Section President Messages

President's Message Fourth Quarter 2022

Next Person Up! by section president Don Klug

Greetings on behalf of your outgoing Finger Lakes Section president. It has been a pleasure to serve as your section president for the past four years. Thanks for the opportunity and thanks for your support. Each year of our Mercedes Benz cars events has helped to foster new and wonderful friendships.

Our “Annual Meeting” is on Saturday November 19th at 1:30PM, at Warfield’s Restaurant in Clifton Springs (please note details on page 4). This meeting will be a social one as well as an election of 2023 officers. We plan to hold a schedule session for our 2023 events calendar. Bring your best ideas. We will be seeking candidates for president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and web master.

This past year we celebrated seven events as well as two invitations: our annual garage tour/tech session at Bill Wayman’s home in Ontario on May 15th, the MBCA Performance Driving School on June 1st at historic Watkins Glen International Raceway shared with the North American Lotus Club, two ‘Cars and Coffee’ invites to Tobin Motor Works, Horseheads in early June and early fall, the annual Fathers’ Day Car Show at Sonnenberg Gardens, the annual picnic at Red Kosinski’s in Scottsville in July, a new and very successful visit to The Ardennes Brewery in Geneva in August, followed by the October Fall Color Tour along Keuka Lake ending up at the wonderful Bully Hill Winery in Hammondsport. Our annual meeting follows. A joint outing in September failed to materialize for Utica with the Hudson Mohawk Section. A suggestion for next year may be to team up with the Seneca Falls Rotary Club to participate in their jazz fest by providing a Mercedes Benz car club display. We last did this in September 2019.

The medallion pictured above represents our sections ’s participation in the Mercedes Benz Club of America National fundraising event held for the benefit of the Alzheimer’s Association. Our club presented a $100 donation in October; at least $8,400, representing all 84 USA club sections, will be donated by National to the Association. Additional member donations are welcome at our annual meeting towards this fundraiser.

I want to thank my fellow section officers for their challenging work over the past four years. VP Obed Opare-Sem has helped organize events and written articles for this newsletter while attending regional directors zoom meetings. Oscar and Peggy Lopez Raffo have faithfully served as our webmaster and treasurer as well as our newsletter editors, however they will retire after this issue. Oscar and Peggy are willing to train or guide the next person up. Our regional director Drew Webb has commented often that our section newsletters are extraordinary. Bob Harradine has served as both section secretary and membership chair this year and previously as vice president before work caused him to step away for a year. Bill Wayman and Red Kosinski have opened their homes for club events for several years. Ethan Fogg has coordinated multiple events that have resulted in fun for all. Thanks also to Dave Tobin for his Coffee and Cars events. Whatever success we have had as a car club is the result of our volunteer officers and club members. Make sure that you thank them for their service when you see them.

Now, as stated above, our section needs you as the ‘Next Person Up!’

Section:

Finger Lakes

President's Message Third Quarter 2022

Greetings all. 2022 has been a wonderful summer and there is more to come. Elsewhere in our newsletter you will find stories of our events enjoyed by all who attended. We need to continuously thank our sponsors and hosts as all have enjoyed these many gatherings. Bill Wayman provided his famous garage tour get together to kick-off the season followed by the Watkins Glen Driving Performance Driving School sponsored by Lotus and Mercedes Benz Clubs of America presenters and a host of coordinators headed up by Director –at- Large Dr. James E. Roberts of the Alabama Section. The ever-popular Father’s Day

Show in Canandaigua and our annual picnic in Scottsville were happily enjoyed by club members as well.

We have a drive and lunch date scheduled in Geneva on Sunday, August 28^th at the Brewery Ardennes at 570 Snell Road, organized by club member Ethan Fogg. Please note this on your calendar so that we have a great showing of cars in the brewery courtyard. Details are in this newsletter and we’ll send out a brochure reminder beforehand and ask for RSVP’s. It is always wise to let the Brewery Ardennes proprietors know our numbers. This is a new event and place, so let’s show our support for Ethan Fogg’s effort in pulling this together. An early fall event is in the planning stage for September or early October and then our annual meeting will happen in early November.

