By Charlie Adcock, F311374
National President
August 2016
Hello, My Fellow FMCA Family. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. Gloria and I have been pretty busy. We just returned from attending the Great Lakes Area Rally — GLAMARAMA — in Goshen, Indiana. And it was a perfect rally. The weather was fantastic, the food was excellent, and the entertainment was out of this world. During the opening ceremony, I took the opportunity to declare June 9 as Jane Roush Day and presented her with a proclamation stating such. Jane is completing her term as national vice president, Great Lakes Area. We will miss her bubbly personality and positive attitude during our Executive Board meetings.
Speaking of those meetings, I want to share a funny story about something that happened to national senior vice president Jon Walker and me while we were in Cincinnati for the Executive Board meetings in May. Jon and his wife, Sondra, and Gloria and I decided to go shopping at Jungle Jim’s International Market, located not too far from the FMCA national office. Now, Jungle Jim’s isn’t your ordinary grocery store. It covers more than 200,000 square feet and has more than 150,000 products from which to choose. They carry food items from many different countries around the globe.
Not long after entering the store, Jon and I decided we had seen enough and that the ladies probably would be shopping at least another hour. So, we called them on the cell phone and told them we’d wait for them in the truck.
On the way to the truck, we spotted a cell phone repair store and decided to stop in so that Jon could get a glass protective cover put on his new phone. This took about 20 minutes. No problem. We felt sure the ladies wouldn’t be out of the store for a while longer. When we returned to the truck, we walked around it a bit while Jon showed me the place where he’d had body work done recently.
We then got into the truck to wait for Gloria and Sondra to return. As we were settling into the front seats and fastening our seatbelts, we heard a noise in the back seat. As it turns out, the ladies had finished earlier than we expected, and they were ducking down in the back seat. You can imagine our reaction upon figuring out someone was in the truck with us! They scared the devil out of us! I have never heard two women giggle and laugh so hard. So, Jon and I owe them one!
On a more serious note, I want to talk about FMCA membership. I am so excited by all of the things we have going on right now that are aimed toward membership growth. I’d like to talk about a few of them.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t see recruitment as FMCA’s biggest problem. FMCA members do a really good job of inviting other motorhome owners to join FMCA. The larger problem has been retention. One of the common reasons members leave FMCA seems to be that they do not understand all of their benefits. So, we have decided to reach out and try to communicate directly with each and every one of you.
Within the next 12 months, every FMCA member will receive (if they haven’t already) a packet that includes new membership cards. These cards have contact information on the back for FMCA as well as for the FMCAssist Medical Emergency and Travel Assistance Program powered by Seven Corners. This packet also will include an updated list of FMCA member benefits.
We’re also expanding our Member Services Department to include additional part-time employees and work campers who will be tasked with calling every new member who joins FMCA.
Let’s not forget all of the great benefits we enjoy by belonging to FMCA. These include the aforementioned FMCAssist Medical Emergency and Travel Assistance Program, the Michelin Advantage tire purchasing program, group rates on FMCA RVinsurance and FMCA Roadside Assistance plans, and trip routing, just to name a few.
Of course, the greatest of all of the FMCA member benefits is YOU! FMCA membership gives us the opportunity to form friendships with those who share a common interest in motorhome travel.
FMCA also is embracing a wonderful website that can help with this — RVillage.com, an RV social network built by RVers for RVers. FMCA is working very closely with the team at RVillage to help FMCA members to connect with each other and with RV owners in general. It’s absolutely free, safe to use (none of your information is shared with third parties), and is a great way to stay connected and to meet new RV friends. Visit RVillage.com to sign up for an account and while you’re there, be sure to join the FMCA Friends and Family group and look for your chapter’s group as well.
I have a neat personal RVillage story I like to tell. Several months ago, I was at home watching TV one night when my laptop notified me that someone on RVillage had checked in to my area. Now, as an RVer, if you are in Searcy, Arkansas, odds are pretty good that you are either at the RV Fog Doctor location or at my house. I knew they weren’t at my house, so I assumed they had to be at the shop.
The next morning I drove down to the RV Fog Doctor location, and I had the privilege of meeting Greg and Cori Young, F442965. I introduced myself, and they invited me in. Cori told me that she almost didn’t check in on RVillage the night before, because she felt sure no one else would be in Searcy, a little burg of a town. She was really surprised when the president of FMCA knocked on her motorhome door.
We had a really pleasant visit. They are new RVers who are working from their motorhome and seeing the country. As I was writing this column, I visited with them again today via RVillage. It turns out that I had just missed seeing them when I was in Goshen, Indiana, for the Great Lakes Area Rally. They had been in nearby Shipshewana at the same time.
Having an RVillage account is a great way to meet new RV friends and then to stay connected with them as you travel. The RVillage.com website has a number of stories that tell of RV travelers making connections with others while they roam and enjoy life on the road. So, be sure to join the fun at RVillage.com. And don’t forget to join the FMCA Friends and Family group while you’re there.
I hope to see many of you at FMCA’s 94th International Convention in West Springfield, Massachusetts, August 3 through 6. It’s not too late to join us; just register at the gate.
If we miss each other there, be sure to make plans to attend FMCA’s 95th International Convention in Chandler, Arizona, March 7 through 10, 2017. We’ll be starting the registration process in late summer/early fall, but for now, mark those dates on your calendar. We’re going to have a great time at the Rawhide Western Town and Event Center in Chandler, which is a suburb of Phoenix. Many snowbirds will already be in the area, so we’re hoping they’ll join us. And for those of you who endure winter in colder climes, a visit to Chandler in early March will make a great escape and the perfect way to get an early start on spring.
Until next month, remember, “It’s all about having fun!”