Parents Club Weekly Update

GCFPC WEEKLY UPDATE

The Bullets kick off their 114th season of college football Saturday in an away game at Lebanon Valley College. After a strong showing in last week’s scrimmage at Shenandoah University, the team has good reason to be optimistic about this season. An in-depth preview of the game will be posted on the Football page of the Gettysburg College website.

DIRECTIONS/TAILGATING: Directions to Lebanon Valley College are located here.

Through the courtesy of the LVC athletic department, there will be an area designated for Gettysburg families who want to Tailgate before the game. Parking spaces will be reserved for us until 12:00 noon in the west lot of the athletic field complex, next to the security hut as you enter the lot. As with all away games, the tailgating will be 100% “bring your own” food and drinks. Please be aware that LVC policies do not allow grills, alcohol or parking on the grass, and all trash must be placed in containers or tied in bags. Those with Bullets football car flags are asked to display them to make it easier for others to find the GC tailgating area.

MEMBERSHIP: In addition to distribution at the parent-coaches meeting, membership forms were mailed out last week. Please return these as soon as possible. We are hoping for 100% participation.

BULLETS MERCHANDISE: Merchandise lists and order forms for Gettysburg Football merchandise have been distributed and will be attached to weekly emails from time to time. Most orders can be filled for the next home game (orders placed by this Friday by email should be available for the first home game, but a hard copy of the order and a check must also be mailed). A huge debt of gratitude goes out to Debbie and Ralph Pastore for taking over this job. They will be assisted by Debbi Beirne and Mary Byrne. (some additional helpers would be appreciated)

ACTION PHOTOS: Bill Dowling, a professional photographer, has agreed again this year to take action photos of players and cheerleaders at each home game. He may even catch some away games. Each week, his photos will appear on his website for about three weeks after each game and can be ordered for very reasonable prices (to be determined). Bill’s website is easy to navigate (start with “Bullets Football” on the right margin of his home page). We expect that every player and cheerleader will appear on the website during the season for that special picture.

VOLUNTEERS/SUGGESTIONS: We are hoping everyone will help out as they can with merchandise sales/orders at home games, tailgate clean-up, tailgate food contributions, etc. throughout the season. We are in need of specific volunteers to help the chairpersons of the Tailgating Committee, Spirit Committee (mostly taking care of the “Go Bullets” banner) and Membership Committee. We would love to have someone work on a Website for us. We also need someone to be the Sophomore representative(s). New families are especially invited to help with these activities (none of which are especially burdensome).

Suggestions are always welcome. In particular, new Club members may have fresh ideas to improve what the Parents Club has to offer.

FIRST HOME TAILGATE – The first home Tailgate will be at the Hampden-Sydney game on September 9th. The SENIOR PARENTS are assigned the potluck duties for this game (although anyone is welcome to add to the cause). More details about home Tailgates will follow soon with a full schedule of potluck assignments.

ROCHESTER GAME – HOTEL: Support for the Bullets at away games is one of the most important things the Parents Club can do for the team and cheerleaders. Please consider attending the Rochester game. It is a long trip for most families, but you can make a mini vacation out of it! For those romantically inclined who are willing to drive an extra 1 hour, 20 minutes, you can make a side trip to Niagara Falls! However, just a trip to away games is a fun excursion and the kids really appreciate the effort.

The Parents Club has secured at a great group rate a block of rooms for the Rochester game (September 16th at noon). The room block is at the Crown Plaza in downtown Rochester (about 3 miles from the U.R. football stadium). This is the same hotel at which the team will be staying. You can book rooms by calling the Reservations Manager’s direct line (Patty Vahue at 585-324-0038; pvahue@rcpny.com) and asking for a room under the Gettysburg College Parents Block. You can get either a two-queen or one-king bed room at the flat rate of $72 per room plus tax (up to 4 people). (Onsite parking is $3.50/day). These rooms usually rent for $139-154. This is the same hotel where we stayed two years ago and is very nice. The block on these rooms will be guaranteed only until Sunday, September 10th, so make a reservation soon (there is a 24 hour cancellation notice policy). After that date, the rate will still be available if there are available rooms (there is a big event in Rochester, so the hotel will likely fill up). The hotel’s website is www.rcpny.com.

ALUMNI FAMILIES - Please feel comfortable to join us at any Bullets game or Tailgate. Let us know if you want to sign up as an alumni member of the GCFPC (dues are only $20).

We hope to see as many Bullets fans as possible Saturday – big support from the stands would be awesome.
Go Bullets!!!!!!!!!