DECEMBER 2015 VOLUMN 2, ISSUE 3 C O M M A N D E R S S I T R E P While talking with veterans about joining AMVETS, you may have described AMVETS as a Veterans Service Organization similar to the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and that AMVETS, the American Legion, and the VFW were all chartered by Congress. Though you are correct, you are missing a couple important facts. Don't think the "chartered by Congress" label is what puts these three VSOs in a league of their own. In fact there are nearly 50 VSOs that were chartered by congress. How they differ from most VSOs, is they have National Service Officers to help veterans file benefit claims with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In fact, there are only a select few VSOs that offer this service; AMVETS, American Legion, VFW, Disable American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. This is what puts these VSOs in a league of their own. The AMVETS Career Center is what separates AMVETS from the other above VSOs. Located at AMVETS National Headquarters in Lanham, MD, along with satellite Career Centers in CA, DC, IA, IL, NY, PA, and TN, maintain a nationwide network of employers ready to offer veterans full time employment in a number of different job markets. With all this said, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of Post 18's officer team, Susan Lehrer, who accepted the position as Post 18 Service Officer. Though Susan will not be able to help you file a claim with the VA, or find you a job, she will be able to point you in the right direction and get you connected with an AMVETS National Service Officer who can assist you in filing a claim with the VA or connect you with the Career Center if you are job searching. Except for Post 18's December 14-19 Christmas Money Lottery, that has a potential $2000 cash payout, Post 18 completed our final 2015 fundraising activity collecting outside the Front Royal Walmart. As with all Post 18 fundraising activities this year, the number of volunteers needed to fully staff the two day collection fell short, causing two volunteers to work all day Friday and Saturday, and both afternoon shifts were short staffed. A M V E T S P o s t 1 8 m e e t s o n t h e 3 r d W e d n e s d a y o f t h e m o n t h b e g i n n i n g a t 1 8 3 0 a t W o r l d s A w a y, 7 7 9 3 M a i n S t. M i d d l e t o w n, V A 2 2 6 4 5 VETERANS FAMILY VOLUNTEERS PATRIOTS 1
The lack of volunteers has hampered the Post in meeting its targeted goals, plus placing a strain on a few members who volunteer on a regular basis. When it comes to volunteerism, 90% of Post 18 volunteer hours for fundraising is done by 10% of the membership. I encourage the other 90% to volunteer whenever possible. This will help us adequately staff our fundraising activities, while giving the 10% a breather. At the August business meeting the post approved a budget that included over $40,000 in revenues from various fundraising activities. With one quarter of this C O M M A N D E R S S I T R E P C O N T I N U E D budget fiscal year behind us, and what has been raised so far to date, meeting this goal will be unachievable unless more members step up to the plate and volunteer to help in our fundraising efforts. There are only a couple weeks remaining to sell tickets for the Christmas Money Lottery. Tickets were distributed during the Sept- Nov business meetings for members to sell or buy. If you have not turned in your sold ticket money, please do so ASAP so Fundraising Chairman, Doug Burdette can account for your sold tickets. If you have not sold all your tickets, please consider purchasing them. You just may be holding the winning DECEMBER lottery 2015 number and could VOLUMN win one 2, of ISSUE the five 3 $200 payouts or the $1000 grand prize payout. If you haven't taken any tickets to sell and would like to help sell tickets, or buy your own, please contact Doug. His phone number and email address can be found under the Post Officer section in this newsletter. Saluting all who served, Anthony Rulli A M V E T S P o s t 1 8 m e e t s o n t h e 3 r d W e d n e s d a y o f t h e m o n t h b e g i n n i n g a t 1 8 3 0 a t W o r l d s A w a y, 7 7 9 3 M a i n S t. M i d d l e t o w n, V A 2 2 6 4 5 2
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E FIRST VICE COMMANDER S REPORT 4 SECOND VICE COMMANDER S REPORT 4 FINANCE OFFICER S REPORT 5 JUDGE ADVOCATE S REPORT 6 TRUSTEES REPORT 6 CHAPLAINS CORNER 6 HISTORIAN S RECORD 6 SERVICE OFFICER S REPORT 7 PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER S REPORT 7 FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE REPORT 8 SICK CALL / TAPS 9 POST 18 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY 10 POST 18 OFFICERS CONTACT LIST 11 QUARTERLY CALENDAR OF EVENTS 12-14 3
