2015 MCEA REUNION
JACKSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
MCEA 2015 REUNION AFTER ACTION REPORT
The new Courtyard by Marriott in Jacksonville NC was our location for the 2015 reunion and awards banquet. We had $83 run of the house room rates effective 21-28 Sept. That’s half price of the normal room charge. Complimentary wireless internet in guest rooms and meeting rooms. Menu prices were much less than previous years and there was no charge for Audio/visual support or any meeting room. 3543 sq ft of banquet room provided for all 3 meeting events. 21% service charge.
We had one of the largest turnouts due to the location and close proximity to the active/reserve Marine Corps engineer units. 17 active duty MCEA award recipients plus 10 guests attended, with banquet fees covered by the Society of American Military Engineers! We used over 80% of the blocked hotel rooms and total charges for the reception, business meeting, and banquet were $6,566.08.
Reception Wednesday, 23 Sept. 1900-2200; $20 rate for medium appetizers for the 69 attendees. We had planned to have a cash bar, but the hotel officially opened on 21 September and they had not received their liquor license; therefore, the hotel purchased the bar items and donated everything to us for a self-serve bar.
Biz meeting Thursday 24 Sept, 0830-1230 Started a half hour later than normal and therefore had no food, just coffee, tea. $10/person; 37 attended the briefings and 33 stayed for the meeting. See the biz mtg minutes for details.
Awards banquet 24 Sept, 1800-2130: 1800 cocktails. 1900-Buffet Dinner with 3 entrees at $30/person. As with the reception, free bar. We were elated to welcome back LtGen Panter as our Guest of Honor and have LtGen & Mrs. Tiebout attend, along with remarks from our MCEA Founder and past president, Jim Marapoti. 110 members and guests registered to attend plus 39 NCO & below engineers from the local six engineer units attended the banquet free of charge to them. General Fund paid for 13: Guest of Honor- LtGen Panter, Stan Cucksee, Color Guard, 2 photographers, 2 PAO Marines plus MGYSgt & Mrs. Martin (military support coordinator) and bagpiper. Door prizes were held as we were finishing our dinner and before the start of the program.
Tours:
Wed tour of the USS North Carolina required a minimum of 40 to cover the cost of the bus, but we only had 15 register, so we rented a 15 pax van to handle both the Wed and Thursday tour of Tryon Palace which had 10 attend.
We did almost fill up the bus with 47 attendees on the Friday tour of Camp Lejeune engineer units plus Marine Corps Engineer School. $25/person to cover the bus cost and $5.55/person for lunch at the Courthouse Bay Mess Hall.
Total Attendance = 186
Awardees: 17 + 10 guests = 27
Corporate mbrs 4 + 1 guests = 5
Guests = 13
Members 52 + 40 guests = 92
Non Mbrs = 10
Engr NCO & below paid by sponsor = 39
NET FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Net on Fees: $790.12
Plus Award Sponsorship Surplus: $5,812.96
Overall Reunion Accounting: Net gain of $6,603.08
Treasurer’s comments:
Once again, our member fees covered just about the exact Reunion cost (with a little extra this year, some years a little under). Fortunately, our corporate sponsors cover all of the Award costs with enough additional to allow us to take on other worthwhile projects.
Links:
Reunion program– https://marcorengasn.org/marine_docs/Pgm15.docx
Pics on our website: https://marcorengasn.org/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=65
Thanks for coming! We wish you good health and safe travels!!
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, 17-19 OCT, 2016 AT THE PALA RESORT, PALA, CA!