Veteran's Club Meeting Minutes From December 9, 2018
Our Sunday breakfast meeting opened at 0900 with 44 members in attendance. Breakfast was served. Total club membership is now 190.
An informal "Meet and Greet" was held from 0830 to 0920.
Formal business commenced at 0920 with the "Pledge of Allegiance".
The Secretary's Report was presented and the minutes of our last meeting were voted upon and accepted by the membership.
The Treasurer's Report was presented. A total of $15,057.00, including funds raised from our Veteran's Day Party, auctions and other donations was donated to the Wounded Veteran's Relief Fund. It was noted that to date our club has donated a total of $76,011 to the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund. This was Steve Rosenthal's last report as Treasurer since he is stepping down from this position at the end of the year.
The President's Report was presented. Jules thanked Steve Rosenthal for his years of exceptional work as Treasurer. New members were introduced. Members were encouraged to sign up for our monthly meetings in advance on our website so that we can ensure that the appropriate amount of refreshments are ordered for each meeting. Jules reviewed the quick and easy site sign up proceedure on our home page to familiarize all hands with the process, and thanked those who have been regularly registering on-line.
Jules provided an update on Car Show preparations for next March, and noted that our recent Blood Drive collected 59 pints of blood. He recognized Blood Drive Chairman Tom Conklin for his leadership in running our Blood Drive program, and thanked all those who supported the drive with their time in helping to manage the process, and all the members of the community who donated blood.
President Jules Harper provided a briefing on issues discussed at our December Board Meeting. He hoted at at next year's Veteran's Day Flag Pole Ceremony Bob Goldberg and the Valencia Reserve Chior will sing, and Gary Keppler and his band will return to provide music for the event.
He also noted that Steve Osterman, our Field Trip Chairman, has had some difficulty in arranging an appropriate field trip to a local military installation. As an alternative, the possibility is being explored of arranging for an afternoon or evening lunch or dinner cruise on the intracoastal for members and their wives. Members expressed a great deal of interest in the proposal, and it is being further explored.
Jules also provided feedback on our Veteran's Day Party. We received considerable positive feedback on the performance of the King's Academy Choir, and the Board voted to increase our choir donation from the $500.00 we gave this year to $750.00 next year. Some concerns were expressed by party attendees that the meal was relatively light for a dinner. Accordingly, next year we are considering going back to the more substantial deli sandwiches for the event.
Vice President Goody Morrison briefed on preliminary preparations for our annual Spring BBQ dinner to be held on Saturday April 13th, 2019 in the clubhouse. The cost will be $27.00 per person. The event flyer and table reservation forms will be promulgated soon.
Our annual December elections for Officers and Board Members were held. Goody Morrison was re-elected as Vice President, Tom Wood was elected as Treasurer, Dave Weisman and Mike Heiserman were re-elected to the Board, and Steve Rosenthal, who recently stepped down as Treasurer, was elected to the Board.
Mark Schultz made an interesting and informative presentation on his tour of duty from 1968 to 1970 as an Army Artillery Officer, including his year in Vietnam and the combat actions he experienced there. The presentation was well received by all hands and was followed by a lively question and answer period.
President Jules Harper urged all eligible Vietnam veterans to sign up with the Veteran's Administration so that in the event that they are afflicted by illnesses attributed to agent orange in the future they would be better positioned to expeditiously gain the benefits of VA medical coverage.
Board Member Dave Weisman also urged reservists or guardsmen who are not now eligible for VA benefits since they did not do active duty (other than for training). He noted that currently reservists and guardsman have to have completed at least one day of non-training active duty to be eligible. However, he urged these members to sign up with the VA to get into their database since the laws and regulations governing elgibility are constantly changing and they might some day be included.
Several members who were eligable and who are utilizing VA medical services noted that the care that they are receiving is excellent.
Members were encouaged to volunteer to talk about their experiences while in the service during our club meetings. Interested members can contact any club officer or board member to work out the details and schedule a presentation.
The 50/50 raffel was held, yielding $60.00 to be donated to the Wounded Veteran's Relief Fund.
Scheduled Veteran's Club Events for 2019 are indicated below:
--Veteran's Club Blood Drive: March, date TBD
--Veteran's Club Car Show: Sunday, March 17, 2019
--Veteran's Club Spring BBQ Dinner: Saturday, April 13, 2019
--Fleet Week in Fort Lauderdale: early May, exact date TBD
--Veteran's Day Flag Ceremony: Sunday, November 11, 2019
--Veteran's Day Dance: Monday, November 12, 2019
--Veteran's Club Blood Drive: December, date TBD
Scheduled Sunday breakfast meetings for 2019 are indicated below:
--Sunday, March 10, 2019
--Sunday, June 9, 2019
--Sunday, September 8, 2019
--Sunday, December 8, 2019
All Sunday breakfast meetings will be held in the Social Hall from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
Scheduled Second Thursday of the month meetings for 2019 are indicated below:
--Thursday, January 10, 2019
--Thursday, February 14, 2019 (Arts and Crafts Room)
--Thursday April 11, 2019
--Thursday May 9, 2019
--Thursday October 10, 2019
--Thursday, November 14, 2019
All Thursday meetings will be held in the Social Hall from 4:00 to 6:00 PM unless otherwise indicated.
Scheduled 2019 General Meeting dates may also be viewed on our website under the "Upcoming Events" Tab.
The President noted in his concluding remarks that our next meeting would be on Thursday January 10th at 1600 in the Social Hall. The guest speaker is scheduled to be World War II USMC veteran Donald Mates, who served in combat with the Third Marine Division on Guam and Iwo Jima. Jules also noted that due to scheduling conflicts our February 2019 meeting would be held in the Arts and Crafts Room instead of the usual Social Hall location.
The Meeting concluded at 1045.
Minutes Submitted by Tom Nowak, Veteran's Club Secretary