The Great Plains Region opted for a change of venue this year and held its Annual Winter Party at The Champions Run Country Club on Saturday, January 19th. The new venue worked very well with over 80 members and guests attending. We kicked off the evening with cocktails and the usual Porsche banter, with many conversations focused on who was working on what and when was it going to warm up enough for a drive.
Joe Chambers, our incoming Club President, welcomed members and their guests, covered highlights of the Club’s 2018 events and gave a quick review of activities for 2019. One item Joe discussed with members was GPR’s selection of the Angels Among Us charity that supports families of children with cancer. The Club will support this charity throughout 2019 beginning with proceeds from our fun run collections in 2018 and raffle funds and donations from this year’s dinner. Joe introduced Susie Nelson, Executive Director of the charity who provided everyone with an overview of the charity and its mission.
Mitch Schneringer from Porsche Omaha brought in a new Porsche built completely from Legos to display and provided the Club with several of the stellar 2019 Porsche calendars to raffle off. Denny Strauss donated 3 fabulous photographs to the raffle that he took at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
These photographs are truly works of art, and many, many thanks to Denny for providing these to the Club. We also raffled off gift cards from Borsheims, Bone Fish Grill, Sullivans Steakhouse and Flemings Restaurant.
Keeping with tradition, the Club’s annual awards were given out with this year’s winners:
Family of the Year
Tom Gutzke & Elisa Stutheit
AW NUTS
Jeff Sena
(Jeff we know there is more to the story than what Joe provided…)
Most Improved Driver
Terry Whitney
Enthusiast of the Year
David Adler
We also presented outgoing president Steve Gehring with a plaque and “tongue in cheek” t-shirt to thank him for his leadership over the past two years and a very momentous driving experience.
Joe closed out the evening with a “thank you” to all who attended and to everyone who volunteered their time throughout 2018.
