Commentary – Page 20 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

From the Commander (November 2017)

By Pete Krawitz

November, without a doubt, is one of the busiest times of the year for our organization. Our voicemail, e-mail, and snail mail boxes start to fill up with all sorts of Veterans Day event advertisements and requests. Many of these communications are from groups throughout the local region seeking veterans to participate in everything from speaking events to parades.

While I wish our post could send official representation and assist with all of the events and activities, it’s just not logistically feasible at this time. However, I genuinely believe that we’ll be able to significantly expand our reach and capabilities as our member count continues to grow. As we continue to gain new members, we need to think about re-activating many of the post’s programs and committees. We’ve already seen how successful our color guard has been. I hope that we can continue to find members who’d like to lead or be a part of similar programs. I plan to talk about this some more during our November business meeting.

The one Veteran Day event that I am proud we regularly repeat during the holidays is visiting our brothers and sisters in the VA Hospital. I’d like to thank Comrade Jon Guncay, who has volunteered to be the coordinator for this year’s Veterans day visit. I look forward to seeing some of you on the 10th of November at the Seattle VA hospital.

Switching gears, I’d like to talk about an exciting new opportunity that will allow some of our comrades who can’t always make it into the post to still attend meetings from the comfort of their home, ship, yurt, etc… (assuming they have internet connectivity). During our October business meeting, the post agreed to a limited 3-month trial of the Zoom Web Conferencing service. Zoom will give some of our members the ability to log into a private, password protected website which will be broadcasting our live business meeting’s slideshow and audio content. In the early stages of this test, we are only going to allow 1-way communication. For example, remote participants will be able to hear and see the content, but they won’t be able to communicate back to the meeting (so no ability to vote, etc…).

The first Zoom test (November 2nd) will be limited to 5 individuals. If successful, Zoom should allow some of our members, who have difficulties getting down to the post on business meeting days, to still feel involved and keep up-to-date on the latest post events.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the November business meeting and social. For those that won’t be able to make it, have a Happy Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.

Quartermaster’s Update (October 2017)

By Harold Rodenberger

September was a good month for our VFW Post.

We’re off to a good start in the membership department with six new members on board. This puts us in the lead for our district but the year is still young. Our commander has set a goal of fifty percent above our 100% goal so it will take steady growth to achieve that lofty goal. Every one of us needs to keep an eye out for potential new members. Remember, very few new members ask you if they can join, almost all need to be invited before they will join our ranks.

We held a great fundraiser on Sept. 9. About 130 lively participants had a tasty spaghetti dinner and did their best to take home some of the many attractive raffle prizes available. Special thanks to Chairman Russ Seelig who organized the event, solicited many of the prizes and did yeoman duty as sous chef. Hats off to Kay Seelig for cooking her famous sauce and the rest of the dinner. My favorite part of the dinner was that complex salad which was dressed just right, tossed just prior to serving and served as a perfect foil to the rich spaghetti. Thank you to the Seelig family and the other volunteers in and out of the kitchen for their work. Kudos to all our other volunteers who gathered raffle prizes from local businesses and individuals, sold dinner tickets to friends and neighbors and, most importantly, attended the event. As I write this, the numbers aren’t final yet but it’s safe to say we made a lot of money for our relief fund and had a good time doing it.

Speaking of food, Chef Kay was out of town for the social so Russ and helpers stepped up and served a Vietnamese meal. If you were there you know it was good, but if you were absent, you missed Banh Mi, spring rolls, salad etc., that brought a refreshing taste of Vietnam to our Ballard VFW Hall.

Our two September flag retirement ceremonies had to be cancelled. One because of the smoky air and one because of unpredictable winds. We will be having at least one replacement ceremony this month, depending on weather, so please keep an eye on the website if you want to join in this special ceremony.

Commander Krawitz has refined the new meeting format in a more inclusive and stimulating way. If you haven’t been to a meeting in the past three months, please plan to attend one of our meetings and join in the new approach.

From the Commander (October 2017)

By Pete Krawitz

What a great way to end the summer. We pulled off a very successful spaghetti dinner and raffle event, raising over $4K for our various programs. A huge thank you to all who made this event a success. A special thank you to Comrade Russ Seelig, his wife, Kay, and their friends and family who volunteered a significant amount of time coordinating the event.

I’d also like to acknowledge the great work our color guard is doing. Many of you had a chance to witness the color guard in action during the Spaghetti Dinner. The team looked sharp! As of late, we’ve been receiving many requests for our color guard to conduct ceremonies at various events in the region. We are not only honoring our veterans, flag, and country during these events but are also increasing Post 3063’s visibility in the community. I’d like to thank all of the members of the color guard for their hard work and dedication. I’d also like to thank Comrades Bill Hoeller and Joe Fitzgerald for their hard work in planning, equipping, and leading the color guard. For those who might be interested in joining, please reach out to Comrade Joe Fitzgerald ([email protected]).