F I R S T V I C E C O M M A N D E R S M E M B E R S H I P R E P O R T As your First Vice Commander I would like to say Thank You to all of you for your service and that it is an honor for me to serve along with you in supporting all of AMVETS works and goals. Membership is key for any organization to be successful. It is the responsibility of all of us to continue to bring in new members to the post. Here is the membership numbers to date. Total Paid-up membership 86 / Annual Members 51 / Life Members 35 / Delinquent Renewals 6 I had sent letters of reminders on October 6th to each of our delinquent members regarding their renewals. I have not received any response as of this report. If you received this letter, please reconsider renewing your membership. Your continued support to AMVETS, our veterans, and your community is important to the growth and success of Post 18. I would like to challenge all of our Annual members to consider Life Memberships. One of the advantages to Life Membership is that you do not have to worry about annual dues any longer. Our Veterans Day, week long membership drive was a success. We were able to bring an additional 23 new members on board. Good job to those who turned in applications. Thank you to those new members who attended our November Business Meeting. In closing I hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and wish all a Happy and Safe Christmas and New Years Holiday. S E C O N D V I C E C O M M A N D E R S R E P O R T AMVETS Post Programs Report (as of 11/8/2015) 54 members volunteered 1284.7 hours...these programs reported included: Community Services Military Funeral Honors POW/MIA Korean War Memorials mowing and upkeep Veteran Tribute Programs Visiting sick and hospitalized Veterans Post 18 Fund Raising Scouting We would like to ask that members performing any community service, or volunteer in support of other volunteer organizations, to please submit your volunteer hours and mileage so the post can add them to the AMVETS National Programs Report. A volunteer book is available to record these entries at all monthly business meetings. If you are unable to attend the business meetings, you can email your volunteer hours and mileage to: amvetsva18@gmail.com 4
F I N A N C E O F F I C E R S R E P O R T The Fiscal Year (FY) for Post 18 starts on September 1 and ends August 31 - and we ended it with a BANG!! Monies on hand as of August 31, 2015 compared to August 31, 2014 August 31, 2014 August 31, 2015 Checking: Checking: $5,353.56 $3,690.36 Savings: Savings: $00.00 $15,002.36 What a difference a year makes with dedicated and hard working volunteers. I would like to recap what your Post Volunteers did in fundraising this past FY. Through their efforts, the gross revenues for Post 18, were in excess of $32,000. At every monthly business mee ng I provide a detail finance report. I would like to recap our financial highlights for this past year. While I won't bore you with the actual number details, keep in mind the following is a broad overview, I think you will be amazed at what we have accomplished: Major areas of revenue: a. Rifle Raffle sales: $10,000 b. Dona ons: $4900 c. Quartermaster Sales: $4350 d. Dues: $2400 e. Pizza Sales: $1635 f. White Clover Sales: $1100 Major areas of expenses: Quartermaster Inventory: $2570.00 Purchase of Rifle Raffle Items: $2200.00 Office Administra on: $1015.00 Liability Insurance: $565.00 County Fair Entrance Fees: $750.00 Storage Shed: $525.00 In addi on, Post 18 donated to the following Community Programs: a. Boulder Crest: $1,850.00 b. Cub Scouts: $475.00 c. Shenandoah Valley Young Marines: $400.00 d. Newtown Heritage Founda on: $300.00 e. Restora on Church: $300.00 f. Cancer Society: $200.00 g. Evans Home: $185.00 Although Post 18 is not yet five years old, we now have an account totaling over $15,000 (and growing) earmarked for a Post home. Keep up the good work!! 5
J U D G E A D V O C A T E S R E P O R T Continuing to work on updates for the Constitution and By Laws for Post 18. Upon their completion they will be brought before Members in April 2016 and voted on May 2016. Anyone with ideas for CBL please contact Judge Advocate. T R U S T E E S R E P O R T The audit committee has completed our Quarterly Audit. We had an initial meeting with our Finance Officer, Dave Loy and received copies of the documents necessary to conduct a review. We will be making a slight adjustment to the audit cycle going forward. Overall it was an excellent audit. Dave s expertise in our finances made this audit a breeze. Thank you Dave. Members: Tomas Doc Chase, Pastor Paul Campbell and Jay L. Marts C H A P L A I N S C O R N E R I am grateful to God for AMVETS Post 18 which is growing numerically and financially because of great leadership and a dedicated membership. We enjoyed a great Veterans Day at Oomps Funeral Home, South Chepel and I was privileged to offer prayer and our Commander was shown recognition and served in the Honor Guard. This Thanksgiving Day we need to give thanks to Almighty God as we live in the greatest nation ever, America. We live in the land of the brave and the home of the free (thanks to our Veterans). Chaplain Paul Campbell H I S T O R I A N S R E C O R D I am currently making a Historical Log beginning with our Pre-Charter Activities. I will ask all Past Post Commanders for a synopsis of significant Activities and Accomplishments during their tenure in office. There will be a separate Memorial Book with the names and Biographies much as I can glean from their records about their service time and AMVET time. I will present this at the Christmas Party in December. Ric Van Norton Historian, Post 18 6
