Corvette Club of Rhode Island

Enthusiasts driven to do charity work, just get together, for 50 years

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It started with a few guys talking cars in a garage on the weekends back in 1964.

Now, more than 50 years later, the Corvette Club of Rhode Island has over 200 members and created a family for themselves.

The father? Charles Patrick Henry.

Richard Nelson, one of the founding member of the club, said initially the club wasn’t exclusively Corvettes, but Henry was adamant about recruiting Corvette owners.

“Charles was relentless to try and get new members; he just haunted me,” Nelson said. “But he was so persistent it left an impression on me. He adopted me and together we made the club what it is today.”

Nelson and Henry were like brothers and Nelson promised Henry, who died in 1997, that as long as he was alive he would make sure the club existed.

“It is an honor to know that the club has grown for 50 years and it’s still going. We are a real family over and above just being a club,” he said.

The Chevrolet Corvette is the longest running sports car in America, now on its seventh generation of cars. The car, first created in 1953, is manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Randy Flock, who is the club’s ambassador to the National Corvette Museum, said that the engineering has been “phenomenal every generation.” He also said that there is a special respect between owners of “America’s most famous sports car.” When Corvettes pass each other on the road drivers always acknowledge one another in what Flock calls “saving the wave.”

Keith Mutter, the current president, the Corvette is also a “relatively affordable” sports car in comparison to other popular models, which allows for a larger community base.

“This car quickly becomes a passion. I feel like a lot of our members are empty nesters. You get your kids through college, you get past the responsibility of life, and it’s now our turn to have some fun,” Mutter said.

Some people in the club have fostered a passion for cars their whole life.

James Campanini, a past president, said as a kid he had an interest in cars. He worked to save money up and after buying his first Corvette he “never looked back.”

Others are brought into the community like Liliana Dolan, the publicity director for the Corvette Club of Rhode Island. Her husband had always been invested in Corvettes and after his passing she joined the club to connect with something her husband loved.

“After my first day with the club, these guys took me right in,” Dolan said. “I immediately felt like family.”

Nelson said, “No matter who you are or when you join the club, we get wrapped up in each other’s lives and invested in each others families.”

For their 50th anniversary, the Corvette Club of Rhode Island made a pilgrimage to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. The club met with other Corvette clubs in the Northeast and created a caravan that “took up the whole highway,” Dolan said. More than 8,000 Corvettes from 28 different regions made the trip to Kentucky that year for the museum’s 20th anniversary. Across from the museum is the factory where corvettes are produced.

Nelson said, “It was a trip to see where our cars were born and celebrate the community we all love.”

Cars were able to do laps on a racetrack, mingle with other enthusiasts and tour the museum.

The Corvette Club of Rhode Island purchased a bench in commemoration for their 50th year and even bought an engraved brick to be placed in front of the bench, with Henry’s name on it to memorialize their founder.

Even after the bench and bricks, the Rhode Island club had the largest donation, $10,000, to the museum of any club.

The Corvette Club of Rhode Island isn’t a “man’s club” and members aren’t just “motorheads,” the club has always and continues to be a very charitable foundation, holding and participating in numerous fundraisers throughout the year to benefit Rhode Island’s charities. Nelson said since its inception the club has always been socially conscientious, making an effort to help their communities.

Campanini said, “People are always in need. People are always going to need help, and the club is always going to try and be that help in any way we can.”

This year, the club is focusing on the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The club started a drive this year and plans to collect more than 2,000 pounds of food for the food bank.

Sometime in July the club plans on packing their Corvettes and driving up to the Food Bank in formation to donate. They will be hosting events until then to raise canned goods.

“There are 70,000 people in our state struggling to find food. Rhode Island is too small of a state to have those numbers,” Dolan said. “Our little club just wants to help provide some hope in any way we can.”

The club will be hosting a networking breakfast open to the public on May 20 from 8 to 10 at 110 Jefferson Blvd. Corvettes will be lined up in front of the building and guests are asked to bring canned goods.

The club will hold their 45th annual car show, Corvettes by the Sea, on Sunday, August 9 at Marina Park in South Kingstown.

The club meets the first Tuesday of every month and often has Sunday drives.

Dolan said, “I hope we can just keep getting bigger and better to share the love of this car for generations to come.”

For more information on the club, membership or any of the events the club is holding visit their website, www.corvetteclubofrhodeisland.com or message them personally on their Facebook page.

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