Gosh I am excited and honored to be having so darn much phun with all ya’ll.  I think we have a very special, exciting and fun year to look forward to.  We had a great time at our last meeting at No Name, If you were unable to attend, you missed an epic night.  But there will be more in our future.

I have to start with a huge round of thank-you’s.  First to our board of directors.  We are lucky to have such dedication across the board. (Pun intended)

To our Vice President Jeff Brewer.  With his experience as past President and Chairman of Rendezvous 2022, he is one of our true leaders.  We actually have a co-president/vice president situation going. He is on fire.  He has gotten our new merchandise website up and running.  Check it out. Jeff has also taken on the role to examine the current by-laws and update them, to make them more current and more in-line with the way the club has traditionally been run.   And he is the one who works to schedule all of our parties and musicians.  He is responsible for this newsletter.  And of course he is Mr. Rendezvous.  Thanks Jeff.

·       To Martin Weddle a huge round of applause for his efforts on the budget.  He brings a wealth of experience from his previous business background and it shows.  He has put a new budget out, which the Board of Directors adopted last night.  We will be operating the club as we would run a true business.  You’ll be able to see a difference almost immediately.  It is such a pleasure to work with such a true professional.

·       Jerry Swank, our secretary is making a huge impact.  Last Friday night she won the fifty-fifty pot to the tune of $310 which she immediately donated back to the charity for the month, “Heartland Animal Rescue”.  It was a magnanimous gesture, fitting of a woman with a heart for charity.  Thanks Jerry.

·       Member at Large Pat Hart is working very hard to get the float repaired.  New tires, rims and bearings will keep the float floating down the parade routes in style. (Pun intended)  We are hoping that the Pirate Parade will happen again in October despite the issues with Covid delta variant.

·       Member at Large Ken Boyk (and wife Sharon) are again taking on the role as chairperson’s of merchandise.  They have inventoried all existing merchandise, as well as managing our storage facility.  And while we have exciting changes with the website coming on line, but Ken and Sharon will have a merchandise table available at our first Friday meetings.  Thanks to you both.

·       Brenda Weddle is expanding the membership committee to keep the lifeblood flowing.  Thank you for your great enthusiasm and hard work.

·       Susan Toft has volunteered to set up our meals on wheels charity.  You’ll be hearing more from her soon.

·       Jet Toft has taken on the fifty-fifty and basket raffles chairmanship.  Last Friday his enthusiastic ticket sales raised what I think is the largest fifty-fifty drawing we have had in years.

·      Dave Knight has volunteered to handle our “Green Parrot” highway and Shell Island clean-up committee.

·       Vickie Bennet (working closely with the famous trop rock photographer R.O. Smith) is going to chair the publicity committee.

·       We are working on establishing a special events committee and looking for volunteer to chair this position.

·       We are also working on both a Casino night next winter and a golf tournament to keep raising charity money.

·       My experience over many years, is that by volunteering for work you will get to know the group, have a better sense of what we do….and you will have more fun.

“Nothing is as strong as the heart of a volunteer.”  Gen Jimmy Doolittle

 The life blood of our club, and its activities is our membership.  We don’t just need new members, but we also want to bring some of our long standing members back into the group. I want to extend a personal invitation to those long standing members who have dropped off our radar over the years.  You got this club started, and we want you back.

We have re-established the practice of “lei’ing our new members and swearing them into the club.  But we are putting those leis on new or prospective member on at the beginning of the meeting so that we can identify them early on meeting nights.

·       For all membership, please, please take the time to meet our new members.  We want to make the prospective members and new members feel welcome and encourage them to participate.

·       We have all experienced joining in a new group, and it can be very difficult for those who aren’t necessarily outgoing.

·       Lets make it a team effort to be inclusive and welcoming.  Each and every one of us should consider ourselves to be part of the membership and welcoming committee.

 Finally, a word about Rendezvous 2022.  We are off and running since last Saturday.  We already have sold 43 tickets.  We have contracted with the the folks at Sea Haven and Origins to get the best possible rate we could for both out of town guests, and locals who want to stay on the beach without going home every night.  Great work Jeff Brewer.  Details will be provided in this email.

However you need to hear this from me.  We will not be offering an October discount to our local members.  However we recognize that many of us older chronologically challenged members are on a limited fixed income.  If the increase in fees creates a hardship that might make your attendance at RZ 2022, too much to handle, contact me directly at president@panamacityphc.org.  We will work to lower your rate.  This will be handled completely confidentially between myself and the treasurer.  We have previously done something like this for members who were hurt financially during Hurricane Michael.

I hope all you are having as much fun as I am.  Remember our mission statement is all about fun.  We are a social club with a charity habit.  Life is too short not to have fun.

As Jeff Brewer says, “Isn’t it great to be a Parrothead.”