To our members,
As we wind down 2024, I want to thank everyone for being a part of the HVCCDE family. To those who have worked hard to make this year such a success - we simply couldn’t have done it without you.
From new venues like the Indian River Marina, to staples of our calendar like Wings & Wheels, this year was one for the books. Revenue was up, membership is up, donations were generous, and we were able to make a real difference in our communities this year.
This year’s December general meeting was attended by mostly board members. And while we understand that the holidays can be a hectic for most, it got us talking about how we meet our members where they are. What came out of that meeting was a bold idea for future operations to help us to better meet the needs of our membership while helping to keep our long serving leadership from burning out.
What we came up with was a targeted approach to membership meetings and board meetings with a strategic focus on when our club is most active. General membership meetings would be held in the key months of January, March, May (coinciding with our spring picnic), July, September, and November. Board meetings would be held in January, February, April, May, August, and September with special meetings called as needed.
There are a number of advantages to this approach. First, it focuses our efforts on the months that we see the highest membership participation. It also allows us to build more of a social event that may include, for example, dinner AND a tabletop car show. Instead of simply running a business meeting, we’ll focus on making it a club event that includes our updates. This also means that we’ll have more substantive material for our meetings, rather than ‘it was just another month’ to report.
Next, meetings are strategically scheduled to support major events. January kicks off the year with our annual plan and installs new officers for the year ahead. March coincides with the all clubs breakfast, so we’re able to present the club with the show schedule for the year (not just our shows, but a number of others as well with flyers available). May is our annual picnic, so this date may not be the typical second Thursday. But it does give our membership a chance to get the cars out as the weather gets nicer, and kick off the car show season. This meeting also leads up to the first major shows of our season at St. Bernadette’s and First State Meet. July gives us a chance to meet in the summer as our cruises get into full swing and we look for calendar submissions for the following year. September supports the Wings & Wheels show as we look for volunteers for what is always our heaviest lift of the year. November will serve as our annual business meeting where we seek nominations for the succeeding year’s leadership, update our bylaws, and take care of the other club matters that are typically addressed in December. It also allows us as a membership to get the club’s affairs squared away before the holiday rush.
As president of the club, one of my primary responsibilities is to ensure that the leadership team of the organization doesn’t ‘burn out.’ Many of the board members who are currently serving have been selflessly doing so for several years. Speaking for myself, 2025 will by my 7th year at the helm of the club, making me the longest serving president in it’s history. While I am humbled to have the distinction, I’m also very open to someone else taking the wheel for a while. I will continue to serve as president, but I also need to be thinking about the club’s long term future. Being the longest serving president is an honor, but I most certainly don’t want to be the final president of the oldest club in Delaware.
Reducing the number of annual meeting commitments by half helps to reduce the recurrent workload on our board members. This may also help to entice some of our other members to step into leadership positions with the organization, since instead of there being a commitment of 12 board meetings and 12 general meetings annually, there will only be 6 of each. This also helps to reduce the club’s expenses somewhat, as we are saving nearly $200 annually in rent expenses for use of the bowling ally’s meeting room.
So what do we do in the interim months? We’ll continue with our excellent social media presence, thanks to our secretary, Andy Rominiecki. We’ll continue to put our newsletter out regularly, and we’ll be sure to keep everyone updated by email when needed. We’re still committed to making sure that you don’t get flooded with messages - we all get enough email as it is. Our website will also remain fully updated.
As you can see, a great deal of thought was put into this proposal. But right now, that’s just what it is - a proposal. It was important to me to present this to the club and solicit feedback from our members before we implemented this change. So, we’re asking you to visit https://www.hvccde.com/feedback and let us know how you feel about this proposal. We’ll read every message and weigh the feedback from the club before making a decision. You may also call Maggie Legates at 302-422-8043 with your comments. Should this proposal be well received, we’ll hold a special meeting early in 2025 to implement the change.
It remains our fundamental belief that this car club’s mission is to make a positive difference in our communities. With our members, we’re able to support charities all over Delaware and bring joy to automotive enthusiasts throughout the state. We believe that streamlining our operations and making our organization more efficient helps to keep our leadership and members energized toward that goal.
We’re excited to hear from you. We also want to know what your ideas are. What are you looking for as a member of the club? What kind of events or meetings would you be interested in attending? How can we improve? And what should we keep doing?
It’s December, which means that your renewal window is open!! We would love to have you as a member of the HVCCDE family for another year. If you haven’t already done so, please head over to our website and renew your membership! You can also fill out the form in this edition of the Stovebolt and sent it in to us if you prefer. Let’s do another year together!
