MARCH - APRIL Views Editor: Position Open (Acting Editor: Mary C. Stray) Contact Information: Phone: (928)

Transcription

1 266 London Bridge Road Lake Havasu City, AZ (928) MARCH - APRIL 2015 Views Editor: Position Open (Acting Editor: Mary C. Stray) Contact Information: Phone: (928) Views9401@gmail.com VFW Post 9401 Lake Havasu City Thank you for supporting your VFW Post.

2 VFW's TROOP SUPPORT AT A GLANCE Since 2006, over 7.3 million free connections home for deployed troops and hospitalized veterans. More than $4.6 million in grants toward emergency financial aid to over 3,450 military families. Hosted nearly 2 million military families at events worldwide since Through NMS, the VFW offers support and assistance to the military community in many ways. We are here to help military members and their families weather long deployments and cope with emergency financial situations. But, our help doesn't stop there. Find out more about what we offer and find out how you can help. Some say they've got your back. We prove it. COMMAMDERS COMMENTS: VFW Post 9401 began 2015 with another great New Year s Eve Party and dinner. Our winter visitors have returned; many of them are old friends and it is a pleasure to be able to catch up on all their adventures and changes over the summer. We love having you return to our VFW family! The VFW Department Voice of Democracy/Patriot Pen/Teacher of the Year Awards Banquet was held in Casa Grande on January 10 th. It is always so inspiring to hear the young people and their teachers present their submissions. See Frank Emery s notes regarding the programs and the event elsewhere in this newsletter. I would like to congratulate the VFW Post 9401 Ladies Auxiliary for their impressive welcome dinner and graciousness as they hosted the visit of their National President. Thank you for representing our Post so well. The Post participated in the first Legends of Route 66 Bike Build- Off on January 30, 31, and February 1. Veterans United, a relatively new charitable organization with a focus on assisting homeless and atrisk veterans, sponsored the event. Veterans United will also sponsor a Vietnam Veterans BBQ at London Bridge Park on March 28 th from 11am to 4pm. Frankie Lyons, President, has promised a great day with live entertainment to honor those of us who served in that long and painful war. The VFW will also be contributing to plans for this event. Joan McDermott Commander Post 9401 The Post participated in a Veterans Awareness Breakfast, an event to inform and encourage local veterans to participate in the third Tri- State Veterans Stand Down, sponsored by the Jerry Ambrose Veterans Council, to be held in Bullhead City at the Bullhead City Community Park and Chamber of Commerce, 1251 Arizona Hwy 95, on March 5 1pm to 4pm; March 6 8am to 4pm; March 7 8am to 2pm.

3 (- continued -) Last year 300 veterans were helped with a very impressive array of services like legal assistance, dental and vision care, food and clothing needs, and even pet care. Please see the Comrades bulletin board or talk with me if you are interested in participating in this rewarding event. The VFW will be part of this program. On February 11 th, we celebrated the Combined Honor Guard, to include current and past members. The veterans from American Legion Post 81 and VFW Post 9401 were presented with certificates as well as a very special gift package from Kristen of Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home. Every year Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home presents Post couples married over 40 years with flowers delivered to their homes for Valentine s Day. If anyone out there is NOT on the list, please see Ralph Salazar, Adjutant, Owen Johnston, Quartermaster, or me to assure you are recognized next year! The ANNUAL VFW GOLF TOURNAMENT is coming up on March 22. Stop by the office or see Comrade Pete Fleck to enter in the fun. See details elsewhere in this newsletter. Finally, I must report that we are still searching for people who are willing and interested in assuring that our Post can continue to carry out our mission of service to veterans and their families. There are elected positions including that of Commander! which MUST BE FILLED TO ALLOW THE POST TO CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN ITS CHARTER. I can assure you that the past two years have been not only an amazing learning experience for me, but far more rewarding than I d ever imagined. Please see any officer or appointed Comrade to indicate your interest in making sure that we can continue to serve veterans and the community. Know that you will receive all the support you need from those of us who have been there ; we love our Post and I know each of us wants to continue to be proud of what we can accomplish when we work together. America without her Soldiers would be like God without His angels. Claudia Pemberton Joan McDermott Commander Post 9401 QUARTERMASTER S CORNER Not for self But for the Post. Owen Johnston, Quartermaster Please pay your dues so you can continue to enjoy the benefits of membership

