September Rally report.

The Long weekend rally is in the history books!  As they say, “a good time was had by all”!

Most attendees arrived on Thursday and what a great heavy appetizer meal we had.  More arrivals on Friday and then off to the Rock Cod Cafe for dinner.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with more food and games.  Jenga being the most popular, followed by the bean bag baseball and ladder golf.  The fix your own meat dinner on Saturday was wonderful. Sunday’s dinner was Costco Dogs and fresh picked (Sunday morning) corn on the cob.  Both nights, ice cream with various toppings were dessert.

 

Now for the breakfasts....WOW!  Friday, it was pancakes and sausage with yogurt and juice.  Pancakes had various toppings and of course, whipped cream.  Saturday, the breakfast was the chapter’s famous surprise, oatmeal with toppings and ice cream, hosted by the Woodrow’s and Campbell’s.  Sunday’s breakfast was hosted by Joe & Stella and Matt & Jody.  A meal of french toast and bacon with all the trimmings.  I am sure that there was no weight lost at this rally.

 

We did not have an official meeting but did take time to discuss rally sites and hosting.

Clarence Zimmerman and Gary Giles have been approached by the mainland Newmar group to have a joint rally.  This was discussed and I will be contacting their President once we have our rally dates and sites confirmed.

Several members have agreed to host rallies for 2020.  Thank you if you have agreed to host; if anyone else would like to host, please email me at the address below or give me a call.

 

The following sites have been suggested and the Executive Board will be contacting each one.

Cowichan Expo Center May 28 or 29 – 31, 2020

Buttle Lake, Kin Beach, Kitty Coleman, Luxton Fairgrounds, Ranger Station in Langford, Lighthouse RV Park near Fanny Bay, Qualicum Bay First Nations Campground, Providence Farms, and

Cowichan Bay Jetty    September 3 – 7, 2020   This has been requested.

 

If you have any additional suggestions, please let me know. We did not draw for the Ken Williams award but will do so at the May rally and award the $60.00 rally fee at that time. Please check out the Vancouver Islanders Blogspot at    vifmca.blogspot.com

Thanks for all your help and input at the rally!

 

Andy Balogh

President, Vancouver Islanders

akcbalogh@gmail.com

778-265-2493

MINOT National Convention Governing Board Report August 14, 2019

I attended the annual meeting of the FMCA Governing Board at the FMCA 100th convention in Minot, ND.  Each FMCA chapter has the right to be represented by a single voting delegate.  I represented the Vancouver Islanders as your National Director. 253 of 358 FMCA chapters were represented.  The meeting lasted from 9:00 AM until 6:30 PM. At the meeting, the following actions were taken by the Governing Board that may be of interest:
1. New FMCA chapters now only require 15 members, rather than 20; new FMCA associate chapters (non-voting) now only require 7 members, rather than 10.
2. Chapters may now combine the offices of secretary and treasurer and it will be considered holding one office.  This is only significant because people can only hold two offices in FMCA chapters at the same time, either two in the same office or one in each of two chapters.
3. Next year’s winter convention will be held in Tucson, AZ from March 26-29, 2020.
4. Next year’s summer convention will be held in Syracuse, NY from July 29-August 2, 2020.
5. The 2021 winter convention will be in Perry, GA and the summer convention will be in Gillette, Wyoming.
6. FMCA will implement a new administrative computer system that will cost $285,000.  The Governing Board authorized funding this with a loan.  FMCA reserves are down to $7.3 million which is short of the $9 million that is prudent to retain to cover one year of operating expenses.  At this time, FMCA is debt free.
7. The 2020 annual operating budget of approximately $9 million was passed, which includes a $25/year membership fee increase for new members and renewals effective September 1, 2019.  This was considered necessary to fund FMCAssist (emergency medical evacuation), which will cost in excess of $1 million for fiscal year 2020.  Other options were to take the necessary money out of reserves or discontinue FMCAssist.
   
Election of National Officers concluded the meeting.  The FMCA National Officers for 2019-2021 are: John Walker - President (incumbent, ran unopposed)
       Rett Porter - National Senior Vice President (incumbent, defeated Jack Mayberry; Percy Bell withdrew right before the election)
       Kathie Balogh - National Secretary (defeated Ken Carpenter and Connie Jones)
       John Reynolds - Treasurer (incumbent, ran unopposed) 
 
Attendance was budgeted at 2,000 RVs.  I believe there are approximately 1,600 RVs attending. 

Respectfully,   Andy Balogh NATIONAL DIRECTOR Vancouver Islanders