Finally, I want to wish all of our members and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’m excited to see all of you in 2025! Yours in the hobby, Mike
From new venues like the Indian River Marina, to staples of our calendar like Wings & Wheels, this year was one for the books. Revenue was up, membership is up, donations were generous, and we were able to make a real difference in our communities this year.
This year’s December general meeting was attended by mostly board members. And while we understand that the holidays can be a hectic for most, it got us talking about how we meet our members where they are. What came out of that meeting was a bold idea for future operations to help us to better meet the needs of our membership while helping to keep our long serving leadership from burning out.
What we came up with was a targeted approach to membership meetings and board meetings with a strategic focus on when our club is most active. General membership meetings would be held in the key months of January, March, May (coinciding with our spring picnic), July, September, and November. Board meetings would be held in January, February, April, May, August, and September with special meetings called as needed.
There are a number of advantages to this approach. First, it focuses our efforts on the months that we see the highest membership participation. It also allows us to build more of a social event that may include, for example, dinner AND a tabletop car show. Instead of simply running a business meeting, we’ll focus on making it a club event that includes our updates. This also means that we’ll have more substantive material for our meetings, rather than ‘it was just another month’ to report.
Next, meetings are strategically scheduled to support major events. January kicks off the year with our annual plan and installs new officers for the year ahead. March coincides with the all clubs breakfast, so we’re able to present the club with the show schedule for the year (not just our shows, but a number of others as well with flyers available). May is our annual picnic, so this date may not be the typical second Thursday. But it does give our membership a chance to get the cars out as the weather gets nicer, and kick off the car show season. This meeting also leads up to the first major shows of our season at St. Bernadette’s and First State Meet. July gives us a chance to meet in the summer as our cruises get into full swing and we look for calendar submissions for the following year. September supports the Wings & Wheels show as we look for volunteers for what is always our heaviest lift of the year. November will serve as our annual business meeting where we seek nominations for the succeeding year’s leadership, update our bylaws, and take care of the other club matters that are typically addressed in December. It also allows us as a membership to get the club’s affairs squared away before the holiday rush.
As president of the club, one of my primary responsibilities is to ensure that the leadership team of the organization doesn’t ‘burn out.’ Many of the board members who are currently serving have been selflessly doing so for several years. Speaking for myself, 2025 will by my 7th year at the helm of the club, making me the longest serving president in it’s history. While I am humbled to have the distinction, I’m also very open to someone else taking the wheel for a while. I will continue to serve as president, but I also need to be thinking about the club’s long term future. Being the longest serving president is an honor, but I most certainly don’t want to be the final president of the oldest club in Delaware.
Reducing the number of annual meeting commitments by half helps to reduce the recurrent workload on our board members. This may also help to entice some of our other members to step into leadership positions with the organization, since instead of there being a commitment of 12 board meetings and 12 general meetings annually, there will only be 6 of each. This also helps to reduce the club’s expenses somewhat, as we are saving nearly $200 annually in rent expenses for use of the bowling ally’s meeting room.
So what do we do in the interim months? We’ll continue with our excellent social media presence, thanks to our secretary, Andy Rominiecki. We’ll continue to put our newsletter out regularly, and we’ll be sure to keep everyone updated by email when needed. We’re still committed to making sure that you don’t get flooded with messages - we all get enough email as it is. Our website will also remain fully updated.
As you can see, a great deal of thought was put into this proposal. But right now, that’s just what it is - a proposal. It was important to me to present this to the club and solicit feedback from our members before we implemented this change. So, we’re asking you to visit https://www.hvccde.com/feedback and let us know how you feel about this proposal. We’ll read every message and weigh the feedback from the club before making a decision. You may also call Maggie Legates at 302-422-8043 with your comments. Should this proposal be well received, we’ll hold a special meeting early in 2025 to implement the change.
It remains our fundamental belief that this car club’s mission is to make a positive difference in our communities. With our members, we’re able to support charities all over Delaware and bring joy to automotive enthusiasts throughout the state. We believe that streamlining our operations and making our organization more efficient helps to keep our leadership and members energized toward that goal.
We’re excited to hear from you. We also want to know what your ideas are. What are you looking for as a member of the club? What kind of events or meetings would you be interested in attending? How can we improve? And what should we keep doing?
It’s December, which means that your renewal window is open!! We would love to have you as a member of the HVCCDE family for another year. If you haven’t already done so, please head over to our website and renew your membership! You can also fill out the form in this edition of the Stovebolt and sent it in to us if you prefer. Let’s do another year together!
Finally, I want to wish all of our members and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’m excited to see all of you in 2025! Yours in the hobby, Mike