Escapees March-April 2023

Message From The Board Anticipating an Exceptional Year! By MELANIE CARR #8, Escapees RV Club Vice President

the hangouts director position in April. Some could say she was unknowingly in training already by hosting past Hangouts, and she jumped right in to learn the behind-the-scenes details of the job. But, with this transition, it means David and Cheryl Goldstein #126793 are retiring from their roles with Escapees. To say we will miss them is an understatement, and it must be noted that without them, the Hangouts program would not be what it is today. A few years back, the club saw a need to create events for the active and adventurous crowd that did not necessarily want to attend Xscapers events and weren’t looking for something quite as robust as a HOP. They accepted the mission to build something that would fi t this need and brought to life something special that we know will be a lasting piece of Escapees. We are forever grateful to the Goldsteins for their dedication to the program and all the other roles they jumped in to help with along the way. Other areas of Escapees have continued to grow as well. The marketing department has expanded by adding two more people and our Convergence program has welcomed an assistant to the director. We strongly believe that growing our teams will strengthen our support network to create more and better experiences for members. We’ve always said that when there is something we cannot take on ourselves, we will do our best to partner with industry leaders who we know share the same values as Escapees so that they can provide with you with the best experiences and products possible. Passport America is the newest commercial partner to join the lineup and we are excited about having one of the best ongoing discounts to their membership available. Escapees members can save 20% off new or renewing memberships and, even better, the discount also extends to multi-year purchases as well. We are also continuing to expand the variety of discounts. TravlFi is now offering some great discounts to members offering $40 off any hotspot device and your fi rst 10 GB of data is free. Their plans have the unique ability to connect to the strongest signal out of any of the major carriers to ensure you’re getting the best signal possible.

This year is already o ff to an exceptional start, and we are excitedly looking forward to the treasures it may hold. The RV indus try saw record high sales during the peak of the pandemic and, recently, RV Industry Association President & CEO Craig Kirby, said, “As expected, we saw shipment num bers normalize o ff of those record highs in the second half of the year, as the indus try returned to production numbers seen pre-COVID.” Through it all, Escapees has remained tried and true to its mission of being the number one club for RV enthusi asts. We remain committed to strengthen ing our member experiences through the services, bene fi ts and events that we o ff er. A t the time of writing this column, we have just wrapped up another successful Xscapers Annual Bash, and it proved to be among one of the biggest yet. We welcomed 347 RVs, which equated to around 570 adults and over 50 children. And now, things are moving full speed ahead as we get ready for the 62nd Escapade in Tucson, Arizona. Esca pade is also on track to reach record high attendance numbers, and we are looking forward to the good times waiting for us in the southwest. Over the past few months, we have welcomed many new staff members to the Escapees family who will be taking over key roles for the organization. We recently welcomed Wendy Stanwood #170314 to the team as the new chapter director. Jimmy and Lockie Sailer #130519 served in that position for six years and under their direction, we watched the Chapters and BoF groups grow, with plenty of new ideas implemented along the way. While they will be sorely missed, we are excited to see what the future holds with Wendy at the helm. We have also welcomed Therese Julo #139199 on board, and she is currently training to fully take over

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ESCAPEES Magazine March/April 2023