Region President’s Newsletter
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010The Airstream RV Association
Region 3 Office
President: Rick Bell
330 Puddin’ Ridge Road
Moyock, NC 27958
252-435-2337 Home, 757-377-3727 Cell
Email 3485RWBell@embarqmail.com
Region 3 had a good showing at the International Rally in Gillette, Wyoming. We had a wonderful luncheon at the Prime Rib restaurant with 112 people attending.
There was an award given for the first time to the Region with the largest increase in membership, I am proud to say that this award went to Region 3. It is a beautiful trophy with our region engraved on a plaque as the first recipient. Thanks to Julian, Frank and all the units for keeping the WBCCI spark alive and bringing new members into the club.
The Region presented our outgoing president Julian and first lady Lynne Clements with gifts as a token of our appreciation for all the efforts that they have extended within the Region and elsewhere to help WBCCI and Region 3 continue to be strong and viable.
On July 5th I took my seat on the International Board of Trustees as the representative for the Region. Being president of the largest Region in WBCCI is quite a responsibility as it is my duty to see that I bring your wishes and desires forward. The difficult part is to understand the needs and desires of such a diverse region as ours as these are not always the same for each unit.
Looking at the units and the Regions it seems that there is difficulty in getting members to step up to the role of leadership. We are having units merging as a result of no one coming forward to fill these positions. Without presidents and other officers these units and regions cannot keep their charters.
The repeating theme at both IBT meetings and the Delegates meeting was fiscal responsibility. The membership let it be known that they considered the travel and expenses of the Region and International officers to be out of line considering the budget deficit. I was also told that many regions only have their region rally once every two years. Hearing this repeated time and time again I have decided to take two actions; the first is to only do installations at state rallies, the second is to only have one region rally. As everyone is well aware Region 3 is the largest region in WBCCI and one that is increasing in membership. This is a wonderful situation to be in but there is a downside as well.
To the best of my knowledge we are the only region that does not have any Vice Presidents or the prospect of interviewing any candidates. Units have the ability to install their own officers I assisted Eastern North Carolina last year as there was a conflict in schedule and was told that it went well. The year before Piedmont North Carolina installed their officers again as a result in conflict of schedule and as something that they wanted to try. I provided them with the outline and they conducted the installation without any problems. I thoroughly enjoy going to the units, meeting the members and doing installations however that is becoming more and more difficult without help. My tentative schedule for 2010- 2011 is as follows:
- September 17-19 The Virginia Commonwealth rally. Harrisonburg, Virginia
- October 13-17 the Carolinas Mountain Jamboree Rally, Cleveland, South Carolina
- January 24-28 mid Winter IBT Robstown, Texas
- February 15 -20 Florida State Rally, Sarasota, Florida
Region 3 rally will not be held in 2011
The Region 3 rally will be held in 2012
Tentative site is Ocean Lakes, at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
posted 25 Aug 2010 Jim
