Category: Commentary

From the Commander: January 2023

Happy 2023! That feels weird to type. Our year ended with a bang — we had a wonderful holiday social at the post and kicked off a toy drive with our Navigator Scouts troop and the Daughters of the American Revolution, which runs through Jan. 18. Here are more fun plans in Jan. 2023:

  • We’re kicking off weekly yoga classes Jan. 23 at the post thanks to the Veterans Yoga Project, Mondays 1 p.m. before Tai Chi.
  • We’re hosting a blood drive Jan. 19 — see this flyer for details.
  • Jan. 19: Social night will feature trivia and MREs! Weird, yes, but fun!


I’ll talk more about it at the January business meeting but we’ll kick off a membership drive in the new year too. In the meantime, think about friends to recruit and also our generous $100 lifetime membership discount! Don’t forget, our auxiliary needs new members too.


In mid-January a group of us will be heading to the Mid-Winter Department Convention in Yakima to network, learn, and also listen to the state-level essay finalists. I’ll report back any pertinent tidbits to our membership.


In the meantime, be thinking about service projects to take on, such as care packages for deployed servicemembers, senior center activities, or whatever else you can think of. We’re as strong as our volunteer force so take the initiative to lead if you have an idea.

Yours in comradeship,

Aly Teeter, Commander

Commander’s Corner: December 2022

Seasons greetings comrades! As we embark on a very festive time of year, I want to quickly re-cap our Veterans Day festivities and preview events for December.


First off, thank you to Seattle Civic Band for playing beautiful patriotic tunes in honor of veterans Nov. 10. We had a couple post members show up to listen and after the concert one of them said more of us should have been there. Agreed! I’d love for us to better support the band when they’re HONORING US. The band also donated over $120 to our post relief fund. 


The Veterans Day mural painting was a great success. Our Market St-facing side of the building is now brightly painted. Thank you to Air Force veteran Chris Kent for the design and Urban ArtWorks for organizing and executing the event. A number of community members, including Mayor Harrell and Councilmember Dan Strauss, came out to paint. Thank you to our post and auxiliary members for their dedication that day as well. Also thank you to Comrades Curtis and Engler for going from the mural to Merrill Gardens on First Hill to support their Veterans Day event!


We also had a blood drive at the post on Veterans Day. All the appointments were filled and BloodWorks NW collected 30 units of blood! They will return to the post for another blood drive Jan. 19 so mark your calendars.


For our November social we ate a delectable Thanksgiving meal courtesy of Team Chef Kay and honored the service of our comrades by donning service items. Not everybody could wear something from their past but our Korean War veterans — Wally and Al — surprised us with photos and a beautifully preserved service jacket. This event was a prime example of our mission to build camaraderie and esprit-de-corps.


Looking forward to December, we have our holiday social on Dec. 15. The holiday social is a great opportunity to invite your family and friends to our post. We’ll have a visit from Santa and exchange gifts between adults. The food will be AMAZING and we’ll listen to our youth essay winners recite their essays. We’ll also continue our tradition of co-sponsoring a holiday toy drive with the Navigator Scouts. See details in this flyer. 


Don’t forget, the annual Wreaths Across America event will take place at Lakeview Cemetery Dec. 17 at 9 a.m. Our post color guard always does an outstanding rifle salute and they need volunteers to lay wreaths on veteran graves.


Lastly, this month you’ll be hearing from our leadership team. We’ll be calling everyone on our roster to do buddy checks, remind folks to apply for claims for toxic exposure, and extend invites to the holiday social. If you know of a comrade in distress, please let me know ASAP at [email protected]. As our VFW Commander-In-Chief Timothy Borland says, “Every Veteran Counts.” 


Yours in comradeship,
Aly Teeter

Commander’s Corner (November 2022)

In case you missed it, we held a successful — and joyful — Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser Oct. 22. More than 100 people came out to support our post and the Veterans Relief Fund. After 2+ years of not normal life, it makes you appreciate events like this that bring the community together to celebrate our mission and service. Special thanks to ALL our volunteers, which is a long list of dedicated comrades, family members and friends. We are so grateful!


Your efforts contributed to the post raising over $6,700, which is a new fundraising record! The money will be put to good use supporting our efforts to help local veterans. Thank you to all of our generous donors!


Looking forward, November is a big month for honoring veterans and their service. The post is going all in for Veterans Day with a number of opportunities to serve veterans, the community and enjoy camaraderie. If you haven’t come out for a Post 3063 event, this is a great time to join us. We need all of you to make our community stronger.


Yours in comradeship,
Aly Teeter

Commander’s Corner (October 2022)

Fall is here, which means big plans are brewing for Post 3063! Our big event — the annual Spaghetti Dinner and Fundraiser — is scheduled Oct. 22. See more details in the newsletter and please consider attending, especially if you’re new to the post. It’s a fun way to feel camaraderie and eat good food while raising money for our Veterans Relief Fund. Every year we allocate thousands of dollars from the fund to help everyone from individual veterans in need to nonprofits like the Fisher House.


For November we have more events on the calendar that require us to literally roll up our sleeves and pitch in. For Veterans Day on Nov. 11, we’ll be hosting a blood drive at the post. Bloodworks NW has 34 spots so lets get them filled! That day we’re also planning a community paint day for our mural. It’s going to be a big, bold and bright mural so passersby can’t inadvertently ignore us much longer. Be on the lookout for more details about the mural and other Veterans Day-related events in the November newsletter.


Lastly, you should have recently received a letter from the Post 3063 Auxiliary President, Sean Peat, imploring post members to ask friends and relatives if they would join the auxiliary. They have a handful of motivated members but desperately need more or else it will fold. We want the auxiliary to stay put so please help! Want to know more? Contact Sean at  [email protected].


Yours in comradeship,

Aly Teeter, Commander

Quartermaster Update (October 2022)

By Harold Rodenberger


In case you haven’t heard, we are doing business meetings and socials in person. We also have a Zoom option for business meetings and a takeout option for the social dinner. Come join us for either or both and enjoy socializing with your fellow members.


Our big Spaghetti Fundraiser for the year is coming on the 22nd of October. We need prizes and we especially need attendees to bid on those prizes. Tickets are available at the office and online at the BiddingOwl site. We also need volunteers to sell tickets. If you can, please buy your tickets at the office or from one of the officers and we’ll save the approximately 5% commission for the online purchase. 


We had a successful shredder event in August. If you missed out, have more to shred, or have friends who would like to have their documents securely shredded, please let me know and we’ll schedule another shredder truck visit later in the fall or early winter.


If you’ve been to one of our December socials, I’m sure you remember Santa and her Elf. Our Elf is still with us, but long-time Santa, Ann Leake, moved on to Santa Heaven earlier this year. If you (or someone you know) has a knack for playing Santa, please contact Commander Aly or me and we’ll hook you up with Rudolf in preparation for our Holiday Party in December.


Next month on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, our post is hosting a team from BloodWorksNW for a blood donation event. The blood bank desperately needs blood, so, if you are eligible to give, please sign up for this event and gain the satisfaction of knowing that your blood may save a life.


Nov. 11 also brings our community paint day to add a dramatic mural to the front of our building. We need painters, helpers and cheerleaders. More details will be available as the date gets closer.


Our membership is down this year. We had more deaths than usual last year and our annual-member renewal rate is down. If you need financial help renewing your membership, please reach out to me. If you’re an annual member, come to our business meeting to qualify for a free life membership. After you attend two meetings, you are eligible for the drawing for that free life membership. Also, it’s very important to recruit new members. Please make it your practice to carry a membership application and ask people if they are veterans. Many haven’t served, but others have and are willing to join if asked.