The New York Football Giants Fan Club of NE 29th Annual Banquet
By Rich Rooney
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I was up early as the truck needed to be pack with all the raffle items, computer, cables and photo albums. I arrived sharply at 9:30AM and Barry Belotti and John Berti arrived shortly thereafter to help set up and work out event strategy.
As usual we had many early arrivals that wanted to discuss the NY Giants, as we needed to set up. This meeting rather than have a speaker, we came up with a more interactive approach and would connect to the Internet and use the game sounds of the Super Bowl from many vantage points, but first we had to get the computer up and running which seem to have a mind of its own. Apparently after severing our firewall the internet wouldn’t come up and had to call in a local expert to dismantle the buildings firewall and we eventually were able to connect to the internet.
We set up the Raffle table and hung all our “Four Super Bowl’s Banners, arranged the Photo Album table and set out the cheese/cracker/ham and dip table. Check with the caterer to make sure all food was in place and the bartender had all her choice liquors available for sampling.
The guests began to filter in after signing in at the front door table and John Berti did an admirable job of meeting, greeting and settling in all the guests. We made our rounds to talk to all the contingents (Rhode Island, Maine, North shore, south shore and of course our folks from Connecticut). Folks got there libations, munchies and good conversation about what a great year we had.
After an hour of socializing, John Berti grabbed the microphone and his slide package, and we were underway. After a few short comments of welcome and what the day had in store; we sounded the dinner bell and folks proceeded to the buffet where there was many tasty entrees Ham, chicken, roast beef and my particular favorite chicken pot pie. As the meal proceeded we began to show the highlights of the super bowl in the background. As we finished the meal, announcements were made for the folks to visit the raffle table to view the many selections and buy tickets.
John Berti began to go through the slides which was a series of informative pages on the screen which depicted where the club is at presently, how the view looks going forward and that we need feedback from the members of what kind of club we will have and what the future brings. He mentioned the survey which was sent out to all present and past members and had emailed to all the addresses in our database. This amounted to a couple of hundred people and only received 22 responses. Most of the answers were in concise. Then we moved on to the reasons we arrived at the spot were in, the club has lost members and continue to lose members on a regular basis. We showed slides that show a steady decline and the club revenue is basically built by the banquet and raffle, off our many pieces of sports memorabilia.
Also the numbers showed a decline since the super bowl banquet in 2008 (92 attending) to last year (43 attending) and as you would expect revenues have declined and last year we lost $7,000 at our banquet and for the year. We took a short break and came back to give one of two Ron Anderson Memorial Awards. I stood up took the microphone and gave a short history of how the club started with Ron Anderson and our split in the late seventies and then told of the many accolades our current recipient of the award which was Bill McCarthy who has been a long time member and because of his health is currently residing at the Bedford VA Hospital on Spring Street, building B4 in room 114, and for those folks that know Bill and would like to contact him, you can reach him on this cell phone at (508) 451-0686.
We began to show some interesting footage of the game sounds, showed an interview with GM Jerry Reese and what the future holds for the NY Giants and free agency, interviews with players and the last interview with RB Alex “Red” Webster, who passed away this past week, which was quite poignant. We took a break and had a group picture with all that came. Barry Belotti got up and talked about the Ron Anderson Award that was presented last year (Mark Murphy) and couldn’t come and so it was presented to him. We then presented the second of the Ron Anderson Awards for this year.
This year’s award was quite interesting as it went to Gerry Holleran Jr. and his whole family was present and he and his Dad are the first father and son recipient members to receive the award. We called Gerry Sr. to come up and make the presentation to Gerry Jr. it was really quite a moment (both father and son were policemen on the same police force in Wakefield, MA.)
We then went to our main event and had quite a good selection of merchandise this year, because we won the Super Bowl almost all the items were super bowl related. We had over 25 items and with 51 attending most walked away with something. The event ended at a little after 4PM and most stayed for awhile and continued on, and you could tell a majority of members and their guests had a great time, there were rave reviews about the room and setting and how it was quite intimate and was like someone’s home, than the Knights of Columbus. Also we had lots of positive comments on the food and what a happy setting for such a joyous occasion. This was one of the best banquets I have ever been to and there was no speaker. We hope to continue this event next year in the same place, of course future events will dictate. My many thanks and appreciation, to all who assisted and helped.
The NY Football Giants Fan Club of New England is not sponsored nor endorsed by The NY Giants Football Club or The National Football League. All photos, logos and/or emblems contained are the sole property of The NY Giants Football Club, The National Football League or The NY Football Giants Fan Club of New England. All links are the sole property of said addressee(s).
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