COVERED WAGONS
History Lesson 101
The Marlowes had been wanting to camp more in Missouri like they used to with other camping groups they had belonged to in the past. With the continuing increase in the price of fuel, the thought of camping closer to home became more attractive. So around the end of October, 2006, Loretta told Fred & Esther Allison she wanted to form a new FMCA chapter in the KC metro area and would they help. The Allisons had been thinking about the same thing so they were very willing to be part of the formation of a new chapter. And that's how it got started.
On Sunday, November 5, 2006, about 3 PM, Loretta Marlowe sent an email to Dianna Mitts, FMCA, for a Chapter Formation Kit. November 6th, Christy Budai, Chapter Services Coordinator replied to the request wanting to know what type of chapter she would like to form - local, special interest/international. And of course the answer was local.
Well, after a phone call from Tony Innocenti wanting to know why we wanted to form a new chapter, we finally received the Chapter Formation Kit in the mail from Carol Shields on November 28th.
Meanwhile, while they waited, the Allisons and Marlowes had been trying to come up with a name for the Chapter. The camping/membership boundaries would be in Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas so MoKan was mentioned for part of the name. At length, Covered Wagons was suggested and that's what stuck. Loretta found a clip art covered wagon and the Allisons came up with three more. One that Fred located seemed best to use for badges and embroidery on shirts etc. so that one was chosen. Loretta worked on it extensively, coming up with a design she and Dave thought was very good. Esther said - no, we need the lettering inside the wagon - not outside. Okay, so Loretta went back to work and resized, altered, stretched the covered wagon to fit around the lettering. The end result of the logo work was a fantastic design loved by all. FMCA verified the name Covered Wagons was available so that was that.
The first item FMCA needed was a survey letter they would mail at their cost to FMCA members not affiliated with a chapter in our area. The cut off date for responses was January 15th, 2007. The formation meeting was scheduled then for February 24th, 2007. FMCA sent out 533 letters on December 8th, 2006.
So while they waited, the Marlowes and Allisons went to work on the by-laws and standing rules of the proposed Chapter. Back and forth, many meetings, very few disagreements, advice from outside sources such as Bill Speer, Richard Vester, Wanda Ryel and the Schwarts and they were finally complete and ready to submit to the members at the formation meeting.
Fred reserved the China Star Restaurant meeting room for the formation meeting. They asked him for a $50.00 deposit so that was done. He originally reserved it for 40 people, then 50 people and finally 70 people as the proposed chapter was growing a lot faster that anyone thought it would.
Loretta went to work on designing a nametag and found Awards Factory in Wichita to be the best buy and design. Four badges were ordered made on the gold plastic. After looking at them and talking to Awards Factory, we found out that white or light gray could not be printed on gold. Sooooo the decision was made to go with the white plastic as it was very important that the cover on the wagon show up on the nametag.
The Allisons and Marlowes had been mentioning the proposed new chapter to their friends during this time. They ended up with 22 prospective members. The Petition for Chapter Charter was passed around to those people for their signatures. Permission was obtained from FMCA to make multiple copies of the Petition so that they could be sent to individual people in Texas, Arizona & Florida etc. to sign and return with their application and dues. The Covered Wagons ended up with around 70 sheets of signatures to submit to FMCA. Even though only 20 signatures were required to form a chapter, FMCA wanted all of the signatures submitted.
On December 15, 2006, Carol Shields started emailing MS Excel spreadsheets listing favorable responses from the surveys that were sent out. Joe Cheesebrough was the first one to send in his survey. Loretta just sort of jumped in, composed a 'welcome' letter and application form and started sending them along with a petition sheet to the interested people on Carol's list. Many had email addresses so those were used instead of regular mail when possible.
Oh, previously the Allisons and Marlowes had decided the dues should be $20.00. If a member had an email address where they could receive news, minutes, mailings they could deduct $5.00 from the dues. It was also decided that the dues would include a Pocket Directory book made by Loretta. The Chapter will reimburse her for the costs.
After the January 15th cut off date, surveys still kept coming in so Carol kept emailing out her spreadsheet. As of January 16th, there were 70 positive responses!
