Community Outreach – Page 22 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

Seven Post Honor Guard Members Participate in Wreaths Across America Ceremony

By Joe Fitzgerald

Seven members of the Post 3063 Honor Guard participated in the Wreaths Across America (WAA) Memorial Service at Lakeview Cemetery on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. WAA is conducted on National Wreaths Across America Day every December at 1,400 locations throughout the U.S., at sea, and abroad.

It has been sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) at that Lakeview Cemetery the past several years. The service starts at Arlington National Cemetery at noon (eastern) and is conducted simultaneously at every national cemetery across the country in addition to any other cemetery that has servicemen and women buried or interned and wants to participate. Various volunteers from “service type” organizations typically organize this ceremony at the various cemeteries throughout the country with participation of current or past members of the military.

From left to right: Anthony Rose, Dan Stokke, Norm Limric, Joe Fitzgerald, Harold Rodenberger, and Bill Griffith participate in the Dec. 16 Wreaths Across America Memorial Service at Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle.

Our connection to this cemetery has been through Comrade Bill Griffith who is a of the local SAR chapter. He asked us to participate last year, which was Post 3063 Honor Guard’s very first event. We did a three gun salute at a very cold, quick, and simple ceremony.

This year we had enough advanced notice (and more honor guard members) to conduct a larger ceremony.

It started with a salute to the Colors and the Pledge of Allegiance by the Honor Guard, followed by opening remarks by SAR, and then the Laying of the Wreaths.

A remembrance wreath was laid for members of each branch of the Armed forces, the Merchant Marines, and POW/MIA – a total of seven wreaths.

As each wreath was brought forward and the branch represented was announced, the bearer stepped between two Honor Guards (Bill Griffith and Harold Rodenberger), who then rendered a hand salute as the wreath was laid at the base of the pole flying the American Flag. Each of the seven wreaths was presented in the same way except for a special moment for the POW/MIA.

At the conclusion of the wreath laying, the Honor Guard rifle detail (Anthony Rose, Dan Stokke and Norm Limric) conducted a three-volley rifle salute.

Taps was then played by Barry Roberts who is a member of Buglers Across America.

Closing remarks by SAR concluded the ceremony.

Color Guard Captain Joe Fitzgerald assisted SAR President Dan Keen with developing the program and called out the various commands throughout the ceremony. Comrade Tiffany Cavin was the honor guard’s photographer.

Auxiliary Coordinating Holiday Food Drive

The Post 3063 Auxiliary is collecting nonperishable portable snack items at the post during the holidays. Cash and gift cards will also be accepted. All proceeds will benefit homeless clients of the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC). For more information, contact Donna Limric at 206-852-5434.

Food drive box — The Post 3063 Auxiliary’s Food Drive flyer on it’s collection box.

Boy Scouts Receive Donation from Post

By Gail Engler

Troop 80 from Magnolia attended the post social Nov. 16, 2017 to accept a $150 donation from Post 3063.

The troop was represented by eight Boy Scouts, Post 3063 member Elizabeth Servey, who is the troop’s Advancement Chair, her husband Brian Servey, and Molly Mort, both Assistant Scoutmasters.

The Troop is very active, especially during the spring and summer months when they hike, camp, and work on their outdoor survival skills. Comrade Servey said the money will be used to purchase more camping gear, which will be put to good use during their outdoor adventures.

On Veterans Day these scouts also helped with the post’s visit to the VA hospital. They are all very eager and enthusiastic!

Boy scout presentation — Boy Scout Troop 80 accepts Post 3063’s $150 donation from Commander Pete Krawitz Nov. 16, 2017.

Post Members Visit Seattle VA Medical Center

Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063 members gather after their regular holiday trip to the Seattle VA Medical Center Nov. 10, 2017 to visit their brothers and sisters in the hospital. This Veterans Day, we were joined by The Boy Scouts, Troop 80 out of Magnolia/Ballard, who helped us hand out snacks and provided handwritten Veterans Day cards to all of the patients.

Seattle VAMC 2017 Vets Day

Quartermaster’s Update (November 2017)

By Harold Rodenberger

Last week another visitor came into my office asking where to find our clubroom. As always, I tell such visitors we don’t have a bar but that we do many other things for veterans, their families and our community.

For those readers who haven’t had a chance to attend meetings or join in our outreach efforts, here’s how our national headquarters describes out mission:

Our Mission: To foster camaraderie among United States veterans of overseas conflicts. To serve our veterans, the military and our communities. To advocate on behalf of all veterans.

Locally, we help fulfill this mission in many ways.

First, we take care of our own members and their families. Last month, for example, we donated from our relief fund to help a member whose young daughter is being treated for cancer; we routinely subsidize the meals served at our social and meeting nights; we maintain a library on military subjects for veterans; and our service officer gives top priority to helping our members get the benefits they have earned from the VA and other government agencies.

For other veterans and members of the community we operate a website, manage a Facebook page and publish a newsletter publicizing specialized information for our community; we visit the VA Hospital to bring a little cheer to the patients; we allow other veterans’ organizations to use our hall at no cost and allow nonprofit organizations of many kinds to rent our hall at minimal rates.

For the larger local community, we accept unserviceable flags for proper retirement and disposal, we donate food and other items to our local homeless camp and we visit local retirement homes. Our Color Guard has performed color-posting ceremonies in several venues and is scheduled for more.

Next time someone asks you what our members do besides drink and tell war stories, please let them know the many ways we support the VFW mission by serving veterans and our community.

We have been publishing this newsletter for almost three years now. It draws praise from members, other VFW members and readers in the community but we have found that those who receive the on-line edition don’t read the paper as much as we would like. To encourage more people to read the newsletter we are going to a quarterly printed publication mailed to all our members.

Our website and Facebook page will carry breaking stories as they develop. The printed newsletter will consolidate that news and carry it to all members.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.