In this Issue... From the President Page 1 From the Treasurer Page 2 From the Treasurer Page 2 Board Membership Page 3 Meet a Vet Page 4 Madison Outreach Page 4 Veterans Furniture Center Memorial Brick Page 5 Page 5 Adopt-A-Street Page 6 Soldier s Best Friend Page 6 New Membership Page 7 Toys for Tots Page 8 Luke Volunteers Update Page 8 Agenda Page 9 Issue 1 From the President... F irst off, welcome to 2017! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. With the new year, we bring in new members to the Executive Board. I was honored to be voted in as your President and we welcome Mark Grindle as the new Vice-President, and Jim Long as the Secretary/Treasurer. We are also adding to the board WITH CLUB MEM- BERSHIP APPROVAL, Scott Duke, Mike Ponting, and Mission Leaders Bill Connor and Don Borland, along with Richard Brown (who is essential to our Luke volunteer program). I would also request that we add an at large member to the board elected by you, the members at the February meeting. The purpose of the larger board is to have direct input from our core mission leaders and the club at large. As you can see, one of the new things we are doing in 2017 is delivering this monthly newsletter to you each month, prior to the monthly Veterans Club meeting. I have asked our new Publicity Officer, Scott Duke January 2017 to take on this task and with his background in public affairs, I think this is a great way to communicate with you about the Club, what is taking place, and update you on the myriad of programs our Trilogy veterans are involved in. Please feel free to send Scott your articles for future issues. His e-mail address is in the lower left corner of this page. (Continued on page 2) Dates for monthly meetings (Meetings start at 5:00 pm) January 31, 2017 July 25, 2017 February 28, 2017 August 29, 2017 is a monthly newsletter for the members of the Trilogy Veteran s Club. If you have an article that you would like published, please send to Scott Duke at sid.duke@gmail.com March 28, 2017 September 26, 2017 April 25, 2017 October 31, 2017 May 30, 2017 November 28, 2017 June 27, 2017 December 26, 2017
Page 2 (Continued from page 1) Over the past couple of weeks, working with the executive board, we have updated the club s By-Laws and during this month s meeting, will present recommended changes to the membership. It is important that we have a document that reflects the current way we do business as a Club here in Trilogy. My thanks to the board for their hard work and efforts in this area. I believe the Veterans Club has three (3) core missions and four (4) additional missions which are seasonal, and As Needed. They are as follows: Core Missions VFC - Bill Connor & Butch Schumacher Madison Street Outreach - Don Borland Adopt-A-Street - Scott Duke & Bruce Murray As needed/requested: Soldier s Best Friend - Paul Bernard Social activities and Legislative Affairs - Bob Meizinger Seasonal: Arizona Stand Down - Butch Schumacher Toys for Tots - Bob Alford I will be asking for help in identifying alternates for each of these mission areas. Also, beginning with this issue, each mission leader will provide an update in to allow you (our membership) information on how you can volunteer or take part in one of our primary missions. See you later this month at our meeting and if you are a member, but have not attended a meeting, I encourage to come up and see how veterans continue to serve our country and community. D ues are now payable and will remain at $5/year in 2017. Please send checks, payable to TVA Veterans Club to the following: Jim Long 13058 W. Eagle Talon Trail Peoria, AZ 85383 An increase for 2018 will be discussed at this month s meeting. You can drop your payment off at the Veterans table during Social Hour (each Tuesday evening during January), or even pay during Coffee Talk each Friday morning (A vet will be there to assist).
Page 3 The Executive Board consists of the President, Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer PRESIDENT Virgil Hank: Lewis Virgill@aol.com VICE-PRESIDENT Mark Grindle jetsetter05@msn.com The Board includes the Membership Chair and Publicity Officer to the Exec Board. SECRETARY/TREASURER Jim Long jimlong13058@gmail.com Publicity Officer Scott Duke Sid.duke@gmail.com Membership Chair Mike Ponting michaelponting99@gmail.com
Page 4 duties of Golf Tournament Director for Food for Kidz; raising over $5K in less than 6 weeks. Bob is married to Val Meizinger. Robert Meizinger Bob served in the Army (1967-1971) at the Security Agency and is a Viet Nam Veteran. He has been awarded the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, and Good Conduct medal. Once Bob left the Army, some of his civilian positions included being a former Union Leader with Transportation Communications Union, Vice-President AFL-CIO, Philadelphia Council, Manager Labor Relations, Consolidated Rail Corporation, Human Resources Manager for Amtrak, member of the National Mediation Board (Arbitrator), and is a member of the Sun City Masonic Lodge. During Bob s careers, in 2015, he was nominated and selected to travel and assist Veterans with PTSD to Washington, DC and visit the Memorials on Veterans Day. Most recently, with the passing of Alan Doerschel, Bob assumed the Madison Outreach T he Madison Outreach program provides a "home cooked" meal to homeless veterans at the Madison Street Outreach Center. This has been an ongoing mission for 2+ years. Each month, usually the 3rd Wednesday of the month, we prepare crockpot meals to bring down and serve, on average, 50 to 60 homeless veterans. The veterans look forward to this meal and we have yet to disappoint. We put out a different menu each month and take all volunteers to cook the food. We take about 5 or 6 volunteers down to the center to serve the meals. It is a great experience. So, check your email for the signup link at the beginning of each month. We look for two people to volunteer to drive folks down and back, as well as haul the food. The center is located on 11th Ave, just south of Monroe St. in Phoenix. Mission Leader: Donald Borland donb173@cox.net
