Greetings St. Louis Region Members!
As my 2-year term as President of your club draws to a close, I would like to thank you all for coming along for the ride. Parts of it were a bit bumpy, as we navigated our way through the unparalleled challenges posed by the pandemic, and mourned the loss of longtime club member, treasurer, and friend, Dan Sokol. Smoothing out the bumps wouldn’t have been possible without the perseverance, energy, and creative minds of our club’s Board of Directors, Committee members, and other leaders/volunteers. They found a way to continue hosting events, while keeping the safety of our members a priority. Thank you for your patience as we worked through these bumps.
While navigating new terrain, we tried many new things. When the CDC told us that gathering indoors was more risky for Covid transmission, we looked into doing more things outside or virtually. For example, when the weather was agreeable, board meetings were held outside at a park pavilion in Clayton. We started using Zoom when it was too cold to meet outside. Despite returning to in-person Board meetings, we continued to use Zoom concurrently, to allow members to attend virtually if they prefer. We started selecting Thirsty Thursday restaurant venues offering outdoor seating. The HPDE (High Performance Drivers Education) committee
replanned an HPDE around restrictions that didn’t allow instructors and students to be in the car together. With constantly changing local Covid regulations, juggling the calendar became the norm. As a result, we learned to communicate last-minute changes to the membership a lot faster, utilizing our email blast tool and social media outlets.
Thinking differently also led us to try a few new events. The club held its first stargazing event, an outdoor get-together to view the stars with Porsche friends. Members enjoyed a tour of Archangel Motorsports, getting a glimpse into the world of professional racing. And our first women’s-only Intro-HPDE introduced about 30 women to the sport.
But of course, we didn’t change tried and true favorites. Many informative Tech sessions, exhilarating drives, and Auto Shows still made it onto our calendar. And we are looking forward to the return of our Holiday Gala this month, after a year’s hiatus.
I have learned a lot and had a lot of fun these past 2 years. I am thankful for those who have helped me figure out challenges along the way, and for all the great new friends I’ve made. I will continue as an active member of the Board in 2022 and beyond. So, if I don’t see you at the Gala, I’ll see you around at a future event!
Happy Motoring!
Nancy