NEA Officer candidates

Current officers from the Northeast area are interested in running for reelection in 2018. Below is the list:
    Lou Snow - F-201098
                     Sr. VP
    Donna Merlino - secretary
                   F-365433
    Don Osterhout  - VP
                   F-229123
    Harley Soulia  - VP
                   F-103867
    Jim Sennett - Treasurer
                   F-16182D

If anyone is interested in running for office, contact the nominating committee ASAP:

Terry Metcalfe 
tmetcalfe@optonline.net
845-325-2515

Harley Soulia
hsoulia@aol.com
820-236-7881

Tom Ziobrowski 
tziobrowski@fmca.com
513-543-7421

Don't throw away the magazine with a funny name

FMCA magazine showed up this week. But you might be temped to toss it. Don't! 
It's now called:

"family RVing"

Highlights from Perry - from Walt Linden

New name for Family Motor Coaching: Family RV
Changes are coming to the magazine.
2904 total attending the 97th rally
2518 member owned, 386 commercial
1100 towables have joined the FMCA. 
FMCA will operate in the black this year.
Russ and Dorothy Taylor bought a new coach. Another Newmar.

Thoughts

Do any of our members have interest in traveling to campgrounds focusing on families - like we did 30 years ago?
My children camp, aren't afraid of campground prices because food costs are main detriments. Food would be more along the lines of pot-luck. They also want activities.
Any interest by you or your offspring, please let me know.
I have sent an email to Batavia Downs regarding a possible rally in May. Children under 18 can't get into the casino. So, my thought above doesn't apply.
Tom

South East Area Rally Highlights

The week after we got together for lunch, Lindens, Harold Wollaber and Roules went to the "Sun in Fun Southeast Area Rally" in Lakeland, FL. Harold drove the trolly while Roule's worked security. We must be innocent - because we thought

it was lots of fun.

There were about 540 member coaches attending. Clearly, it was a reduction from previous SEAR's. Many indicated was smaller than usual because they didn't want to commit to two rallies (the other Perry) close together. However, the entertainment was great and there are things to do in the area. There was a Ford Tri-motor available for rides as well as other activities, tours of the air field and classic planes.
My understanding is - the area has committed to 5 years.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SCREEN

Florida get together - 2018

On February 3rd, thanks to Dan and Carol Begy, we returned to the Golden Coral in Winter Haven, FL for our annual winter get together. There were about 40 of us attending.
One observation of changes that have occurred, the majority now have places in Florida. So, it's great to see them. Just a few of us are hobo's moving place to place.
We pick the Golden Coral because the provide a room and as always, the variety food allows us to satisfy a variety of appetites.

Unless, someone volunteers to do it somewhere else, Dan is willing to set up another event for 2019.

THANK YOU, DAN AND CAROL

January 1st, 2018

Happy New Year.
We hope you had a great holiday season.
We received a very nice certificate from Tom Ziobrowski and Lou Snow for all your efforts to help make the 2017 Northeast Area Rally a success. Below is a copy.

Once again, Thank you.

Forest River Forum

Forest River (RV manufacturer owned by Birkshire Hathaway - Warren Buffet) has a forum similar to ours. This hit the forum within a couple hours of the announcement.

=====================

The FMCA Has Voted To Open Membership To All RV's

---

The Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) membership has voted to open the organization to all types of RV's, not just motor homes. Prior to the vote the FMCA was restricted to motor homes with the exception of some legacy members who had owned a motor home previously but now have a TT. See Here for the FMCA FAQ's about the announcement.

So why does this matter? The FMCA offers some very good benefits to its members that all RVer's will soon be eligible to access. For a list of current benefits See Here. I've found the FMCA a very viable competitor to Good Sam / Camping World as far as benefits.

I'm glad to see this change to the FMCA. Quite frankly I've thought it was too biased towards Class A's and it needed the diversity this change should bring. The FMCA has also installed new leadership so this will be an interesting time!

If you have any questions please contact the FMCA Here. I'm not a member of a FMCA Chapter, 70% of the FMCA membership isn't, so I'm probably going to have to plead ignorance on most questions. 

Vote Results - Towables

JUST IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS. ===================================

Hello Committee Members: I wanted to make everyone aware that the vote passed. It mirrored the Governing Board vote. Approximately 70% of members were in favor, and we received a little under 10,000 votes total. The first step is for FMCA's attorney, Scott Gilligan, to file changes with the state of Ohio to change our Articles of Incorporation. He expects that to go into effect sometime next week. We had originally planned to make the announcement on December 8. That is a Friday, so I think it would be in our best interest to make the grand announcement on the 11th. We will do a press release, social media posts and a detailed email to membership. Today, per the bylaws rule that membership must be informed right away, we will send a brief email to all members. The next big push will be paid advertising through Google and Facebook. This will not occur until we finish the new website, which is expected to be done on December 20. We want to put our best foot forward by directing potential members to a new, user-friendly website.  This is a big, yet exciting, change for FMCA. We are ready to welcome all RVs to the family, and at the same time keep serving our current motorhome members. If you have any questions or suggestions, I am all ears. Call or e-mail me your thoughts. Thank you,

Chris Smith Executive Director/CFO 513-388-5217