We’ve also been pretty fortunate to attract quite a few new members over the past few months. Many of these new members have dove right in and have been assisting with some of the activities around the post. To some of the newer members, we still have a few committees that I’d like to see brought online. The Community Activities and Scholarship committees in particular. If you are interested in leading either of these committees, please let me know.

Changing gears ever so slightly, I’d like to discuss one project that we will be working on over the next few months. As many of you know, we’ve been discussing the idea of refurbishing the post for a few years now. The purpose of a refurbishment would be to make the facility more attractive, comfortable, and accessible for our members and also increase the hall’s rental desirability and value. Before we can make any proposals on the refurbishment front, we’ve determined that we need a better understanding of our current situation. Over the next few months, I’ll be working hand-in-hand with the house committee and quartermaster to analyze our facility’s operation and maintenance situation. While the post’s finances are relatively stable, we want to ensure that we are planning accordingly and maintain this stability for many years to come. To keep our finances healthy, especially in this rapidly changing and expensive city, we need to make sure that we can adapt to the changing needs and preferences of our communities, both the veteran community and the Ballard / Seattle community. We will be sharing regular updates as we make progress with our analysis.

I look forward to seeing you at our next business meeting.

105 year-old WWII Vet Joins Post During Birthday Party

By Harold Rodenberger

A few weeks ago, Julie Small called our office wondering if we could help celebrate her father’s 105th birthday. Since her father had served in the Army in World War II she thought it would be appropriate if some VFW members could attend the birthday celebration and render honors to her father.

On Sept. 16, Color Guard Captain Joe Fitzgerald, and I arrived at the birthday celebration for Joseph Alex Small. Family and friends gathered around as we congratulated him on his birthday, presented two small American Flags, and his new VFW cap. Near the end of our visit, he whispered in my ear, “I feel overwhelmed.”

As Joe and I left the party and returned to our homes, I reflected on the feelings of love, friendship, and community I had felt there. In addition to Julie and Alex’s son Tom, who had flown up from his home in Texas, there were other family members, neighbors and friends from various backgrounds and circumstances, united in celebrating this momentous occasion.

Sometimes I feel near overwhelmed by all the news of rancor, hate, and divisiveness that bombards us daily. Then I see and feel the powerful feelings of good will at an occasion such as this and am reassured that there are millions of good people in every corner of our country. They gather at homes, schools, churches and other places simply to be together and celebrate some special event.

Good will and friendship usually don’t make the news but it’s good to remember that such feelings are alive and well despite news to the contrary.

Quartermaster’s Update (September 2017)

It’s been said that all things change. Geological change appears unchanging to us while Moore’s Law concerning computing seems to allow change so rapid we can hardly follow.

As we grow older we change physically and mentally. It seems just yesterday I was a young man with many goals, working hard and supporting a family. Suddenly I realize I’m an old man having achieved many of those goals, approaching the winter of my life and finding the changes in our world and country almost incomprehensible.

Change is happening in our post as well. Commander Krawitz has changed our meeting format with the post meeting together with our auxiliary in the large hall followed by separate business meetings, with the post remaining in the large hall and the auxiliary moving to the smaller room. Starting the monthly meeting together with our auxiliary promotes teamwork and encourages shared goals. It looks to me like a good change.

Yoga class resumes on 9/16 when our yoga teacher, Alicia, returns from vacation. If you want to change your body and mind, even temporarily, come on out for yoga, it stretches your body and mind while enriching your spirit.

Our spaghetti feed fund raiser on September 9th changed from years past when it was held in the spring. Buy your tickets early and take advantage of the advance raffle ticket sales. Hard to beat 30 tickets for twenty dollars and it’s a good way to increase your odds of winning your favorite prize.

Speaking of, there are many wonderful prizes for the fund-raising raffle. Local businesses have generously contributed some wonderful gifts just waiting for your lucky draw. Mark your calendar, buy your tickets and let’s have a great time while raising money for our post relief fund.

We have received many flags deserving of respectful retirement so we are changing our flag retirement ceremony from one to two this month. First one will start at 10:00 a.m. on the sixth and the second will start at 11:30, September 13th, after yoga.

Now for some personal change. After 42 years in Magnolia, my wife and I are selling our house and moving farther north, or east, or maybe south or west. We’ve gotten older, the place was convenient to downtown and our VFW post but change reigns eternal so we decided we couldn’t wait any longer to change home locations. If we find a place close enough to Ballard, I’ll stay active in the post and even if our new home is farther way, I’ll work with whoever you choose to take on the responsibility of quartermaster in the future.

As these changes happen, each of us must contribute what we can to further our VFW goals.
I wish everyone in our post more success during the months and years ahead.