Annual Election Dinner 2010

reviewed by jerri Wiley

January 23, 2010 was the date your chapter held its Annual Elections Dinner. Laurel View Country Club in Hamden seems to be a good fit for our annual event. We had the place all to ourselves (no competing with the loud band in the next room since there isn’t a next room!), it is easy for the majority of members to reach, and there is plenty of room to accommodate the larger number of people that we have at these dinners. This year’s attendees totaled 105.

I heard from several of you that you thought the food was very good, although some people had to wait a long time since it was a buffet. We are very lucky to have Laurel View – they worked with me and figured out what to do to make sure we had enough food when they had already placed their order for their supplies (according to the guaranteed count that I give them shortly after the registration deadline). I heard that they ran out of the chocolate cake and some of you were given a different kind of dessert – luckily they had something else in stock! Those of you who missed out on that great chocolate cake can thank the members who sent in their registrations after the January 10 deadline.

I was concerned that with the state of the economy Roger would have a hard time acquiring enough door prizes so that we’d have plenty to hand out. Once again he came through by contacting many businesses (not only our local Dealerships, but even Bed, Bath, & Beyond donated quite a few items – see Roger’s article for details). Barbara Ziogas was the first name drawn and she had her choice from all of the prizes on display. She went home with a $250 gift certificate to Nordstroms.

Andrea Wilson gave a short presentation about ALS, the disease that claimed Marsh Wilson, and explained how our dollars are put to good use in helping those who have been afflicted by the disease. The Chapter has made it an ongoing practice to offer some of the left over door prizes to raise money for our adapted charity. This year we raised $850 between the tire raffle, donations of cash, and people purchasing some of the remaining door prizes. Thanks go out to our chapter members for their generosity.

Unfortunately, I was busy hunting down our bill and missed out on hearing Simon Kirkby speak. I’ll have to leave that report for those who had the pleasure! I did get to sit down when Dave Rich was giving his presentation of the financial state of the chapter. Good job Dave. Lance Johnson spoke briefly about upcoming Chapter events. As our new VP in charge of activities, he is looking for help from all of you. One person can’t possibly run every chapter event, so contact him and offer your help – he will appreciate it! The new Board has a lot of work ahead of them; lots of plans for the chapter, so keep an eye out for some big changes.

Your new Board held its first Monthly Business Meeting shortly after the dinner (6 days after to be precise). We discussed what went well with the annual dinner, as well as what we could make improvements on for next year’s dinner. A solution to the long wait for those who were called up to the buffet last is to ask for 4 serving lines instead of the 2 we had. As for the beer they carry at the bar, Laurel View was surprised just how much Heineken they went through – their comment was something like: "Boy, your group really likes their Heineken!"

It takes the help of many chapter members to organize an activity. The Board is always looking for members to volunteer to help run an event. Thank you to all those who helped make this dinner a successful one. There were too many who helped out to name all (and besides I don’t want to embarrass myself by forgetting to include someone!).