DOOLITTLE PREP TIME RUNNING OUT
Compiled
from reports submitted by Ron Dietes
Doolittle Reunion Status – January 29, 2007 Meeting
Bob Gardner, Bret Renfro, Jerry Taylor and I have been meeting with Any Baby Can folks and the Event Planner for quite some time. We started with monthly meetings and now we have progressed to scheduling a meeting every two weeks. As you can imagine, we have made a lot of progress but we still have a ways to go. Some of the things we have accomplished are:
1.
Picked an Event Planner.
2. Determined how many lunches and dinners we would try to schedule.
3.
Established the ticket price for the lunch and dinner events.
4.
Established an estimated revenue spreadsheet for the reunion.
5. Developed
a sales package based on a sample supplied from the event planner.
6.
Reviewed and selected a menu for the lunches and dinner.
7. Used
the recommendations from the event planner to begin the fund raising effort.
8. Established how Any Baby Can and the Yellow Rose Squadron will split profits and expenses for the event.
9.
Refined the Sponsorship levels.
10. Discussed personalities available for lunch
speakers.
11.
Made naming decisions based on Event Planner recommendations.
12. Made fund raising contacts thru Event
Planner leads.
13. Used advice from Event Planner in selecting
the hotel although most of the interviewing was done prior to the
Event
Planner being on board.
14. How the Air Force is involved with the Reunion.
At first glance, the above list does not seem like a lot has been done, but believe me many sessions were used for something that seemed relatively easy to decide due to the number and possible impact of the decisions that were made as a result of these meetings. One thing to note is that we really did not talk about the involvement of the B-25’s coming to the reunion. Since the dollars for bringing the planes to San Antonio was so large in comparison to the hotel events. Honestly, I do not think the planes are a large factor in what the
Raiders hope to accomplish with the reunion.
As most of you know, we have exceeded our minimum number of room nights with the DoubleTree hotel. That basically saves us the default fee that the hotels charges for blocking rooms and then not having them occupied. Another good decision we made was to have the
lunches and dinners at the DoubleTree. That allows some room nights as part of the deal. The DoubleTree has been extremely
accommodating every time we have asked for some consideration that is outside of the contract.
The lunch ticket price is $65 a person and the Dinner Dance ticket price is $110 a person. This topic was very difficult and it took many sessions to finally decide on a price. We feel that the price is actually a little lower than the norm, but we want to fill every available seat at the events. Having Charles Duke as one of our speakers will be a plus. We are still trying to schedule the speaker for the remaining lunch. We’ll let everyone know as soon as we have a definite commitment from someone. I should also mention that we will have limited seating for the events, so if you want to attend the lunches or dinner dance, get your tickets early. Once the tickets are sold, that’s it. You can contact Alison Ender for your tickets.
An event like this takes money. Lots and lots of it. So, it is not any surprise that the Fund Raising Committee is in the hot seat right now. We do not have any event sponsors or underwriters and therefore very limited up front money is available for advertising on TV, radio, or in the newspapers, event tickets printed, PX items purchased, flyers mailed out, name tags, artist prints, posters printed or any of a number of other things that require money. Once again I am asking each of you to contact any person you happen to know to try and get the Reunion in front of people that can become possible sponsors or underwriters. I have personally contacted HEB and although the effort did not result in what I had hoped to be a named sponsor, we are supposed to receive $500. That is
something and they now know what the Doolittle Reunion is all about. Maybe when the ball gets rolling, someone at HEB will change their mind and step up and really help us. You just don’t know. All it takes is just one contact at the right time and to the right individual and at the right place. So get out there and start shaking the trees. Who knows, you may be our hero. Just let Jerry Taylor know who you have contacted. The most important thing to remember about fund raising is to follow up with the people you have contacted. It is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. Don’t be obnoxious, but let them know, this is an important and worthwhile function and they need to be a part of it. There will only be one 65th Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Reunion in San Antonio.
That brings me to another topic. We are going to need volunteers to help do all sorts of things prior to the event and also during the actual event. As we define what needs to be done, we will publish the information along with the person to
contact, so you can select something that fits with your schedule and talents. We also will need to be flexible. Things are going to happen during the event that will be unforeseen. Hopefully, we will be able to react in a timely fashion and keep chaos to an absolute minimum.
