Reply to "FUN RALLY RAFFLE ISSUE"

I don't often post here but feel the need to add my comments on this subject.
I've been around this outfit for many years and the sniveling about the raffle length has existed ever since I can remember. It is either too long, or prizes not up to someones expectations.
The job of organizing, collecting and the endless follow up of these "DONATED" raffle items is a never ending endeavor requiring a monumental amount of time ,patience and diplomacy. Lets not forget that your normal life as you know it ceases to exist for the last two or three weeks before the big event! Your wife and kids will hardly recognize you as you've been either on the phone , computer or meeting with vendors personally to be sure all is in place.
Last year when the POCA raffle suddenly lost it's chairman, someone unflinchingly stepped up and VOLUNTEERED to get it all done pretty late in the game. That someone is Mr. Jim Cozzolino. Guess what? He got it done in grand style and proved to be an excellent Raffle M.C. !!!
For the 2006 POCA Raffle Jim Cozzolino stayed on to run this very,very fiscally important segment of the Vegas Rally for the POCA membership once again. I was in attendance at the raffle and was quite amazed at the fluid and rapid pace Jim set for the dispersion of the raffle items. It was like watching a crowd at Grand Central Station as they moved through the revolving doors !! Pure ballet at it's best.
Now the never ending gripe of the raffle being too long is wearing a little thin. If you think that perhaps the "BIG" items should go up first and all of the smaller items go last so you can get on with your oh so valuable time, then speak up and say it in a constructive positive fashion "IN PERSON" and face to face directly to the person who VOLUNTEERED to step into this crucible so that we could all have as much fun as we will allow ourselves to have.
Now Jim needs to grow a little thicker skin for dealimg with this bunch and not take the nagging ,sniveling comments as a personal attack. Geez...when I was POCA president I woud have resigned the second day in office after some of the grousing I encountered upon taking the helm of POCA. "Jim, take my advice and just keep on doing what you do so well and the rest will fall into place or simply roll of and be left in the wake of your passage. The Pantera community desperately needs people such as yourself who give their all and ask for nothing in return." I am sure that Jim would agree that at the end of the day, when you are physically and emotionally drained and think there is nothing left in your soul, the simple "Hey. . . .great job!Look forward to seeing you next year" lifts you and envigorates you beyond any "high" conceivable and you immediately start looking for ways to make it better for the next time!!

................HEY JIM. . . . . GREAT JOB!!LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU NEXT YEAR ! ! ! !

............but it appears that next year may not happen for Jim Cozollino as raffle master as many have read here in other posts. What these clubs , its members and officers need to desperately realize is that people like Jim Cozzolino and other VOLUNTEERS are just like a natural resource which we can not squander or casually toss aside. Like many endangered species ....what will we do when thay are all gone. We can ill afford to loose anyone with enthusiasim like Jim's and I do hope he stays with us, the DeTomaso community either through POCA , Pantera International or both.
I think this was handled very poorly , shame on the careless fashion of Jim's "dismisall" and shame on us all for letting things to come to this frustrating and wastefull end.

Best regards,
Leslie A. Gray
874 A THPNMR 02823

POCA V.P 1988
POCA Pres. 1989,1990,1993,1994
Past Prez 1991,1992,1995