Author: ateeter

Post recycles 125 flags

We performed our first ever flag recycling event March 25. Thanks to our post and auxiliary members for pitching in to disassemble around 125 flags that will be recycled through one of the Seattle Public Utilities Threadcycle partners. We’ll also deliver scraps to Seattle ReCreative.

Quartermaster Update (April 2023)

By Harold Rodenberger

The VFW was formed by volunteer veterans of earlier wars seeking to help and socialize with other veterans of those wars. As the organization grew, many local posts were chartered with the same goals.

Our post was chartered in 1926 by volunteers who felt strongly about helping and socializing with their fellow veterans. Those men (only men in those days) of the post, and ladies (only women in those days) of the soon to be founded auxiliary, worked long and hard to raise money to keep the post vibrant and eventually to build a building that became their home away from home. Those dedicated volunteers started the race and carried the first baton.

As the years passed, those members passed on and others stepped up to keep our post alive and well. In the forties and fifties we had baseball and bowling teams, a drill unit and an honor guard. There were weekly bingo games and other fundraisers. In the late sixties, we even had a bar and lounge for a few years. All of those activities required many volunteers to support the post.

In addition to those volunteers, there are many other members who are volunteers in spirit. They help by keeping their dues paid or moving up to life or Legacy Life memberships. As the old saying goes, “There is strength in numbers” and those members, local and remote, keep us strong through their memberships.

As the deadline neared for me to submit this final quartermaster’s update to our editor, I reflected on the more than forty years that I’ve been a member of the post. I have played only a small part in keeping the post going forward. It was the synergism of many people working together that kept us alive and well.

Now it is my time to pass the baton. I have been honored to serve as your quartermaster for the past ten years, and even though I’m stepping down as quartermaster, I will continue to help out in any way I can, for as long as I’m able.

I salute those who came before, all of you current members, and all of our new volunteers who will continue to run the race and carry the baton into the future for Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063.

Commander’s Corner (April 2023)

By Alyson Teeter

Spring is here and the long winter is ending, thank goodness. We had a wonderful kick off to the season by hosting the District 2 St. Patrick’s Day-themed fundraiser and a flag recycling event March 25. Looking at April, we have our second round of nominations and our officer elections at the April business meeting April 6, a blood drive April 13, and another fun-filled trivia social April 20. For May we’re planning to participate in the Syttende Mai parade May 17, an Armed Forces Day-themed social May 18, and a variety of activities for our Day of Service May 27. Stay tuned!

If you weren’t at our March meeting, I’ll recap startling news. Comrade Quartermaster Rodenberger showed a historical graph of our investment fund. We have withdrawn nearly $900K from it since 2009. If we operated with a balanced budget, it could have grown to $3 million but instead it’s ~$1 million.

Let’s balance our books so we don’t whittle away at our investment account. It should grow and ensure the fiscal longevity of the post. We will be sharing profit/loss statements at meetings going forward. We’ll also get creative with our fundraising. “Gentlemen, we have run out of money; now we have to think,” – Winston Churchill.