Page 5 Veterans Furniture Center T he Veterans Furniture Center (VFC) is the biggest muscle movement of the Trilogy Veterans Club. The club provides labor to the Veterans Furniture Center, collecting donated household items and furniture which provides furnishings to veterans (at no cost to them) as they transition from homelessness into housing. Donations are collected throughout the valley. The VFC is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am to 3pm and we need volunteers to support the front office by taking calls and working donation sheets. The club also provides delivery each Friday. Club members leave Trilogy at 7am (8am in the winter) and go directly to the warehouse to load the scheduled deliveries;. Typically 4-8 deliveries each Friday. Estimated time back at Trilogy is around 3:00 pm. If this is something you are interested in supporting, please let the mission leader (below) know and he will help you get started in supporting our Veterans, who are in need of a helping hand. Mission Leader: Bill Connor wconnor50@yahoo.com Memorial Brick O rder your memorial brick ($30 per brick). You can have up to three lines of text, each line can contain a maximum of 17 characters. Fill out the form on our website (link below) and it will automatically be sent to Jim Long. Send your payment by check made payable to: TVA Veterans Club. If you want to include a donation, you can add donation amount to your check amount. All checks should be sent to: Jim Long 13058 W. Eagle Talon Trail Peoria, AZ 85383 http://tvaveteransclub.weebly.com/memorialbrick-order.html
Page 6 Adopt-A-Street T his effort, although not as well-known as other programs being supported by our Club, the Adopt-A-Street program continues to move forward and one mile of El Mirage remains beautiful for those that drive, walk, bike, or run on that road. The Veterans Club, working with the City of Peoria, have adopted the one mile of street, from the corner of El Mirage and Vistancia, all the way down the street, past Blue Sky Drive (members only gate) to the end. Although some members of the Club have been volunteering, since May of this year, two members of the Club have volunteered their time each Tuesday at 0700 to walk the mile on El Mirage, picking up trash and debris. Mr. Bruce Murray and I have been doing this each week and have met some really grateful people along the way as walkers see the red shirt and ask what is going on. We will be creating a sign-up sheet, so we don t duplicate work on a given day. More on that in the future. Mission Leader: Scott Duke Sid.duke@gmail.com Soldier's Best Friend F or over a year we have worked with Soldiers Best Friend (SBF) on a number of different projects. SBF is based in Glendale and provides service/comfort dogs to veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD, TBI or other issues from combat. They train both the dog and veteran. All the dogs are rescue dogs and they are awesome animals. The charity is moving to a new facility and some of our club members have assisted in things like: clearing land tearing down a shed installing blinds painting the walls We usually work when requested. So keep an eye out for future emails. Mission Leader: Paul Bernard paulrbernard@msn.com
Page 7 Veterans Club Membership 137 I am Mike Ponting and serve as the Club s Membership Chairman. Each month, I will provide a list of new members to the Club and present any updates we have to the membership roles. One of my jobs will be to attract new members to the club. I will be working with our Publicity Officer to get the word out at several Trilogy venues. One of the ways we are looking to attract membership is having a Meet and Greet during one of our upcoming meetings. Briefings on the mission of the Veterans Club and how we serve our community and country in support of Veterans in the Phoenix area, along with talking to fellow vets about the club will be the highlight of the gathering. My contact information is: Mike Ponting michaelponting99@gmail.com
Page 8 After-Action report on Toys for Tots T hanks to everyone that supported and donated to the 2016 Toys for Tots campaign. Special thanks to our own club member, Bob Alford for his leadership and steadfast commitment to this The Veterans Club collected and delivered 804 toys and $1,745. This effort was so successful that Kiva Club management has asked that we make this an annual Veteran's Club event. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, an IRS-recognized 501 (3) not-for-profit charity, is the authorized fundraising and support organiztions for the Toys for Tots program. If you want to help this year, please make contact with Bob and see what you can do to volunteer your time to this worthy cause. S ince, Aug, 2015, under the direction of Richard Brown, the Luke Volunteer Coordinator for our Club, young Airmen have been supporting our efforts with the heavy lifting involved in our Veterans Furniture Center (VFC) missions. The Airmen at Luke AFB provide on average, 10 people per weekend, and they have assisted us with over 450 deliveries to date. They are the reason any club member can volunteer and simply let these Luke volunteers do the heavy lifting. Richard is backed up by Mark Grindle and Hank Lewis in this task. Of special interest, last Saturday, the 168 th Luke Volunteer was the first Officer to step forward and give us a hand. As Richard noted, See, Officers know how to work too..as a result of this connection with Luke AFB and Richard getting volunteers each week, the Airmen Leadership School (ALS -a school for first term Airmen approaching promotion to Staff Sergeant, E-5) to teach them supervisory skills) had 3 Airmen who had volunteered for our furniture movements. The ALS asked Richard to brief what we do to their graduating class and in turn they donated $900.
Page 9 H ere is a look at the agenda for January s meeting of the Vet Club. We hope to see you there. Meeting comes to order at 1700 Pledge of Allegiance President s opening comments Purpose of Meeting & Next Month s Agenda Old business Appreciation to past Board Members Financial report Jim Long After Action report on toys for tots ProgrAm Bob Alford New business Proposed By-Law Changes / Line Item Budget For the Good of the Club Adjourn