I hope everyone has had a great year so far. The year 2011 has been great to the Transportation Club of Jacksonville. I hope everyone is as excited about the future as I am.
I wanted to send an email to everyone recapping the events of the year and inform every one of the future events.
2011 has been a great year for the club. We have 233 active members as of this morning. WOW! We are really becoming a force in the transportation field. At the Transportation Club Internationals Annual Conference our club was recognized as the fastest growing club within the organization. In just 4 short years we have gone from 19 members (and barely hanging on) to 233 members and becoming a thriving, vital, important force within our city. If you know someone who is still undecided about becoming a member, reach out to them and tell them now is the time to join. Our Members
With the phenomenal success that the Club has had this year, we have been able to host some exceptional leaders as guest speakers. This year we have had the following speakers:
Cynthia Witty - US Department of Transportation North Florida Director. Ms. Witty spoke at our Inaugural Dinner in January concerning the CSA 2011 Regulations and Road side Inspections. Event Photos - John Delaney - President, University of North Florida. Mr. Delaney spoke at our National Transportation Week Dinner Banquet in May. The club also presented our scholarship to UNF student Joe Whitfield at the dinner. Event Photos - The Club also hosted a "Future of the Chassis Pools" Luncheon where we had representatives from the four largest chassis providers (Ken Tock of CCM, Adam Bridges of Trac Lease, John Mizerek of Flexi Van and Sandy Wojtaszek of Direct ChassisLink Inc.) speak to where their companies see chassis pools going. Event Photos - Lastly, we had Mayor Alvin Brown speak at our August Luncheon. Mayor Brown spoke about how his administration understood the importance of Transportation in our community and how they are determined to make Jacksonville a Transportation and Logistics Hub. Event Photos
Secondly, the Club has increased our presence in the community. We increased our scholarship by 100%. That scholarship is awarded to a deserving student at the University of North Florida's Transportation and Logistics Program in the Coggin College of Business. Also, we have increased our participation with our local charity, the Ronald McDonald House. The Club provides dinners for the families staying at the House while also "stocking the pantry" for the houseguests. This year we increased our dinners from 2 to 4 and next year we are hosting 6 dinners. I would encourage all members to participate in one of these dinners. It is truly rewarding when you see what a nice home cooked meal can do. When you see the kids faces light up when they get to eat their favorite foods it makes you realize what really is important.
As a member or our great organization, I hope you take as much pleasure as I and the rest of the Board does in being able to serve our community through our scholarship and philanthropic endeavors.
Lastly, we held our annual Shrimp Boil last night. Event Photos - We had 142 attendees, the largest total in the long history of the Shrimp Boil!! It was a great time and I want to congratulate Aisha Eccleston for being the winner of the Bahamas Cruise Raffle. We hope your Cruise vacation will be a great one.
As we the end the year, there are still a couple of items left to do. The first is the nomination and election of the Board for the 2012 year. All Board positions (including the Presidency) will be up for election. With the club's increasing success, I implore everyone to get involved with the Board. Whether it is in elected positions, a committee chair position or serving on a committee, we have a chance now with our growing brand to push the Club in the forefront. However, we can not do that unless we have a strong and vibrant Board. Current Board
Nominations will be held on Thursday, November 3 during the monthly board meeting. This meeting is held every 1st Thursday of the month. The meeting is held at the Jax Port Authority Building in the 1st floor board room. The meeting runs from 11:30 am to 1 pm, and lunch is provided by the club. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Board, please email me at info@tcjax.org or call me at 904-219-7645. This will allow me to provide lunch for everyone.
Elections will be conducted via email. The ballot will be emailed to all club members on Monday November 14th. All ballots returned by 5 pm Friday, November 11 will be counted. The election results will be posted on Monday, November 21st.
Lastly, the Club will host a Holiday/Happy Hour/Thank You party sometime in early December. Once the details are finalized, we will send out a flyer.
Thank you again for your support of the Transportation Club of Jacksonville and for making the Shrimp Boil a huge success.
Jason Duncan
President
Transportation Club of Jacksonville
www.tcjax.org
info@tcjax.org
904-219-7645
