Members and guests were warmly welcomed to our meeting at Palmera Inn and Suites by President Kristin Keller
Steve Stauffer offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag
 
Kristin introduced Jackson Puckey from Congresswoman Mace's office who was visiting.  He arrived early to meet with interested members
 
Announcements:
 
It was the first posting for Gary Ostroski who has submitted an application for membership. Gary, sponsored by Greg Wynn, is with the Greenery and has attended several meetings.  Any questions or concerns about his membership please contact membership chair Jonathan Eggert.
 
The All Club Conference is March 11 to 13 at the Sonesta in Hilton Head.  Our club has been asked to be in charge of door prizes.  Each club in the district (there are 74 clubs) will be bringing gifts for door prizes which need to be gathered, organized, and presented for raffle at various times during the conference.  Our club needs a Chair and volunteers to work on this committee.  Respond to President Kristin if you can participate.  Registration for the conference is on DacDB
 
Sergeant at Arms, Suzi Oliver collected Happy $$
 
Speaker:
Steve Wilmot, Tournament Director of the Heritage Classic Foundation, was the speaker. 
 
The Tournament has been getting the Plaid on since 1969 when the first event was won by Arnold Palmer. It has changed times played over the years: 1969 - 72 it was played over Thanksgiving; 1973 was played in the summer; 1974 played in March; and from 1975 until today it is played the second full week in April right after the Masters. 
In 1987 the Heritage Foundation was created with Joe Frazier as Chairman.  The bottom  line is they do it  for charity.  The Foundation is a 501 C3 nonprofit organization which supports educational and charitable initiatives "to enhance quality of life and economic vitality by hosting the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, South Carolina's only PGA TOUR golf tournament". Since it was founded the Foundation has donated $45.8 million to people in need and gives to over 100 charities. The license plate program provides a check each month from the DMV which goes to the scholarship program.  Steve talked about the changes which have taken place over the years and the things that have been learned especially because of the restrictions of the pandemic.  The limiting of number of attendees is one.  This year's attendance will be limited to 80% of what it used to be and that should be beneficial to all concerned.  The Serg Group is in charge of concession operations and bring a professionalism to that area.  Negotiations are going on with RBC, Boeing, the Town of HHI, etc. for future contracts.  The purse this year will be 8 million.  Another change is the tickets are going digital which is a big undertaking and two have been hired to make this happen.  Our venue has special challenges for implementing this program since we have multiple access points around the course. There will be wearables.  There will be ambassadors, volunteers, kiosks and scanners.  Attempting to eliminate Will Call.  One BIG change is years ago NO phones were allowed on the course, now you will NEED TO HAVE your phone on the course.  Lots of changes, but the "good out-weighs the bad" !