Category: News

Newsletter Places Third in National Contest

Courtesy of VFW.org


The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) announced the winners of the 2021 National Publications Contest April 30, 2021.


Covering the 2020 calendar year, this year’s Publications Contest garnered 56 entries, surpassing last year’s 39 submissions.


Entries for the contest derived from 35 Posts/Districts and 10 Departments. There were four submissions for the “Best Magazine” category and 12 submissions for “Best Feature Article.” Of the 56 entries, 16 placed.


Two non-VFW-affiliated journalism professionals served as judges for the competition. This is designed to guarantee impartiality and objectivity in the judging.


The VFW congratulates all entrants for their hard work and service to their respective members. The pool of entries this year proved to be very competitive. Awards will be mailed in June to each Department for distribution.


The winning publications for District/Post Publications, Small Frequency (printed 1-4 times per year):


Grand Award:
Veterans of Mount Prospect (Post 1337)
John DeGroot, Editor
Department of Illinois


Silver Award:
VFW Post 2016 News
Ski Iworsky, Editor
Department of Massachusetts


Bronze Award:
Ballard Eagleson Patriot (Post 3063)
Alyson Teeter, Editor
Department of Washington

2021-2022 Officers Installation Ceremony held

Former VFW District 2 Commander Carl Cristopherson installed the 2021-2022 slate of elected and appointed officers of VFW Post 3063 on May 6. First nominations were made in March, followed by second nominations and an election in April. Officers do not take office until July after the department commander is installed.


Congratulations and good luck to the new leadership team!


Commander: Joe Fitzgerald
Sr. Vice Commander: Bryce White
Jr. Vice Commander: Alyson Teeter
Quartermaster: Harold Rodenberger
Chaplain: Joseph Mesa
1 Year Trustee: Nestor Tamayao
2 Year Trustee: Joe Tiffany
3 Year Trustee: Robert O’Brien
Adjutant: Shennae Curtis
Service Officer: Joseph Mesa
Judge Advocate Dan Stokke
Surgeon: Bob Lehman
1 Year House Committee: Pete Krawitz
2 Year House Committee: Russ Selig
3 Year House Committee: Gail Engler

0 to 100 Project Launch Includes Post 3063 Member Portraits

In the Fall of 2019, local photographer Ahamed Iqbal asked to photograph members of Post 3063 for his 0 to 100 photography project, which documents people from ages 0 to 100.  Ahamed recently wrote, “Just wanted to let you know that I just launched my photography project’s website today: 0to100plus.com. To find someone directly by name you can use this link (alphabetical order): 0to100plus.com/names. I’m so grateful to you for connecting me to the men and women at the VFW and truly appreciate them being so open and friendly with me. I emailed anyone who provided me with their addresses but I thought it might be nice for everyone at the VFW to see as well.” Thank you to everyone who participated!

Goodbye to Smoke Stained Ceilings

By Harold Rodenberger


Those of you who have been in our hall in the past few years may have noticed that the ceiling tiles are yellowish from the days of inside smoking and stained from water leaks. 


A few weeks ago, our contact at FRIHET 402, VASA (Swedish Freedom Assoc), called and wanted to know if we could use some almost new ceiling tiles. They were removing a dropped ceiling in their recreation center at Lake Sammamish and were willing to donate them to our post. During normal times they meet in our hall once a month and had noticed the stained ceiling.


On January 16th, we rented a truck and, with the help of several volunteers, loaded up about 600 ceiling tiles and brought them to our post. The following weekend we changed out the tiles in the small meeting room. Next we will replace the tiles in the main hall. It’s a big project so we’ll do it over upcoming weekends.


Here’s a big THANK YOU to the folks at Frihet and many thanks to volunteers Dan Stokke, Bryce White, Russ Seelig, Pat Ronan, Joe Tiffany, Campbell Krawitz and our Commander, Joe Fitzgerald. Their help made it work. 

You can really see the difference here between the new and old tiles.

Get Vaccinated at the VA

Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger receives his COVID-19 Vaccine at the VA Medical Center in Seattle.

Vaccines are now available for eligible veterans at the VA (for more info go here). Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger received his vaccine and here’s a write-up about his experience:

After we became eligible, I spent several days trying (and being disappointed) to get appointments for my wife and myself on the various sites handling vaccination appointments.  


Thursday afternoon I received an email from the VA saying that eligible veterans could call to schedule appointments. It also stated that the VA was proactively calling eligible veterans to schedule appointments. Knowing that at least two of our older members had received unsolicited VA calls and been scheduled for the vaccine, I thought about waiting, but decided to try calling. After spending 37 minutes on hold, I was connected to a helpful clerk who went through the COVID questions, then asked if I wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible. I responded with a hearty “yes” and she scheduled me for noon yesterday (Friday).


Arriving about fifteen minutes early, I joined the socially distanced line, was tagged with a red ribbon indicating I had been screened, completed the paperwork, received shot number one, waited the required fifteen minutes, and was on my way. I felt relieved that I finally was on track to help defeat this virus by being immunized. Almost danced a jig as I followed the light at the end of the tunnel back to my car.


Now I’m back to trying to schedule a vaccination appointment for my wife. Still the same grind – check the sites to find all appointments taken, wait an hour, check again, ad nauseum.


For non-VA vaccine information, visit the Washington State Department of Health’s website.