North Jersey Corvette Club

May 8, 2024

Minutes

Our meeting was called to order by Ken Caiafa.  This month’s meeting was held at Franco’s Pizzeria in West Caldwell.  Motion to approve last month’s minutes was made by Erica Wittel and seconded by Lynne Hellmers.

Those in attendance tonight were: Barbara Balducci, Penny Budesa, Jack Budesa, Ken Caiafa, Linda Siegfried, Frank Feichtl, Kathy Feichtl, Anthony Fiorentino, John Hellmers, Lynne Hellmers, Lee Marino, Joan Napolitano, Phil Riso Paul Rossetti, Valerie Rossetti, Al Sokerka, Ronnie Sokerka, Joe Uzzardi, Anthony Vitale, Ken Wittel and Erica Wittel.

The club wishes the following members a Happy Birthday for the month of May:

Norma Snowdon – 5^th                  Barbara Balducci — 20^th

Charles Grieco — 8^th                        Ronnie Sokerka – 22^nd

Teddy Constandelis — 14^th           Jessica Johnson – 22^nd

Fran Riso – 14^th                          Gina Grieco – 24^th

Penny Budesa – 30^th

Financial Report

Penny gave the Financial Report for the month of April — as of April 1^st we had an opening balance of $11,683.62, as of April 30^th we have a closing account balance of $11,476.22.  We had deposits totaling $231.00 which includes $91.00 for patch purchases, $75.00 for our new member Paul Rossetti and $65.00 for our 50/50.  There were two disbursements totaling $438.40 which were $233.40 for our club picnic permit and $205.00 for club patches.

Penny also discussed that our current insurance company is no longer insuring clubs, she reached out to three different companies and only Haggerty responded which she said was cheaper than what we had been paying.  John Hellmers said that the club he belongs to in Texas got their club insurance through the Museum.  Penny will be looking into that as well.

Other Business

Lee Marino brought cupcakes that she is selling for $2.00 each with the monies going towards what the club is going to donate to the GRIN2B charity in River Budesa’s name.

We had a new member join tonight – William English, Jr. is a friend of Phil’s and he now owns a 1996 Collectors Edition Silver Convertible.  Many of you may know Bill as the gentleman who brings his Camero to various car shows.

Al said that the patches he ordered are selling fast, he now has only 13 left to sell.

Anthony spoke about the dinner that he and Debbie hosted at Vitale’s last month and sad he thanked everyone for coming and we know that everyone had a wonderful time with way too much food.

Kenny also gave a big shout out to Charles and Gina Greico for doing two different events.  They first did a fun run to the Warwick Winery on Sunday, April 14^th.  The weather was wonderful and the run to the winery was amazing.  Those that stayed behind got entertained by a band that played a lot of country music.  The second run Charles and Gina did was a run to Brick to eat at the Spanish Potato.   This was on Sunday, May 5^th.  Even though the weather did not cooperate as well as we would have liked, those members who did attend had a great ride down the parkway and dined at a wonderful restaurant where there was no shortage of food.  The desert was furnished by Gina who made a beautiful blueberry cheesecake.

We also acknowledged that Anthony won Best C7 at the Totowa Show last month.  While Anthony was winning his trophy, Kenny was racing his C7 on the track at Watkins Glen.  He had an awesome time and encourages anyone who wants to see what their car can do to take a trip there.

Our next Fun Run is to the Bar A in Belmar.  Frank will be sending out information on place and time to meet for this event, which is Sunday, May 19^th.

Frank also got approached by Dennis & Mary Karakos about having an outing to their house in Sparta for Saturday, June 29^th with a rain date of Sunday, June 30^th.  You are just asked to bring a pop-up to shade yourself from the sun, your chairs and your beverage of choice.

Al is looking into doing a fun run to several covered bridges in PA, he hopefully will have more information on this at our next meeting, this may be an overnight trip.

Kenny is planning a fun run to The Barn in Rockaway for Sunday, June 9^th.  We will be leaving from the Panera Bread on Route 17 North in Ramsey.  Details to follow – this is a rain or shine event.

We are encouraging members to host dinner socials.  We understand the cost of everything has gone way up, but if the prices are reasonable that people car order off the menu, that would be fine. Just a place to get together and have some fun.

We had a guest speaker at tonight’s meeting Oliver Vray.  Those of you who knew how Victor’s car looked, it was Oliver that tricked it out.  He has now gone out on his own and will do installations at your home – he came with several new items for both sound, radar detection and safety.  Several members have had work done not only on their Corvettes, but on their daily drivers and he is impeccable when it comes to installations.  If you need to reach him his number is 973-687-9770.

Both Anthony and Kenny had trivia questions, Phil won the trivia question from Anthony who asked what was the first year of the heads-up display on Corvettes – the answer was 1999, nobody won Kenny’s question of what year the crossed flags became exclusive to Corvettes – the answer was 1968.  Kathy had a trivia question for the women that Erica Wittel won.

The 50/50 of $42.00 was won by our new member, Bill English.

Our next business meeting will be on Wednesday, June 12^th at Franco’s Pizzeria on Bloomfield Avenue in West Caldwell (it’s in the Essex Mall directly across from Paul Miller Chevrolet).

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Siegfried