Veteran's Club Meeting Minutes from January 9, 2014
Meeting opened at 1600 with 51 members in attendance. Total club membership is now 148 members.
An informal "Meet and Greet" with refreshments was held from 1600 to 1620.
Formal business meeting commenced at 1620 with the Pledge of Allegiance.
The President's Report was presented. Vice President Goody Morrison chaired today's meeting.
Members were encouraged to view our new website at: http://www.vrveteransclub.com/. New members were requested to sign in as new members on the "Join Our Club" ribbon. All members, if they had not already done so, were asked to create a profile for themselves in this section of the website as well so that a current profile of all members with accurate contact information could be maintained.
All members who have not yet contributed $7.00 for the development and maintenance of our website were requested to do so. This is the last solicitation for the website fund.
It was noted that the sponsorship of a flagpole for the clubhouse originally planned to be a joint effort of the Veteran's Club and the Men's Club will now be handled by the Men's Club exclusively. This decision was made unilaterally by the Men's Club with no rationale provided.
The Veteran's Club will once again support the community Memorial Day event sponsored by the HOA as it did last year.
The Secretary's Report was presented and the minutes of our last meeting were voted on and accepted as written by the membership.
The Treasurer's Report was presented.
Program Chairman Roger Ruddick provided an update on the planning for our car show. Since Benders is planning a car show on the same date, we are looking at changing our date to April 6th. It is anticipated that as much as $2,000 could be raised by the event. Volunteers to support the show were solicited and were requested to sign up after the meeting.
New Business was discussed. The Club is planning a late summer dance in the August timeframe. The event is in the early planning stages with additional details to follow.
The Club's Canned Food Drive planned for the March timeframe was discussed, and volunteers were solicited to help. All items collected will be passed directly to the Wounded Warriors of South Florida for immediate distribution to veterans in need. Volunteers were asked to sign up after the meeting.
Arrangements are being made to invite a guest speaker from the South Florida Veteran's Cemetery to discuss VA burial benefits and interment planning options for veterans.
Vice President Good Morrison introduced guest speaker Jeff Greenhhut, PhD, professional historian, Viet Nam veteran and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve. Jeff made an informative and highly professional presentation on the Vietnam War complete with graphics. His session was very well received and was followed by a lively question and answer session. Jeff's presentation was the first of our ongoing series where our members discuss various aspects of their own military experiences.
Following is the schedule of Veteran's Club Meetings for 2014. All meetings will be held in the Social Hall. Please note that there are no meetings scheduled for July and August.
February 13: 4-6 PM
March 13: 4-6 PM
April 10: 4-6 PM
May 8: 4-6 PM
June 12: 4-6 PM
September 11: 4-6 PM
October 9: 4-6 PM
November 13: 4-6 PM
December 11: 4-6 PM
The Vice President noted in his concluding remarks that our next meeting would be held on February 13th in the Social Hall. The meeting will feature Jules Harper discussing his Viet Nam experiences while flying combat missions from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, complete with a movie. Other members were encouraged to talk about their own experiences at future meetings.
The 50/50 drawing was held.
The meeting concluded at 1740.
Minutes Submitted by Tom Nowak, Club Secretary