JOHNSTOWN, PA  [National ACRY] -- A.C.R.Y. Members and Diocesan Faithful are cordially invited to join us this Labor Day weekend, September 4-7^th for the 2015 National Sr. and Jr. A.C.R.Y. Conventions. This year is especially meaningful to us as a son of St Michael's Church in Binghamton, Deacon William Bennett, grandson of our parish’s Deacon Charles Ellis and nephew of Father Michael Ellis will be ordained to Holy Priesthood at Sunday’s Divine Liturgy by His Grace, Bishop Gregory!

 St. Michael’s Church and Sr. and Jr. A.C.R.Y. Chapter 40,  is  pleased to be your hosts, and have worked hard to plan a weekend we hope everyone will enjoy.  All forms necessary to take part in this wonderful weekend can be accessed at ACROD.org. You can respond online or print them out and mail them back to us, either way is just fine! (If you don’t have access to a computer or a printer, just give us a call and we will mail out hard copy of all of the information!) Feel free to contact Sue Fabian at susan.kalinich@gmail.com or call her at 607-760-6484.

We will be headquartered in the heart of downtown Binghamton at the newly remodeled Doubletree by Hilton Hotel for this year’s Convention headquarters.  Many of you no doubt have fond memories of past events in Binghamton, and we are working with the hotel staff to exceed your expectations again this year!  You will find a ‘new look’ not only to the hotel, but to downtown itself which has changed dramatically as our Binghamton University has expanded into the downtown since 2009 when St Michael's hosted their last event bringing hundreds of student apartments, new restaurants, brew pubs, cafes and specialty shops into the area!

The Doubletree offers newly renovated guest rooms, a full-service restaurant and lounge, a beautiful heated indoor pool & sauna, high-speed internet access, and of course, comfortable meeting spaces to ensure the success of our weekend’s business sessions.  It is within walking distance of the exciting shops and restaurants in downtown Binghamton and is just a short drive to St. Michael’s Church.

The Doubletree is charging a special rate of $115.00 per night, regardless of occupancy.  All bookings must be made through our convention committee as our entire block of rooms at this rate will be exempt from state and local occupancy taxes of thirteen percent.  For more information contact Sue Fabian at susan.kalinich@gmail.com or call her at 607-760-6484. You MUST provide a major credit card number to hold your room; however, you may pay with cash at check-in.

A golf outing has been organized for Friday morning, September 4^th.  The golf outing will be held at the  famed En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, NY where the PGA golfers played the former BC Open for decades and the Senior Tour’s Dick’s Open since 2008 each summer.  Sign up soon—your registration fee includes all greens fees, golf carts and lunch!  

If enough interest is shown, a chartered or a self-guided wine tour to the nearby Cayuga Lake wineries on Friday September 4 can be arranged for our non-golfers. If you are interested in the wine tour, let us know by July 20^th by contacting Cheryl Dutko at dmdutko53@gmail.com.

 Senior meal packages for this year’s event are affordably priced at $89.00 and include four meals.  Junior packages are priced at $ 84.00 and a special Youth package for children four through seven is available for a cost of $44.00. Individual meal tickets are also available and can be found on our ticket form.

Purchase the entire package, and take advantage of Saturday morning’s buffet breakfast at the Doubletree. Lunch on Saturday is your own choice from the many new downtown eateries near the hotel and is not part of the package. Take a ride on the Trolley on Saturday night to the nearby St. Michael’s Recreation Center for a mouth-watering Bar-B-Que Tailgate Party and Buffet and gather your friends to compete for prizes in our Trivia contest. 

 Breakfast on Sunday will be served at St. Michael’s following the Sunday Divine Liturgy. The newly ordained priest and his Pani will be our guests of honor.  The Doubletree is site of our Sunday Grand Banquet, while you relax and enjoy fellowship and dancing to the music of a favorite local band that plays at St Michael's annual Church festival each September.

 Whether you are attending, or not, please support this year’s Convention with Program Booklet ad from your parish, your chapter, local parish businesses and individuals, or you may be a Patron or Booster or offer a Memorial Listing.  Further information about our Program Booklet are available online at ACROD.org. Ad copy can be sent directly to David Dutko at dmdutko53@gmail.org. Photographs may be included in your ad layout for ads half page or larger.

Further information about hotel reservations, meal packages, golfing and wine tour sign-ups and all pertinent registration forms are available online here.   Please share this information with everyone in your parish!  All forms, along with checks payable to “A.C.R.Y. Convention,” should be returned, postmarked no later than Friday, August 7th, 2015.

 2015 A.C.R.Y. Convention
c/o Susan L. Fabian
3541 Maplecrest Drive
Vestal, NY 13850

We are all looking forward to seeing you as we renew our friendships and find spiritual growth during the 2015 Convention events.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact  Sue Fabian at susan.kalinich@gmail.com or call her at 607-760-6484 with any questions.