Dear friends,
Thanks to all of you for making the Dayton reunion special. Although our numbers were down, I can’t remember a more convivial group. For that reason alone it was memorable get-together.
As I mentioned I would share what I remembered we discussed at our meeting. Please feel free to come back to me with anything I may have forgotten or mis-remembered. The following are not in any order of importance.
DISCUSSIONS:
Memorial Bench at USAF Museum: The idea of having a Memorial Bench was agreed upon by the members. BARB “ZIMM” EAGAN is the contact for pledges and donations. The cost will be between $4000.00 and $5000.00. Five members had pledged/donated $2100.00 prior to the meeting. Please contact Barb at: barb@mycactusproperties.com with your pledges. Donations/checks should be made out to Mario Candia and mailed to 2924 N. Creek Drive, Woodbridge, IL 60517-4515.
Increase attendance: Much was said about getting the notice of our reunions out to more people. One point was made that we have not used the various, VFW, American Legion, etc; publication vehicles available to advertise our reunions. FRANK URBEN agreed to be in charge of PUBLIC RELATIONS and contact these veteran outlets to publicize our reunions.
Personal phone contacts: It was agreed that the best and most effective way to get more attendees was the personal, one-on-one phone contact. BILL BRITTON volunteered to head up this effort and contact past and never attendees by phone.
Email one-to-one contacting: Although we have an excellent website, many potential attendees either do not access the website or have trouble navigating to find information on upcoming reunions. Other reunion organizers send out emails with an announcement that spells out in an informative way the pertinent data on future reunions, i.e. Dates, Locations, Costs, etc. JOSE LOPEZ volunteered to send out emails to our members in a way that does not look like a mass mailing. I with assistance from D.J. DIOMEDES, our next reunion coordinator, will compose the announcement and coordinate it with our Board of Directors.
Hospitality Room: BARB “ZIMM” EAGAN and RENEE TYRON have volunteered to continue hosting and associated tasks for our Hospitality Suite.
Name of reunion: Jose Lopez suggested and everyone agreed to modifying our name from USAF Combat Camera – AAVS – 600PS – 601PF “REUNION” to USAF Combat Camera – AAVS – 600PS – 601PF “REUNION/RENDEZVOUS”. It was felt this could be a more inclusive name to attract recent retirees to join us.
There was also a suggestion to modify our reunion name in a manner to appeal to our co-workers who were not motion picture camera people, still photographers and videographers. One suggestion was to consider “Audiovisual” in our name. The suggestion was tabled but members are encouraged to come up with this and other ideas for discussion at our 2014 meeting.
Future reunion/rendezvous: Along with modifying our name there was some discussion about adding to our gatherings to attract a younger group of attendees. Some ideas were: a Photo Contest, Professional presentations, etc. BARB “ZIMM” EAGAN, RENEE TYRON, will head this discussion over the next year and present concrete ideas at our next gathering. They are soliciting input from other members.
Reunion/Rendezvous 2014: D.J. Diomedes presented proposals for Ontario, CA and San Diego, CA. After considering both proposal the group decided that Ontario was the best option for our group. Details will be provided to all members.
Reunion/Rendezvous 2015: San Antonio was the overwhelming pick for our meeting in 2015
FUTURE REUNIONS/RENDEZVOUS: A discussion on future sites for our reunions was discussed and a consensus agreed that the best locations to achieve maximum participation were: East Coast – Baltimore/Washington DC, Charleston, Florida; Southern California and San Antonio, TX. This does not preclude other locations being selected.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS: The following members agreed to serve on the Board for the next year:
D.J. Diomedes – Coordinator for Ontario, CA – Reunion/Rendezvous 2014
Ken Hackman
Tom Wooten
Mike Potochick
Mario Candia
Pat Knowles
Brownie Hatcher and Bob Hooper were not in attendance to confirm their membership on the Board
VOLUNTEERS FOR ONTARIO – 2014
Mike & Gloria Potochick
Don Fenstermaker
Bertram Mau
Barb “Zimn” Eagan
Renee Tyron
Pat Knowles
Susie Diomedes
Genevieve Virgillio
We really hope to see you all at the 2014 Reunion!