I am certainly encouraged by our club FL section membership and associates' number which stands at 103, up from 101 in April. However, it would be a pleasure to see more of you at one of our events. As always, I am open to hear ideas from any member for an event that would interest you, so, feel free to contact me at my home or e-mail address.

In other club news the National Club Spring Raffle sold 3,164 tickets which produce approximately $57,000 in revenue. The first prize winner was Dave Gilbert, Three Rivers Section and second prize winner was Jackie Vaver of the Minnesota Section. The 2022 Fall Raffle First Prize is an AMG E53 Cabriolet, MSRP $98,540, while second place prize is $10,000. A minimum ticket sale is required of 4,342 tickets. The Fall raffle license will be submitted early next week and may be seen in a future ‘The Star’ magazine or as a future e-mail to you. National also reported that the 60-day deadline for a decision on the September MBCA Germany trips had passed. There were not enough paid attendees to financially justify the trip and unfortunately the decision was made to cancel. Those who had made reservations were notified and refunds have been issued for deposits. National directors will be meeting in the next couple weeks to make recommendations for a 2023 Germany Trip.

Once again, I remind all that our summers here are short and winter is long. Social driving get together opportunities of our lovely cars are waning. It is my hope to see you all soon.

Don Klug, MBCA FL Section President

Section:

Finger Lakes

Author:

Donald Klug

President's Message Second Quarter 2022

Greetings all!

Our 2022 Finger Lakes Mercedes Benz Club section schedule is upon us and I am excited. Are you? We begin with the ever-popular Bill Wayman’s Garage Tour on May 15^th at 1:30 PM located on 1945 Lake Road in Ontario. Winter is gone and no longer in the rear-view mirror, so note this on your calendar and bring the ‘Benz’ to the party. Let's talk about how to detail the car and shake off the chill of upstate New York. You may also notice that we have an event scheduled at Watkins Glen on June 1^st followed up with the always entertaining and wonderful Father’s Day Sonnenberg Car Show on June 19^th. Last year there were over 400 cars at this show. Mark your calendar too, for the annual picnic at Red Kosinski’s home on July 10^th. Let’s enjoy the simple pleasure of gathering with like- minded folks after an extremely long winter. Come and enjoy the fun.

Now, allow me to speak on to the recent changes to the business side of things. Your executive board has been busy over the past several months participating in several Zoom meetings addressing MBCA’s cancelation of rebates to individual sections. You will find messages elsewhere in this newsletter concerning regional director Drew Webb’s messages and minutes from the March national board meeting. Essentially, we as sections have been asked to begin building sponsorships. This is a change in how the bulk of our section finances are received: rebates based upon a portion of our section’s club membership. Fortunately, our section has been prudent over the years with our finances and as a result we are not in a bad a situation. We have currently two sponsors. Let us support them with our business. Other sections in our own region are in trouble. Do we need to increase sponsorship advertising in our newsletter? YES. Four to five additional sponsors will replace the lost rebates from national, roughly about $900 annually. Is the executive board involved? YES. Do we need membership input and help? Yes. Myself, VP Obed, Secretary & Membership Chair Bob, Treasurer Peggy and Website Director Oscar are currently involved in seeking sponsors and are willing to assist you with any suggested candidates

Regional Director Drew Webb’s leadership offers two suggestions: In order to continue to deliver fun and value to members in our region, we need to figure out a way to generate some funds at the section level and do things that will help increase membership. To that end I would like to ask you to think about fund and membership raising activities your section can do. Let me leave you with one thought- if we can all work together to pull this off, and make our sections financially independent, we can enjoy the benefits of our club, cars, and members/friends without worry about the national MBCA finances or even their direction. To me, that's a goal worth supporting and working towards.

I believe that participation in these new endeavors by all of us will only enhance our club experience, to have fun together with our Mercedes Benz Vehicles. I look forward to seeing you and your cars soon.

Don Klug, FL MBCA Section President

Section:

Finger Lakes

Author:

Donald Klug