4 Comrades and Sisters, As a Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, there are many programs we must complete. Among them are Youth Activities and Scholarship, Teacher Recognition, Scouting and various other youth programs. I ll start with our Voice of Democracy and Patriot Pen competitions. These are audio and written essays on a theme chosen by the National Commander-in-Chief each year. The Voice of Democracy program has been the premier scholarship program of the Veterans of Foreign Wars since Each year almost 40,000 high school (10 th -12 th grade) students compete for more than $2.1 million in scholarships by writing and recording an audio essay on that year s theme. Our winner this year was Austin Burkholder. Austin won on the District level and placed 4 th at State. Patriot Pen is a written essay expressing the students views on the theme that was chosen (such as last year s Why I Appreciate America s Veterans ). This program is for 6 th -8 th grades. We as a Post sponsor both programs and have had great success with our participants. If you know someone who is eligible, encourage them to enter. The new themes will be out in March and will be available at the Post or you may contact me. We also sponsor scholarships to students with Veteran or Military family backgrounds. These scholarships are based on the student s grades and community involvement. This program three scholarships, one each from the Post, Ladies Auxiliary and Mens Auxiliary. In addition, the Ladies Auxiliary has a Patriotic Art scholarship and a Continuing Education scholarship. The Post also sponsors a Teacher of the Year in which we have had great success, having had three teachers go on to win at the State level. This past year, Brian Zemojtel, who teaches at Lake Havasu High School was the winner at State, and went on to compete at National. One other program the Post has is the Scout of the Year, which includes Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, Air Cadets, Young Marines and ROTC. We would like to expand this program and any help would be appreciated. I hope this information is useful and if you know someone in any of these categories please encourage them to participate. If you are interested in helping with any of these programs, please call me at Yours in Comradeship, Frank A. Emery Youth Activities and Scholarship Chairman

5

6 Hello everyone. Hope you've all been enjoying this beautiful weather we've been having. And, wasn't the Balloon Fest amazing? Perfect weather for this event the entire time. Our New Year's Eve Gala was a tremendous success. Everyone had such a good time. Thanks to so many who helped: Stacy, Barb, Al James, Jr., Linda, Jack, Sandy, Jeanette and Pauline for the fabulous decorating our room looked great. Kitchen crew did a fantastic job (the lobster was perfect). Thanks to Luke, Gayle, Mary, Stacy and the rest of the staff. Also thanks to our bartenders Marcia and Jeanette for taking such good care of us. And, of course, thanks to Gary Peaslee for the wonderful entertainment. Couldn't have asked for a better group of people. Hey! Maybe we'll do it again next year. It was such an honor having our LAVFW National President choose our Post for one of her many visits. I was so very proud of our Ladies Auxiliary. The banquet held in her honor was well attended and went very well. Thanks to Suzie, Hilde and all who helped there were so many. Our room looked beautiful. And, thanks to Marcia for preparing our meal, which was delicious of course. And to her helpers in the kitchen -Ken Conkey, Jan and Marlene. The Young Marines did a great job serving and clearing the tables. We really appreciate their volunteering for us on these special occasions. Super Bowl was a lot of fun. Again, thanks to everyone who attended and to all who helped. So many of you brought a lot of delicious foods and helped clean after. Don't know what we would do without all the help we are fortunate to receive. And, a great football game (guess he should have given the ball to Marshawn). Congratulations to Tom Brady and the Patriots. So sad, football season is over for now. Would like to thank Jo Burson for organizing our monthly birthday parties. Seems to me everyone is enjoying them. Sure hope so anyway. If you don't know about this, once a month we have a birthday party for everyone who has a birthday during that particular month and these parties are special for you. We hope you'll attend when it's your turn. The dates are on your calendars. Will have to let you know about our "Skyy's the Limit Cigar Night" in the next issue as this will be sent to press before the actual function.

7 We've been trying some Karaoke entertainment on Friday nights again. So far, so good. Everyone seems to be enjoying this very much. So, if you enjoy singing, or just watching, come to the Post and see what's going on. I would like to give special thanks to all of our members who support our Post and come to the Canteen and special events. I've spoken to so many of our visitors who enjoy returning to our Post and the main reason is YOU! They all tell me how they are made to feel so welcome and how friendly our members are to them. So, you are all appreciated very much. Thank you. See you at the Post. And remember, all of your bartenders are volunteers. Wishing you all a Blessed and Happy Easter!!! God Bless America and God Bless our Troops. Lynda Rodgers Canteen Manager We don't have a lot scheduled for the next two months but we're working on plans for more events. What we do have for now includes: Wednesday, 3/11/15 March Birthdays Party 5:30PM Tuesday, 3/17/15 St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef 'n Cabbage Sunday, 3/22/15 VFW Golf Tournament Wednesday, 3/25/15 House Committee Meeting 2PM Wedneday, 4/15/15 April Birthdays Party 5:30PM Wednesday, 5/22/15 House Committee Meeting 2PM Check at Post for details, changes and/or additions. Also, if you have any ideas for a special function to help up raise monies for our Charities, please let us know. We'd love to have your input. And, we're still playing 3-ball pool on Saturdays when we don't have special functions at Post. Just show up at 6PM and join the fun. Actual dates will be posted on board behind bar. Check at Post for additions and/or changes.

