Hello All,

It was off to the Franklin County Fairgrounds this Memorial Day weekend for our annual get together with the Good Sam Chapters. Sixteen Mass Minutemen coaches and Family members joined together to celebrate and remember those who served our Country and made the ultimate sacrifice. Our blood drive efforts took place on Saturday, was well received, and turned out to be very successful. Dennis Annear, Good Sam State director, provided us with a golf cart again this year and we were able to parade around the Fairground with our volunteer blood droplet to drum up business. As the result of this 9:00AM to 2:00PM effort, thirty (30) units of blood was collected, an outstanding and impressive donation count. Thanks to all that came forward to help and donate during this drive, your efforts are appreciated and noted. A very special THANKS to Bradley Yacino, a twelve year old special guest volunteer, for donning the blood droplet costume the entire five hour schedule.

Sunday afternoon was a time to kick back, relax and sit out under the Big tent with friends and family. Happy Hour started things off, Brian provided his famous grilled steak and chicken on a stick and other members brought over their goodies. This was followed by a Club sponsored "pizza party" as the reward for our blood drive volunteers. As a finale, on Monday morning, the usual Memorial Day parade was joined by many of the attending rally Veterans. Good friends, nightly entertainment and great weather combined to make the weekend a "Memorial Day" to remember. THANKS to Peter Cirelli and Neil Schermerhorn for helping with the coach parking.

As I write to you this Sunday morning it is stunning to realize how important our blood drive effort turned out to be in the aftermath of the recent tornado that struck central Massachusetts. BayState Medical in Springfield treated over 200 victims of this tornado and most certainly received Red Cross blood that had been donated thru our efforts. On behalf of those unknown recipients, THANK YOU. We have also followed up on our members that reside in those tornado effected areas and are happy to note, that to our knowledge, everyone is OK.

As I have mentioned many times before, please be sure to check on our rally schedules and also those of Constitution Cruisers along with Mt Laurels, (included in this newsletter). Updated versions will appear online. In Greenfield, an executive decision was made to authorize the purchase of a website that Leo Ouellette (Mass) has been working on over the winter months. The website will facilitate passing on this updated information.

Looking forward to our Quonset Point Air Show four Chapter rally that's coming up shortly, also scheduled, the Rhode Island Balloon Festival and the Pig Roast at Pepe's shoreline camp in Conn. Please check further in this newsletter for additional scheduling and updated information. Hope to see you at, at least, one of these events.