.
Membership records are kept on a quarterly basis, so as of 9/30/06 five new members had joined our club, making a total membership of 54. During our Okanagan trip one new coach joined and paid 2007 dues. Their addition to the 12/31/06 roster will give us a total membership of 55.
I’ve had a great time supporting club communications and membership activity during this past year. It is truly a privilege to work with such a great group of fun-loving and committed folks.
Respectfully Submitted
Barbara Brown
Treasurer’s Report
Beginning Balance $511.13
Income
New members – $430.00
BC Rally – $130.00
Logo Pins – $ 36.00
TOTAL INCOME = $596.00
Expenses
R.L Rawston – (128.01)
TOTAL EXPENSES 128.01
Balance 12/31/06 $979.12
Respectfully submitted,
Pat Bohn
Treasurer NWTFC
FMCA National Director Report
Another great FUN year as we live up our name of NW Trek FUN Club! FMCA again provided us with $150 worth of FMCA prizes to give out at our rallies. Our group did another outstanding job at the Prize Booth at the FMCA Albany Rally thanks to the hard work of Gene and Carole Nemish. Jeannette Block presented beautiful Chapter displays for our club at the Pomona and Albany FMCA rallies. We werent able to send a representative to vote on the Governing Board at the far away 2006 FMCA International Rally in North Carolina. Fortunately the majority there voted the way we wanted:
The proposed change in Board Area Representatives function as presented by Don Eversman of FMCA was rejected by the Governing Board;
The proposal to enact term limits for Chapter National Directors was rejected;
The proposal to eliminate the position of Chapter Alternate Directors was also rejected;
The time interval required to notify FMCA Chapter Services of an elected alternate delegate for the Governing Board to any FMCA meeting has been reduced to 21 days.
Next year the FMCA International Rally will be August 14, 15, 16 in Redmond, Oregon, in our own back yard. So well be able to send a representative to vote at the Governing Board and be able to keep up our reputation as an energetic and reliable group! For a bit of a change in volunteer duties for next year, Ed volunteered our group to assist the Oregon Trail Drivers to staff the FMCA Store at the Rally. We will be assisting customers who are making purchases of FMCA merchandise.
Thank you one and all for making our Club FUN and for letting me proudly be your FMCA National Director!
Respectfully Submitted
Judy Schindler
FMCA National Director
YEAR-END REPORT ON “CLUB GOODIES”
LOGO PINS: In early 2005, the club purchased 200 1-1/4″ dia. cloisonné pins w/locking backs from Pin Depot, com for $460.50 (including a $45 mold fee). Sales last year recouped *$380 and sales in 2006 @ brought in *$120 *Income is approximate as pins sold @ $5 each, but were also sold at a discount @ $3 each. Since all club costs were recouped, the remaining 76 pins (12 gold/ 64 silver) valued at $174.80 have a profit potential @ $3 each of $228. The mold remains in the Pin Depot archives for future orders @ approx. $322 for 100 pieces (’05 price) in either polished nickel or gold.
EMBROIDERED LOGO ITEMS: The club covered the cost to have our logo digitalized as a 2-1/2″ dia. embroidery. Charles ‘n Pete Designs of Vashon Island, WA. has been offering our members direct-order embroidery and an extensive range of products (Club Goodies on our website). I have no items on-hand, but will attend our Spring rally (April) with a minimum supply of my favorite logo-embroidered hats & totes for purchase. . . and bring requested, pre-paid items if arranged with me well in advance of that rally.
WINDOW ID’S & NAME BADGES: I’ve made window ID’s on card stock for our newest members — Price, Davis, & Vandergriff/Caughron — but won’t get them out until I also have laminated name badges for them as well. I have sufficient padded mailing envelopes, but will have to place another order for (50) swivel clip-badge holders as we are presently out of stock. I find these are only available on-line, in quantity.
Respectfully Submitted
Jeanette Block
Committee Chair
NWTFC Website Report 2006
The year 2006 was a good year for WWW.NWTFC.COM . We experienced no down time and of this writing have had 4593 visits. Not to bad for a niche website. The Webmaster was a bit lazy and didnt do all the little maintenance things he should have, but I have beat him into submission and told him that his monetary remuneration will be drastically reduced.
Cost of the site for 2006 was $60.00. Of the 12 new members joining us this year, 9 submitted membership applications online through the site. So we can say it paid for itself.
A TREK Brochure section was added to the site. It provides scanned images of, or links to almost all existing Safari TREK glossies. I still have several to complete and return to there proper homes.
In 2007, after two years (several more for the webmaster) we will be changing web-hosting service providers. We have had very good support from our current provider. However, there are things we want to do in 2007 that are too expensive to do with them. I have been evaluating several different services and have selected the best as our future provider. Cost for 2007 will be $62.86.
Things planned for 2007.
- A Voting Booth. In 2006 we held our first online meeting. As Ed mention in is year end note to the membership we had 45% participation. On of the things that was determined to be of value for future online meetings would be the ability to allow the membership to vote on topics of general interest to the club. A mechanism to vote online will also provide compliance with certain FMCA quorum requirements
- Login to secure Members area will change. The information in the Members Only area is for active members of NWTFC. We will have members joining and members leaving. To ensure only active members have access to the Members Only area an improved member specific password procedure will be initiated for 2007. We had a few compatibility problems with the existing access arrangement in 2006. More information will be provided as we close out 2007 member verification.
- The Rally Attendance System is being redone. A suggestion was made that members who intend to participate in non-NWTFC rallies may want to indicate they plan to attend. This would allow the club to organize events, parking, caravans, etc. This would not be registration for a rally just a way to indicate intention to attend and to see who else in the club is planning to attend. The Attendance system was broken during the year and will be repaired.
- Improved Member Lists in the Members Only area. One of the main drivers to change service provides is to allow for easier maintenance of the member data on the website. This will also allow us to improve and speed up access to member information and improve the already tight information security.
- For CONSIDERATION. There will be a sufficient email boxes available to provide an additional member perk. With board approval we will make an address available per member for as long as the member stays active.
Our World Wide Web presence continues to be a success and we will, with your help, continue to have one of the best TREK related Website out there.
If any member has suggestions to enhance the site please feel free to contact me.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Hollister
Webmaster – NWTFC