10 Oct 2020

Important FMCA Member Benefit Update

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Reposting a notice from FMCA
Please visit https://www.fmca.com/fmca-assist for full details

Text of the announcement:

We are excited to announce a change in the provider for our popular FMCAssist Medical Evacuation and Travel Assistance Program.

Beginning October 1, 2020, Travel Assistance Services will be provided by Europ Assistance, and coverage will be underwritten by Federal Insurance Company, a member insurer of the Chubb group of companies.  Chubb is the marketing name used to refer to subsidiaries of Chubb Limited, providing insurance and related services.

Please note the following contact information for the FMCAssist benefit:

Chubb Travel Assistance Program
877-352-0785 (Inside USA)
877-350-3532 (Canada)
1-202-659-7803 (Collect Outside USA)
OPS@europassistance-usa.com

We are sure you will have questions.  Please be patient with us, though, as we are still working to update the website and awaiting approval on some marketing pieces.  Visit regularly to check for updates.  In the meantime, to view the Full Description of Benefits, please visit https://www.fmca.com/fmca-assist
8 Sep 2020

Labor Day Message

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Greetings everyone in the Western Area.  I just finished up my first week as your new WMHA President and FMCA National Vice President so I thought I would write a message just to stay in touch.  I did have a couple of official acts to do:  one was to vote to approve a couple of contract items which were for the provider of FMCA’s preferred mail forwarding service and for FMCA’s Mobil App provider, Togo RV.  The other was to stay in contact with FMCA’s graphics person who does our art work for our rally program as well as the registration form, etc.  Just wait until you see it, we have received lots of compliments on it.

Well, I’m writing this on Labor Day so I thought I would kick back and think about what this holiday is all about.  A lot of people think of this 3-day weekend as summer’s last hurrah to go and get sun burned, injured, drunk or overeat.  That is too bad as most people get together with family and friends to celebrate this holiday honoring the American worker.  The holiday was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century.  During the height of the Industrial Revolution in the US the average American worker worked 12 hours days, 7 days a week just to make a basic living.  Children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country.  Workers often faced extremely unsafe working conditions with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.  Over the years this led to labor unions, demonstrations, strikes, riots and boycotts.  In the wake of this massive unrest, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday.  On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed it into law.

Since this is September, normally in a few weeks the WMHA Governing Board would be meeting in Hanford for our annual meeting and Indio planning session.  I was really looking forward to this as it would be my first meeting as your new President and getting to socialize with all the board members and the sharing of ideas.  This meeting won’t happen for a year now but don’t let the thought processes stop.  We are always looking for ways to improve the way we do business and ways to make our annual rally in Indio better.  If you think of something (anything) jot it down before you forget (we are not forgetful at our age, are we?) and call or e-mail it in.  We have a year to make our next area rally bigger and better than ever.

I am very happy to see chapters are doing rallies during these troubling times.  Through newsletters, phone conversations and e-mails I have seen where chapters have accepted the challenge and put in place work-arounds so they can have their chapter get togethers.  This is great news.

That’s about it.  I plan to do a message like this on occasion (between newsletters) to stay in touch.  Let me know what you think.  I’ll enjoy hearing from you either by phone or e-mail and hopefully in the not too distant future we will see each other in person.  Until then, safe travels.

Bob Golk

WMHA President

FMCA National Vice President

22 Aug 2020

Family RVing Survey Advisory – There is no new Dues increase

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Dear Members of the Western Area,

Some of you may have been selected to receive a recent survey concerning the Family RVing Magazine.  Questions revolved around the magazine with the exception of the last few, like the one below: 

Question 15 on the recent magazine survey asks:

Do you agree with the decision to increase dues to help fund the FMCAssist Medical Emergency and Travel Assistance Program?

This question is very misleading.  At no time has the Executive Board entertained a dues increase to “help fund” the Assist program. The EB has no intention to raise dues within the 2021 budget.

I want to make it as perfectly clear as I can that the current annual dues are $75.  If you have questions or concerns, please contact me.

Sincerely,
Lon Cross    
President, WMHA
National VP, FMCA
lcross@fmca.com

17 Jul 2020

A Message from Western Motor Home Association President

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Dear FMCA Member:
It is with great disappointment that we must announce that the Western Motor Home Association (WMHA) Executive Board (EB) has decided to postpone our upcoming 33rd Western Area Rally, which was scheduled for January 6-12, 2021, at the Riverside County Fairgrounds and National Date Festival, Indio, California.

The Executive Board (EB) has been working diligently for the last few months in planning for the rally, but we ended up facing too many obstacles that were hard to overcome, the main one being the availability of the Riverside Fairgrounds. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two main buildings at the fairgrounds were set up as a triage to treat virus patients and as an overflow for the hospital in Indio. Another building is being used as a supply storage point. There are also equipment and vehicles stored on the fairgrounds. This Federal COVID-19 support station is still in place at the fairgrounds and will remain so in case of an expected recurrence of COVID-19 cases. The earliest expected removal is not until December 31, 2020, and may go beyond that date. We just cannot work around that schedule.

While we all would like to come together once again for the Western Area Rally, the health and safety of our members must be first and foremost. With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing and forecast to worsen as cooler months arrive, the WMHA EB determined it would be in everyone’s best interest to postpone the event for 2021.

We are happy to report that the 33rd Western Area Rally will be held January 12-16, 2022, at the Riverside County Fairgrounds and National Date Festival, Indio, California. We will be using the same theme chosen for the now cancelled 2021 rally, “In The Land of Oz.” We are confident that by sometime next year this awful COVID-19 pandemic will be behind us, we will be returning to normalcy, and we can once again pursue our favorite RVing lifestyle.

We wish you all a happy and healthy year and for those of you who are able to get out, safe travels to you all.
Sincerely,

Lon Cross
President, WMHA
Area VP, FMCA
661-886-5077

Bob Golk
President (elect), WMHA
Area VP (elect), FMCA
Rally Master
661-599-3548

30 Jun 2020

COVID-19 Waiver and Release is optional for Chapter rallies

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The COVID-19 Waiver and Release is optional for Chapter rallies. It is up the Chapter to decide if they will use the Release form. FMCA was asked to provide the form for Chapters to use and its use is not mandated by FMCA.

Per our Western Area President: “The C-19 Waiver from FMCA is NOT a mandatory document and is up to each individual chapter if they want to use it.  Rally organizers and attendees are welcome to use this waiver if they so wish.  The health and safety of FMCA members remains a priority.”

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