elvis fan club focus

Our fan club originally started in Memphis at the beginning of Elvis' career. Someone asked him about starting a club and what should they name it and Elvis said "Name it E.P. Continentals after my favorite car" and so here we are...the club that Elvis named. Over the years as presidents changed, the club was moved from Memphis to other localities and states. The final move was to Florida some 22 years ago and we have been here ever since.

We have had only four presidents in the Florida history of our club. First was Pat Dappolonia for one year, next George Foster for 4 years, then Shirley Schwebs for 10 years and since 1996 I have been the president. Our membership had, at that time dwindled to about 45 members and the remaining officers and I sat down and came up with a unique way of bringing in new and quality members.

With the biggest help from Priscilla Lynn, we decided to have a "vest contest". Members had to work to earn their vests and points were awarded based on how much time and energy was spent on club activity. The vests were made by Priscilla and are a "one of a kind". They are white denim with Elvis on the back and decorated with music notes, song titles and the individual name. We figured at best we'd have 6 or 7 vests to make. That first year we had 15 and each year it runs right about that number. The friendly competition and the pride in "earning" your vest has been the major factor in increasing our membership from 45 to over 500 in 5 years. We now have more help than ever...talented people who lend time, talents and money to the memory of Elvis. He is the first priority in our club.

I think perhaps the best thing about our club is that we work as a "unit"...not as individuals. Each person is very valued and we all have the same goal. We have attracted so many talented people and I would certainly miss someone if I tried to name them all. We publish a very unique and well-done newsletter edited by Kaye Johnson. That enables us to touch the fans who do not live close by and makes them feel a part of our club. We also have a web site that is "outa sight". Our webmasters are Paula &Charlie Kennedy. Although they now reside in Tennessee, they maintain the web site as though they were next door.

Our officers now are President...Sue Manuszak, Vice President...Priscilla Lynn....Treasurer....Barbara Perry, Secretary....Donna Cassenove and Editor....Kaye Johnson. We have enough members to have many chairpeople who handle various aspects of our organization.

We work all year towards our main fund raising activity which is our "Elvis Fest". Held the first weekend in February, we host a three-day affair which raised $15,000 last year for our charities. We feature a different movie theme each year (this year will be "King Creole"). We have dealers, guests, a concert, car show and everything the Elvis fan could want.

We hope you will visit our site and all new members are very welcome.

Thank you,

Sue Manuszak, President
Elvis Presley Continentals

Elvis Presley Continentals
PO Box 568082
Orlando, Florida 32856-8082

407-381-3739 voice mail
407-957-2336 fax

Website

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