WINDY CITY CHATTER by paul diangi
January 2012
Our Christmas meeting was packed with
old friends and new collectors. A standing room only meetingattests to the tight
knit collector community that we strive to prosper. The club prides itself on
the factthat it is a monthly get together that the whole family can enjoy and it
certainly was evident at thismeeting! It was great to see everyone participate
and enjoy the events at this December Holidaymeeting which was our final meeting
for the 2011 calendar year. Let’s bring in the New Year with thesame enthusiasm
to help grow your club and introduce new members to Hot Wheels collecting. I
wouldlike to thank each of you for being part of the Windy City Hot Wheels Club.
Over the years our clubmeeting has become more like a family gathering which is
one of the key points of our missionstatement and that’s something to be proud
of.
The December meeting had events and activities for everyone. The free “Kids”
only race, every entrantreceived a prize and the top three were awarded
trophies. The open to anyone annual Xmas race, thewinner of this one received a
complete 2011 Hot Wheels Collector .com Treasure Hunt Set packaged inthe
leather-like attaché case. Second place received a complete set of the mail away
cars and third placewon all 15 of the 2011 T-Hunts. We had a member only special
raffle for three very limited run clubcars. The neon yellow Bone Shaker was won
by Mark Wille, a bright green Bone Shaker was won byAlan Owens and the awesome
“Christmas Grinch” Dairy Delivery was won by Al Roberts. Our Xmasraffle had over
140 prizes awarded throughout the evening. We even had Santa visit this year!
The littleguys got to visit with Santa and tell him their Christmas wish. Santa
did not disappoint, all of thechildren received numerous Hot Wheels gifts.
Lastly the auction of two very limited Christmas Grinch”Dairy Delivery’s which
were finally won after a much heated bidding contest by Tim Wine and JayMilkeris.
Successful events just don’t happen by themselves nor do clubs exist without
behind the scenes playersand its time once again to say thanks to those that
give the time and effort. Thanks Russ Kottke for allyour hard work involved with
producing our Club cars and all the special event cars throughout theyear and to
Craig Hancock and Kelly Kottke for running our monthly races. Thanks to JimmyGarbaczewski
for our well organized and consistently updated newsletters and to Jay Milkeris
for duescollection, the web site and all the photography needs for the club.
Bill and Vickie Lytton always assurethat we have the incidentals and the
seasonal things that make the “little guys” in the club smile as wellas make our
club what it is “friendly and inviting” and finally our entry girls Marsha
DiAngi and AngieGarbaczewski for collecting admission and making sure we can
“pay the rent” and keep the Churchhappy! A special thanks to Alan “DJ” Owens for
the Christmas music, and to all the gals who broughtcookies and snacks. A
special thanks to those who donated to Toys for Tots and to “Jake” Thorby
forhelping me pull the raffle prize winners! It’s amazing how the little guys
know when an adult needsextra help!
The club has “experts” on almost every aspect, segment and time line of Hot
Wheels collecting. This isa great venue to learn as well as have fun. Ask
questions and seek opinions to improve your knowledgeof the hobby.