8 Kitchen Kooker Thank you, members and guests and our special winter guests. What a month we ve had in the kitchen. There have been record numbers of customers for Sunday breakfasts, our Tuesday and Wednesday lunches, and Gayle s great tacos on Thursdays what a number! That s our Friday night prime rib record for dinners served. March will see St. Patrick make an appearance at the Post, presenting his famous corned beef and cabbage special for only $7.00 served starting at 11:30am until gone green side up. April will be our Easter Sunday special buffet breakfast with a special fruit bar included with the buffet breakfast :30am to 11:30am Fruit Bar until gone. Thank you and see you in the kitchen Luke, Kitchen Manager

9

10 Ladies Auxiliary. LAVFW 9401 President Dalene Salazar PRESIDENT S PAGE Sisters, We are off to a great start for We have had a wonderful turn out for our January and February meetings and a reminder to all that election for the year are fast approaching. Please consider giving your time and efforts to our post and Sisters, I would like to extend a big thank you to all that have supported all our activities and fundraising events. We can not do it without your continuing support. There are plenty of seats available at our auxiliary meetings, we would enjoy having any and all sisters and the input from those sisters. Our meetings are on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 pm. As always, I am looking forward to working with all my sisters. With Sisterly love, Darlene Salazar LAVFW 9401 President LAVFW 9401 OFFICERS President: Darlene Salazar darlenechirrick@gmail.com Sr. Vice: Suzie Gleason suzieg@frontiernet.net Jr. Vice: Jan Molenrich Treasurer: Dallas Emery frankemery@npgcable.com Secretary: Chaplain: Joani Goll mjson5@npgcable.com Conductress: Jewels Borelli Guard: Babs Schafer 1st Trustee: Lynda Rodgers lynda.rodgers@yahoo.com 2nd Trustee: Suzie Gleason 3rd Trustee: Sharon Eaton Patriotic Instructor: Dorann Truesdell

11 VFW National Convention 2015 Arizona VFW State Convention 2015 July 18-22, 2015 June 3-7, 2015 Pittsburg, PA Tucson City Center Tucson, AZ Interested in attending the VFW National Convention? Please see Interested in attending the State Commander McDermott or Convention? Please talk with Quartermaster Johnston for Commander McDermott or details. Quartermaster Johnston for details.

12 VFW POST 9401 ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS CALENDAR :30AM Breakfast ~ March 2015 ~ Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Tacos 6:00pm Post Meeting 6 Prime Rib Night :30AM Breakfast :30pm March B-day Party 12 -Tacos 6:00pm LAVFW Meeting :30am Breakfast St. Patrick s Day 11:30am Corned Beef n Cabbage Tacos 6:00pm MA Meeting 20 Prime Rib Night :30AM Breakfast VFW Golf Tournament :00 Post Trustee Mtg 2:00pm HC Mtg 26 -Tacos SPRING BEGINS Palm Sunday 8-11:30AM Breakfast Note: Calendar may change after publication. Event dates and times are all subject to change or cancellation. Events may be added. Please contact the Post for confirmation before attending a special event. Thanks. = FLY THE FLAG = FLY HALF STAFF

13 VFW POST 9401 ACTIVITIES, EVENTS & MEETINGS CALENDAR ~ April 2015 ~ Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Note: Calendar may change after publication. Event dates and times are all subject to change or cancellation. Events may be added. Please contact the Post for confirmation before attending a special event. Thanks. 5 Easter 8-11:30AM Breakfast Buffet Tacos 6:00pm Post Meeting 9 -Tacos 6:00pm LAVFW Meeting 3 PRIME RIB NIGHT Good Friday :30AM Breakfast Buffet :30pm April B-days Party 16 -Tacos 6:00pm MA Meeting 17 PRIME RIB NIGHT :30AM Breakfast Buffet 20 1:00 DAV Mtg :00am Post Trustee Mtg 2:00pm HC Mtg 23 -Tacos :30AM Breakfast Buffet Tacos = FLY THE FLAG = FLY HALF STAFF