S E R V I C E O F F I C E R S R E P O R T Greetings! For those of you whom I haven t met yet, my name is Susan Lehrer, and I am the newly appointed Service Officer for Post 18. I served in the Navy from 1985 2006, both in the enlisted and officer ranks and in three different fields, but the best qualification I bring to this position is my experience in the Navy Nurse Corps (1995-2001) and my own experience in applying for VA Compensation and Benefits. While I was on Active Duty, I served on the psychiatric, oncology and cardiovascular units of the hospital, as well as on the USNS Comfort. In addition to my experience gained during the long and sometimes mystical process of filing my own claim with the VA, I will be receiving training from AMVETS, so I truly hope that I can be of assistance to any veteran who needs help regarding accessing care and/or benefits. It can be an overwhelming or daunting task, especially now that more and more of the processes are being moved online, as well as finding documentation and getting appointments. If you need help, you are not alone! My personal email is susanlehrer@gmail.com Let me know how I can help. P U B L I C R E L A T I O N S O F F I C E R S R E P O R T I hope everyone got a chance to see all the Veterans Day coverage in our local media. There were many great events to participate in and it was wonderful to see so many of you out in the community representing our organization. You can stay abreast of these types of activities on our FACEBOOK page. Please go there & hit the LIKE button. Don t forget to visit Post 18 s Web Site: http://amvetspost18.com/. You should have received the Fall edition of the American Veteran magazine. There is a good article on our work with Concerned Veterans of America (CVA) partnering to address the core principles in the Fixing Veteran Health Care Bipartisan Policy Taskforce report. We have a fun fundraiser going on. It is the Post s Christmas Money Lottery that is based on the Virginia Pic 3 Lottery. We are selling chances to win BIG on the Virginia Lottery Nightly Drawing from December 14 th 18 th. Chances are only $5.00, payout is $200 the first five days, Monday-Friday, Dec 14-18, and the $1000 on Saturday, Dec.19. 7
F U N D R A I S I N G C O M M I T T E E R E P O R T As reported in last quarter's newsletter, Post 18's major summer fundraiser was raffling off made in America lawn care equipment, as well as selling our military merchandise, primarily at the four local county fairs, Frederick, Warren, Clark and Shenandoah. At the conclusion of the Frederick, Warren and Shenandoah county fairs, it was obvious the post was far behind our targeted revenue goal. We figured we would miss our goal but since the Shenandoah County Fair was a 9 day event versus a 6 day event as with the previous 3, we lowered our revenue goals by 20%. Unfortunately, mother nature was uncooperative, and as with the previous 3 fairs, we were short on the number of volunteers to adequately staff each shift which didn't help us in achieving our goals. The winning ticket for the lawn care equipment was drawn on Labor Day and just by chance, the holder of the winning ticket just moved into their new home that had some acreage, so winning a new John Deere lawn tractor and the Stihl trimmer and blower came in real handy. The post held two fundraisers collecting outside of Walmart, Oct 9-10 at the Rt 50 Walmart and Nov 6-7 at the Front Royal Walmart, that concluded our outdoor fundraising activities for this calendar year. The Rt 50 revenue totals bettered the Front Royal totals by 25% that surprised us a little since the June collection at the Front Royal Walmart exceeded this collection by 25%, and we were only able to cover one of the entrances during the 2-day June collection. Our final fundraiser for this calendar year will be the Christmas Money Lottery that is based on the Virginia Pic 3 lottery for the week of December 14-19. Winning lottery numbers for Monday Dec 14 through Friday Dec 18 each has a $200 payout and the winning lottery number for Saturday Dec 19 has a grand prize payout of $1000. Of the 1000 tickets printed, less than 50% were taken by the membership to buy or sell, and so far, less than 25% of the 1000 printed tickets were sold and the money turned in. Counting the cost to print the tickets and the potential $2000 cash payout, we need to sell 440 tickets just to break even and less than this amount have been distributed to the membership. Hopefully outstanding tickets will be sold and more tickets will be distributed and sold prior to the drawing dates so the post can make money off this lottery raffle. Fortunately, all unsold tickets will go to the post so if that number is drawn, there is no payout. If you have not sold all your tickets or have not taken any, please consider taking more tickets to sell, or buy your unsold tickets. 8
