View from the Valley
Columns Presidents Message

View From The Valley – Feb 2019

Your Board and Activity Chairs have been busy working on the 2019 planning since the Annual Meeting and Photofest last October. Typically the events that require signing contracts with track facilities and hotels are the first to be defined since there is less flexibility with those event dates. The scheduling of events where we don’t have contractual constraints are then established to fill in the event calendar. As I write this article at the end of December I will predict that our 2019 Planning Meeting in January will have resulted in a good part of the CVR calendar being populated with events. The remaining events will be scheduled as plans are finalized in the next couple of months. It cannot be said enough, Thank You to our board and activity chairs for all they do to plan and organize events for our enjoyment.

Another club management event that occurred in November was the Zone 1 Presidents Meeting. CVR is one of the 17 regions located in the Northeastern United States as well as the Canadian provinces from Ontario to the Atlantic Provinces that make up Zone I. These 17 Regions comprise of 20% of the membership base of PCA. The meeting is a great venue to share experiences we encounter in managing a region. I attended as incoming president along with Dave Vaccaro in his capacity as a member of the PCA National DE Committee. Dave participated in the discussion among the regions on the challenges and successes being experienced in the Driver’s Education area. The topic of PCA Insurance and Risk management was presented by the PCA National Insurance and Risk Management Chair, Ken Laborde. Insurance is the second largest PCA expense, but significantly lower than other car clubs and PCA has an excellent record. Risk management is taking all reasonable steps in conducting our affairs so as to minimize risk and thereby minimize our exposure to legal liability.

I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all the businesses that support CVR. We certainly would not be able to achieve what we do without their support. I would ask you to give them a consideration when looking for products and services that they can provide.

One area that I would like to ask for your help is in the area of membership. As with most clubs, our goal is to attract new members while also retaining current members. At most monthly meetings we pass out cards with info on CVR and how to join that you can give to Porsche owners who are not members. If you know someone that owns a Porsche and is not a PCA member, please consider talking with them about your experience with the club and the enjoyment you get from it. If you hear feedback from former members or members who are considering not renewing please pass the reason for leaving (not their names) to our Membership Chair, Lisa Parker, (membership@cvrpca.org) we are certainly looking to understand if we can do something differently to help retain members.
PCA is also looking to the future. The PCA Juniors program is available so that kids can enjoy PCA events, learn about Porsches and build the enthusiasm that runs through all of the Porsche Club of America. Any child under age 18 who is registered by a current PCA member can participate in the program. PCA Juniors will receive a welcome package that includes an age-appropriate gift and PCA Juniors ID badge. We look forward to developing the program and its features over time. Best of all it is free to join. This link: https://www.pca.org/pca-juniors will take you to the page more information and how to join.

Even though as I write this article, they are predicting a high of 54 degrees on New Year’s Day, I will go out on a limb and predict that it will be snowy and below freezing when you receive and read this article. Here is a quick story that will hopefully warm you up. A young couple in July 2011 was travelling from Connecticut to Savanah, Georgia to attend their first Porsche Parade. It was his brilliant idea that since Parade was so “close” they should drive down and see what it is all about. One of the memories of the trip was driving in South Carolina on 1-95 in their Boxster when the outside temperature was 106 degrees and humidity was a refreshing 100%. Little did he know at the time that she was thinking, why the heck is he taking me to Georgia in the middle of the summer? Luckily for me, she loved every minute of the time we spent at our first Porsche Parade.

Safe travels.

Comments are closed.