White Mountain Chapter BMW CCA
Social Events Committee Meeting
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The meeting was called to order @ 6:40 by the chairperson, Cassandra Vorisek-Creto. In attendance were Cassandra, Tom Blinn, Dana Sion, Michael Morin, Walter Wolf, Tracy Wolf, David Harrison, Rachelle Harrison, Jan Marc Holzer, and new member Steven Levesque. Welcome to Steven!
The meeting venue was The Common Man in Concord, NH.
SEC business: A number of topics were discussed.
Meeting schedule: The meeting night will be changing to Monday starting with the next meeting. Check the chapter web site for specific dates. Post-meeting update: Pending availability of the meeting room, the next meeting will occur on October 6th at the Common Man in Merrimack, NH. Normally it would be on the last Monday of the month, but that would be the same day as the Ultimate Drive at Tulley BMW and would interfere with the shuttle drive at the end of the day.
Seacoast Rally:
David and Richelle Harrison did a check run over the rally route and provided feedback. For the most part, they had no problems. There will be some minor changes in the route instructions based on their feedback, and we will add directions to find your way back to Route 1 or the Maine Turnpike from the rally end point.
We will plan to offer the rally to the chapter and anyone else who wishes to join in on Saturday, October 18th. The starting point will be in Newburyport, MA and the end will be at the Portland Head Light in Maine.
.
Drive for the Cure:
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure driving event is planned for the two Mondays on either side of this year’s Oktoberfest (in Watkins Glen). The drive on Monday September 22nd will be at Tulley BMW in Nashua, and Monday September 29th the event will be at BMW of Stratham in (where else) Stratham NH. The chapter expects to provide the post event transport services to shuttle the fleet to the next dealer after each of the two events. Details are on the chapter web site and at the BMW USA web site where you can register for specific drives you want to do (contingent on the cars being at the event instead of in the repair shop). This is always a good time and a good way to help raise money to support finding the cure for breast cancer.
Car show events:
All chapter members are encouraged to participate in these FREE events which are not sponsored by or run by the chapter, but are well worthy of a fun day out.
The Northeast Exotic Car Show occurred on Saturday, August 16th. A good time was had by those in attendance.
The Bavarian Autosport Show and Shine is scheduled for Sunday, October 5th at their facility in Portsmouth, NH. Free food, discounts, tech demos, door prizes, and so on as in past years. Details on the chapter or BavAuto web sites. Dana would welcome volunteers to help introduce the chapter to attendees who visit our table.
Annual Chapter Reunion:
We are seeking donations of items of value for the silent auction as well as one or more sponsors to help defray the costs of the events. Two possible sponsors have expressed an interest. Due to the chapter’s present financial situation this event must be fully funded by sponsors and attendance fees. The planned fee per person is set at $40 with $5 earmarked as a charitable donation. This will leave about $1200 to be raised after the already firmly committed sponsorship.
We have chosen the Make A Wish Foundation as the designated charity.
Communications with the Highlander Hotel have improved significantly, and we are moving ahead with the plan to have the event there.
A jazz band has been contacted to provide entertainment, and fees have been determined.
If we are unable to obtain all the needed funding and need to cancel the event, we have been assured by the Highlander that we could apply our deposit toward an event the following year.
We are hoping the silent auction will be a good fundraiser both for the chapter and perhaps for charity, but we can not rely on income from the silent auction to help fund this year’s event.
Post-meeting updates: The jazz band is named Manchuka and they have a web site at www.manchuka.com as well as a MySpace page. Event sponsors will include Panera Bread (cookies and brownies and silent auction items) as well as Stonebridge Country Club (a weekday foursome for the silent auction). There may be another cash sponsor at the $500 level; if confirmed, that would leave about $700 to be raised to fully defray the cost of the event. Cassandra has a donation request letter that can be customized for use to approach any potential sponsors, and volunteers from the membership at large to help with fundraising would be much appreciated.
Events for 2009:
There was a round table discussion of possible events for 2009. Group drives to destinations such as Parkers Maple Barn in Mason NH are a popular option. We also identified some orchards and wineries that may be good destinations. There is interest at Tulley BMW in hosting a tech event there. Jan Marc Holzer has the contact information. There was also some interest in a group outing to a sporting event such as Monarch Hockey in Manchester, or in the summer, a baseball game, perhaps the Fisher Cats (parking is an issue) or the Nashua Pride.
Since no further business was identified, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15.