Despite the record ice storm a few days prior, and the substantial power outages still in effect in southeastern Michigan, thirty-three JAGM members made the journey to Lee Jacobsen’s garage in Livonia on Saturday, February 25th.
Once all the donated items were on display and everyone had a chance to mingle a bit, the meeting got underway. Our Master of Ceremony Gary Cunningham mentioned the club's extensive history dating back to 1967 and its recent growth, which has been the fastest of all JCNA’s affiliates, during a time when clubs have struggled to maintain members - focussing on JAGM’s substantial events calendar. Then Gary reminded everyone that all proceeds of the auction would go to “Home For Our Troops”. Their mission is "To build and donate specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives”. Gary also mentioned that JAGM has donated to this worthy charity in recent years. See www.jagm.org, main menu About, and sub-menu Charity Work for more on JAGM’s charitable works.
Then a former President, Mike Bailey, made the presentations for our “Most Active Members” awards and another service award. The 1st place award went to Bob and Pat Matejek. The 2nd place plaque went to Chuck and Louise Diamond. For our 3rd place award, we had a tie. The plaques went to Jim and Jackie Forkner and Chuck and Wendy Mueller. And an Oustanding Contribution Award went to our Webmaster and Activities Coordinator, Phil Crutchfield. Then Bob Matejek, both a JAGM member and Secretary of JCNA, made a JCNA award for the Best Technical Article for 2022. The award went to Gary Hillebrand for his February Indicator article entitled “In our Garage - Replacing XK8 Convertible Top Hydraulic Hoses”, which documented the work Steve and he did on member Steve Myerscough’s car.
Following the awards, we enjoyed lunch boxes from Jimmy Johns and continued the conversations around the tables. Some walked around to look at all the cars and parts on display.
After our lunch break, the auction got underway. Auctioneer Gary Cunningham, aided by Tim Moore, Gary Hillebrand, and Lee Jacobsen, presented all of the donated items for bidding. Many model cars, books, magazines, odd car parts, and miscellaneous items went up for bid. The auction ended on two significant items. First, Ilene Harris presented for bid the T-Bird hubcap that returns each year. Then Gary Cunningham presented the custom hand-made, Jaguar logoed, wooden toolbox with pull-out bottom end draws, built by Tom Hudak. Amongst all the bidding and the occasional laughter, we raised $2,034 for the charity.
Many thanks to all who donated items, to those who bid on the items, and to those who worked the event making it another successful Charity Auction.
Phil Crutchfield