Submitted by utrias on 12-29-2011
MBCA-CGS Annual Holiday Party—December 17, 2011:
A festive time was had by all 35 attendees at the annual Holiday Party. The men looked handsome in their suits and ties, but the ladies stole the show, as they all looked magnificent in their holiday party attire. The party was held at the Langston House Restaurant at the Heritage Village in Perry, GA. Our private party on the Veranda provided room for the attendees, our Toys-For-Tots overflowing table, our Raffle table, our Gift Exchange table, and our display of Section shirts for sale. The “country retreat” was decorated for the holidays and presented a high holiday spirited environment. This years party was expanded to include not only the usual Mercedes-Benz Accessory Raffle, but a charity collection of new, unwrapped toys for the Toys-For-Tots Charity for the needy and less fortunate children in our community, AND a new “Chinese Auction” gift exchange of Mercedes-Benz related merchandise that brought smiles laughter (and some disappointment) to all attending… more on the gift exchange later!
The Location, including the outstanding Food and Beverage was coordinated by members Tommy and Joan Couch. We also celebrated Tommy Couch’s birthday with a special Mercedes-Benz birthday cake coordinated by his daughter Elise for the occasion.
With future Event announcements and some Section business discussions out of the way, the Section Officers presented the “Section Member-of-the-Year Award” to Tommy Couch for outstanding support and contribution to the MBCA-Central Georgia Section.
A “Section Officer-of-the-Year Award” was made to Treasurer Trish Welch for her dual efforts as treasure in creating the Charter Sections financial books, bank account, fiscal Board reporting, and tax reporting processes…. and for her continuing efforts in coordinating many of our Dine-Out Event locations throughout the year.
An MBCA Regional Award was presented to Charles Utrias as the “Regional Officer of the Year” for the southeast Region.
Our Section was also presented with a 2nd Runner Up Award for the “2010 MBCA National Section of the Year”. This is an outstanding achievement that recognized our Section’s accomplishments (prepared and submitted by Trish Welch) as judged and compared to a total of 84 National Sections. All this being achieved with only one month of full active Charter in 2010. The MBCA-CGS Board is planning to submit our accomplishments and qualifications for the upcoming 2011 Section of the Year judging submission in July 2012.
Special thanks go to our Board members who “pre-planned” the evenings activities: Roc Patel for diligently selling our Raffle tickets and coordinating the M-B accessory “Section Fundraiser Raffle” assisted by Will Toussaint, and to Tommy Couch and Trish Welch for pre-planning the methodology of the “Gift Exchange”, to Sharon Utrias for keeping tabs on the “retired gifts”, and also to Linda Smyth for pre-planning the group shots, and being our official photographer for the entire evening. Thanks to you all!
The Mercedes-Benz Accessory Raffle provided an exceptional array of accessory items for the Mercedes-Benz enthusiast. The Raffle is an annual event that fits best in the environment of the Holiday Party as many of the Raffle Prizes could end up as Gifts for other M-B family and friends. Some of the Raffle proceeds are used to purchase next years Raffle gifts.
The Gift Exchange…. Conducted as a “Chinese Auction”, the rules for the exchange are simple. Those wishing to participate bring a wrapped gift (of about $15.00 in value) of a Mercedes-Benz related item. Those bringing a gift are given a numbered ticket. Ticket numbers are called randomly. The first number called chooses, and opens, a gift in front of all those present. The second and subsequent numbers called has/have the option of taking a new gift OR taking a gift previously opened. The person losing their gift then can claim another gift or choose to open a new one. Gifts can only be “claimed” 2 times before being “retired” from the option. At the end of the gift “exchange” the first number called has the final option to keep or “exchange” his/her gift with any gift in the room. It’s a lot of fun!! Sometimes the laughter even over-shadows the ability to call new numbers!! It’s also fun to watch folks try to hide their gifts from sight so others won’t be tempted to take them, sidestepping a rule requiring they be displayed!
This years first “Toys for Tots” collection resulted in a successful accumulation of toys for our communities needy, and less fortunate, children. We all felt good about the array of toys collected.
The food was great, the Raffle and Gift Exchange were allot of fun, but the camaraderie of the attendees was just superb.
We’re looking forward to next years “Holiday Party” already