Doolittle Reunion Status -- February 4th Meeting
I am happy to report that many interested squadron members were in attendance for another Doolittle Reunion meeting on Sunday February 4th. The meeting was held in the Centex Hangar break room. We started the meeting about 1pm and finished up about 3pm.
We discussed the website and then we discussed some additional questions prepared by Letty and I. We then followed the questions by reports from Operations, Military Liaison, Ticket sales, Scholarship and a review of the Raider daily schedule provided by Letty. Julie also had questions regarding transportation issues.
Probably one of the most important decisions that were made during the meeting was to cancel the Cocktail Party that was scheduled for Wednesday night. This will solve several problems that were
discussed and also save some money. Maybe those interested can gather in the courtyard by the pool and have an informal party. More on this as the event gets closer.
The first and second set of questions and their answers will be emailed to the committee heads with the intent that the committee heads will disseminate them to their committee members. Anyone that does not have email can request a printed copy from me.
Steve Gladwin gave a status update on where he is regarding the prints. Since there will be a reduction in the number of prints that will be printed, the cost will be increased. The retail price for the canvas print will be $1200. The retail price for the litho print will be $685 and the retail price for the poster has yet to be determined. We decided to have the coins numbered and Steve will get that order started.
We are ordering 200 coins. So if you want one, you had better get your order in early.
As most of you know we already have a speaker for the first luncheon, and are in the process of selecting a speaker for the second luncheon. Many names were discussed and all in attendance decided that we will accept the first speaker that commits, provided they can tie their speech into
the Doolittle theme.
We are working with the hotel for a secure room to store our PX and other related material during the event. We discussed several alternatives and Bret Renfo will follow up with the hotel. We also discussed a meeting with the hotel
that was held on Thursday Feb. 1st. Bret, Letty, Teresa Benke from ABC and I met with Sue Vina the Catering Director and Judy Sandoval to discuss the room arrangements and also to make sure we are both in agreement as to what we are expecting and how that relates to the contract we have with the hotel. You will notice the results of that meeting if you look at the Raider Daily schedule prepared by Letty for inclusion into the Welcome packets that will be handed out to the Raiders at the event. A copy of that updated schedule will also be sent to the committee heads once Letty has made the corrections from this meeting.
Cowden brought up a really terrific fund raising idea. He suggested that we use a newspaper insert and sell advertising space on the insert. Cowden and Bill Walsh will work on this and see if it can be done and how to get it done in the 67 days we have remaining before the event. We are also looking to have KTSA as a participating sponsor where we get advertising in lieu of up front money. KTSA did an on air interview with Bob Gardner and it was great. Jerry Taylor is still pursuing AT&T and Letty is also looking to E&Y to be a sponsor and I am trying to get more money out of HEB.
Julian reported that the scholarship applications will be prepared and stuffed into envelopes for mailing to applicants very soon. The committee will screen the applicants and then we will select the final recipients. Seems to be on track and we should see some applications very soon.
Pat Jopling reported that the Air Force has committed to approximately $40,000 of support to the event. They will be covering the air fare, hotel rooms, a portion of the meals and ground transportation for the Raiders, honorary raiders, widows, and distinguished guests. This is very,
very good news. She also reported that the advertising in the military media is to begin very soon. The Air Force is seeking support for the event from Boeing, Valero and Enterprise Rental.
The B-25 crews have rooms reserved at Lackland and the aircraft will be split between Kelly, Stinson and International airports. So far nine B-25’s have expressed interest in attending, but we may have additional planes that agree to attend.
Jim Liles reported that we need to have the sponsor logo’s to him no later than mid March. Let’s hope we have many sponsors by that date. Jim also gave the
Operations report in Grant’s absence.
Alison reported that she is getting calls for tickets to the event. Julie is getting the tickets printed and will have them mailed to Alison. She and Bob
Gardner will coordinate the ticket sales made by Any Baby Can.
We scheduled the next meeting for Sunday Feb. 11th at 2pm in the Centex Hangar
break room.