The Allisons and Marlowes started thinking about the "club" shirt. Loretta wanted a khaki color camp shirt but it was difficult to find. She located a sand khaki camp shirt at Walmart but the color was too light. Allisons went shopping and found a camp shirt at Kohls that would do great. It came in men's sizes only so it was decided that both sexes would wear the men's shirts. And the rest is history, they say.
Loretta called Ruth Carpenter to discuss embroidery on the shirts as she had mentioned on her application that she could do it for the group. She needed a digitized design of the logo so Loretta found a designer on the internet and got it done for $50.00. Ruth will do the shirts for $5.00, which is VERY reasonable. She suggested everyone wash their shirts before having them embroidered as the color could run.
Myron & Chris Schwery, a prospective member, own a Bernina Sewing Machine Shop in Overland Park. Loretta asked them to make the garden flag for the Chapter members. They found the material that closely matched the shirts and will have one of their employees make the flags for $10.00 each.
After some problems and therefore corrections to the digitized logo design, the tension and worry aggravated Ruth Carpenter's ill health so she had to change her mind and not do the embroidery on the shirts as she had planned. So after some worry of her own as to what she would do now and a couple of desperate phone calls, Loretta talked Charlene Bush from the Bernina Sewing Machine Center in Independence to not only do the flags but the shirts also! Of course, she'll have to charge $7.50 per shirt and wanted a set up fee of $10.00 for the shirts and flags. Loretta drove over to her shop, helped her pick out the right color thread to use on both items and gave her the new corrected floppy and a photo of the logo to work from. She also brought her 8 shirts to get her started. Another problem solved.
Many checks had come in from people joining the Covered Wagons so after talking with FMCA, Loretta opened an account at Bank of the West. She chose that bank because they have branches in both Missouri and Kansas. Future treasurers of the Chapter shouldn't have any problem finding a branch close to their home. Loretta deposited all the checks she had been collecting but decided not to write any checks for expenses until after the formation meeting. Dave Marlowe printed up some checks Loretta designed with his computer software and will continue to print them as they are needed. Deposit slips were also printed.
The Allisons plan to attend the Winter FMCA rally in Georgia in March and will use Tony's booth to advertise the Covered Wagons while they are at the rally. They are working on a brochure to hand out.
Meanwhile, Esther has purchased a domain name of www.coveredwagonsfmca.org. www.coveredwagons.net was wanted but wasn't available at the time of purchase. Esther also purchased a template of the web site she will design and maintain. She paid the service provider the fee for the first year and is ready to do the site when she has time. Esther, Fred and Dave all work full time, that's why Loretta has been jumping in where needed on the formation of the new chapter. Also since it was originally her idea, she wants to put her all into its success.
While waiting for new member applications and dues, Loretta animated the wheels on the covered wagon and a horse to pull it. It will be on the web site. She always says she has nothing to do!
Esther composed an agenda for the formation meeting. It was agreed the Allisons and Marlowes would conduct the meeting stepping in where their expertise was needed. They searched the new member's applications for expressed interest in holding an office or working on a committee. They finally ended up with a slate of officers to propose to the chapter at the formation meeting. Having no wagonmaster yet but needing to make reservations early for campgrounds, in December 2006, Loretta made up a preliminary camping schedule for 2007 and made reservations where needed. It will be discussed, modified if needed and voted on at the formation meeting.
Loretta ordered nametags made for those members that indicated how they wanted their names to appear on the badges and/or those that had paid for them. Orders for 50 or more nametags cost $3.00 each plus tax S/H so each member was charged $3.50 for their badge. She ordered 58 nametags on 2/4/07, which should be done by the 14th of February. 51 nametages were ordered on 2/13/07. Wanda Ryel will pick them all up and bring them to the Formation meeting. Another order will be submitted after the formation meeting. Loretta will have stickum nametags made up for the members without permanent badges attending the meeting along with some blank ones for unexpected guests.
And now the Marlowes and Allisons just have to sit and wait until February 24th, 2007, hoping it won't snow or be below freezing on that magic date - the beginning of COVERED WAGONS future!
Here's to all the members that made it possible,
Loretta Marlowe F267754