S I C K C A L L Please keep the following brothers and sisters in your prayers and pray that they will soon be fully healed from their illnesses: Robert and Mary Turban Rod Bulley Jerry Casey Also keep Michael Maddox, our Virginia Department 1st Vice Commander in your prayer as he has been in the hospital since early summer. T A P S Brother Robert A. Bob Burdette s memorial service took place at Arlington National Cemetery on October 21, 2015. Brother Bob, 73, of Stephens City, passed on June 22, 2015. Brother Bob retired from the United State Army, a Master Sergeant, in 1986 having served in the Vietnam War and several posts overseas. He not only served as a Commander of the VFW Post #10312 and American Legion Post FR-Gr13 in Germany but was a Lifetime Member of the AMVVETS Post VA-18 in Winchester, VA. Those in attendance were: Tony and Debbie Rulli, Rev.Paul Campbell, and Dave Loy. 9
Post 18 will hold it's annual Christmas Party on Wednesday, December 16 at Worlds Away Events, 7793 Main St. in Middletown beginning at 1830. The post will provide the main course and beverages. This is open to all members, family members or guests. Army and Air Force members please bring your favorite side dish, enough to share, and Navy and Marine Corps members please bring your favorite salad or dessert, enough to share. We will also have a White Elephant/Secret Santa gift exchange. If you wish to participate in the gift exchange, please bring a wrapped gift valued at $10.00 for each family member participating in the gift exchange. If you are bringing children, please bring a wrapped gift with your child's name on it. Please RSVP no later than December 9th by emailing amvetsva18@gmail.com or by calling 540-773-2699 10
POST 18 OFFICERS Commander Anthony Rulli 540-773-2699 a.rulli@comcast.net First Vice Commander Russell Reeder 540-316-8251 badger355@embarqmail.com Second Vice Commander Walter Jagiello 540-869-5297 walterjagiello1@verizon.net Adjutant Kenneth Hunter 540-532-1074 khunter@dialup-internet.com Finance Officer David Loy 540-664-9734 retiredcolonel@hotmail.com Judge Advocate Daniel Drew 202-734-1735 dan_c_drew@yahoo.com Provost Marshal Doug Burdette 540-869-5341 padoug@verizon.net 1 Year Trustee Jay Marts 410-440-1344 martsjl@gmail.com 2 Year Trustee Rev. Paul Campbell 540-869-7019 no email 3 Year Trustee Thomas Doc Chase 540-622-7960 n3lgf@arrl.net Chaplain Rev. Paul Campbell 540-869-7019 no email Public Relations Officer Jay Marts 410-440-1344 martsjl@gmail.com Service Officer Susan Lehrer 703-856-8815 susanlehrer@gmail.com Historian Ric Van Norton 540-335-7425 ricvannorton@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor Russell Reeder 540-316-8251 badger355@embarqmail.com AMVETS Post 18 P.O. Box 731 Stephens City, VA 22655 amvetsva18@gmail.com www.amnetspost18.com 11
DECEMBER 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Civil Air Patrol USAF Aux Birthday 2 3 4 5 Veterans Breakfast Golden Coral 6 7 Pearl Harbor Day Executive Committee Mtg. 1830 8 9 10 11 12 National Wreaths Across America 13 National Guard Birthday 14 15 16 Post 18 Christmas Party 1830 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Christmas Eve 25 Christmas Day 26 27 28 Anniversary of the Army Chaplain Assistant 29 30 31 New Years Eve President Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II 12
JANUARY 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 New Years Day 2 Veterans Breakfast Golden Coral 3 4 Executive Committee Mtg. 1830 5 6 7 8 VA Dept. Exe. Committee Mtg. Collinsvill, VA Day 1 9 VA Dept. Exe. Committee Mtg. Collinsvill, VA Day 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Operation Desert Storm began this morning on this date in 1991. 18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 19 20 Business Meeting 1830 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 End of Vietnam War: Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War in 1973. 31 28 The Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service merged on this date in 1915 to form the Modern Coast Guard 29 30 13
FEBRUARY 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Executive Committee Mtg. 1830 2 3 4 USO s Birthday. In 1941 the United Service Organization is created to entertain troops. 5 6 Veterans Breakfast Golden Coral 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Business Meeting 1830 21 22 23 Battle of Iwo Jima: During the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, five Marines and a Navy Corpsman were photographed on Mt. Suribachi raising our nation s Flag. 28 29 18 19 20 President s Day: Originally recognized for George Washington s Birthday, now for recognition to all U.S. Presidents. 24 25 26 27 14