Escapees July-August 2023

Escapees RV Club President’s Award Recipients By TRAVIS CARR #8, Escapees RV Club President

The President’s Award is reserved for those who continue to go above and beyond. Representing what it means to be an Escapee by carrying forth the philos ophies this community was founded upon with their outstanding contributions and dedication over countless actions. As such, the President’s Award is the highest level of honor receivable as an Escapees member. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and the Escapees team, a huge thank you and congratulations to the newest President’s Award recipients!

Escapees RV Club was founded in 1978 in order to connect RVersando ff er a structure for befriending, supporting and helping each other through the unique struggles of the RV lifestyle. Building and strengthening community has remained our primary focus throughout our decades of service to RVers. Over time, this mentality gave birth to the often-used phrase “caring and sharing,” among our membership. We adopted “caring and sharing” as a core value of Escapees RV Club, as a testament to the passion our members share for both the RV lifestyle and support of each other.

DUANE AND JEAN MATHES #115955 If you have attended an Escapade over the past seven years, chances are you’ve seen Jean and Duane shining in their roles as Escapade Di rectors. They took the reins of organizing this national event in 2016, and by the time the 57th Escapade in Tucson, Arizona, rolled around, it was clear they were going to excel in their roles and take our largest national event to new levels. Organizing and leading the Escapade event each year is no small undertaking, but they did so with unwavering care and dedication. They poured countless hours, energy and enthusiasm into making it the best it could be each year and brought new and exciting ideas for us to enjoy. All while embodying the philosophy of caring and sharing by always going out of their way to ensure members were having the best experience and creating lasting memories with their Escapees family. While they’ve retired from their position as Escapade Directors, they continue to serve on the Escapade team, as assistant directors, to support the ongoing success of the event. We are proud to say they are Lifetime Members of Escapees and we were even prouder to pres ent them with the President’s Award on stage at the 62nd Escapade. We want to sincerely thank Jean and Duane for the lifelong impacts they have made on the Escapees organization and its members!

DAVID AND CHERYL GOLDSTEIN #126793 David and Cheryl are two of the most hard-working people we’ve had the pleasure of working with, and we think the rest of their co-workers and fellow members would agree! David joined the Escapees team in 2017, where he helped with strategic marketing plans. In 2018 when the club saw a need to create a new event experience, David and Cher yl were fi rst in line to answer the call! Together, they built what is now known as the Hangouts program. These events fi lled the need the club saw for a new program that would cater to the active and adventur ous crowd that did not necessarily want to attend Xscapers events and weren’t looking for something quite as robust as a HOP. Not only did they build an event program from the ground up, creating a lasting foundation for it to continue to fl ourish, but they have also gone above and beyond to help with special projects along the way. They never hesitated to jump in and help fellow co-workers and have assisted the Board of Directors/Executive Leadership directly on numerous occasions. We are forever grateful to the Goldsteins for their dedication to Escapees RV Club, and they couldn’t be more deserving of the Presi dent’s Award. They are Lifetime Members of Escapees RV Club, so we look forward to seeing them at more events in the future. Only this time, they’ll be enjoying them, not planning them!

MEMBER SECTION

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ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2023