Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063
"No One Does More for Veterans"
Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063’s March newsletter is available here. Highlights include: VFW Washington State Middle School Teacher of the Year; Coronavirus: Tips from the VA; VFW Celebrates Women’s History Month; 75th Anniversary of the Flag Raising at Iwo Jima; The Great American Spit Out Challenges Veterans to Quit Smokeless Tobacco; WDVA Legislative Updates; Join the VFW’s #StillServing Campaign; and Post Elections Start March Business Meeting.
By Alyson Teeter
Members of Post 3063 traveled in the snow to attend the annual VFW Department of Washington Mid-Winter convention in Yakima Jan. 17-18, 2020.
Commander Joe Tiffany, Sr. Vice Commander Joe Fitzgerald, Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger and Adjutant Aly Teeter were in attendance and sat in on business meetings, breakout sessions, and a banquet that recognized the department-level essay winners and teacher and first responder award recipients.
Post 3063’s Teacher of the Year, Dan Waldschmidt from Hamilton Middle School, won at the Department-level and his award was presented to the District 2 Commander, Carl Christophersen. According to the VFW, the VFW Teacher of the Year award contest recognizes exceptional teachers for their outstanding commitment to teaching Americanism and patriotism to their students.
Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger accepted a recruiting award for the numerous new members he’s brought into the post this year. Well done, Comrade Rodenberger!
The Voice of Democracy winner, Gabrielle DeMarco from Enumclaw High School (sponsored by VFW Post 1949) read her essay to the audience. She’ll go on to compete at the national level and will attend the National Convention this summer.
Adjutant Teeter attended the membership break-out session and captured these highlights from the presentation and discussion:
– Heroes in the Ballpark is coming up April 24 in Tacoma. They need donations.
– Community Service Reports: Necessary for non-profit status.
— Ideas for reporting: collect verbal reports at business meetings; display wall calendar in post and people can pencil in what they did.
– Post 3063 is now the largest post in District 2.
– We can also donate to local school/community projects; will help spread the word about our presence and involvement in the community. One post donated money to building a community playground.
– Invite local schools to have fundraisers at the post.
– Make the VFW fact sheet a placemat for fundraisers.
RETENTION:
– Present opportunities to new members. Have 2 members dedicated to sitting down with newbies and explain how things work at the post. Ask, “What committee would you like to be on?” Don’t force them to do volunteer though or else they’ll leave.
– Give post t-shirts instead of caps to new members.
– Highlight VA benefit changes through newsletters, SM posts, etc.
RECRUITING:
– Boat shows, markets, fairs, etc. Always have a service officer present. Bring prospect forms so you can contact them again to join.
— NOTE: We’ll have a booth at the Seafood Fest again. Contact Joe Tiffany to sign up!
– Challenge post members to recruit at least 1 new member a year. Give those who did a special button (“I got one.”) and invite them to a celebration dinner.
By Harold Rodenberger
Comrades,
December is the end of a year, but this year also marks the end of a decade. Turning this corner reminded me of the end of decades past. For people my age these are vivid memories. For young people, they are history.
At the end of 2009, we saw 17,00 more troops sent to Afghanistan, the end of the Great Recession and the death of Michael Jackson.
Twenty years ago, at the turn of the century there was the Y2K scare, the beginning of the euro and a U.S. President impeached. Thirty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall was the big news.
In 1979 there was the big gas shortage, the Hood Canal floating bridge that didn’t, and the Seattle Supersonics winning the NBA Championship. 1969 was the year of the first moon landing and “…One giant leap for mankind”.
Sixty years ago, in 1959, I joined the Army and started on the path that led to Ballard Eagleson Post. The winter of ‘49-’50 resulted in many low temperature records still on the books.
The years pass quickly and can only be lived once. We need to remember to make the most of our time as the years flit by.
Speaking of, members of our post have been busy doing things for others to help our post fulfil its mission. We don’t have a canteen or clubroom so we do things for our community and fellow veterans instead.
Recently we visited and revisited the VA Hospital to talk with patients and distribute special snacks and drinks. Our Honor Guard was central to the recent celebration of Wreaths Around America at Lake View Cemetery. Some of our members served at the Seattle Standdown. We selected winners and gave prizes in the VFW Youth Programs Voice of Democracy, Patriot’s Pen and Youth Essay contests. Our Teacher of the Year was also selected as the winner at District 2 and now goes to the judging at the state level.
Our roving ambassador, Allen Schwerer, who now lives in Eastern Washington, donates time and money to VFW causes in that area. One of our local members spoke at a meeting of the Mercer Girls Chapter of the DAR during a ceremony honoring Vietnam veterans.
Around the Post Home, our Commander, Joe Tiffany, volunteered to procure and install a new (much superior) sound system. Other officers gave of their time to perform their duties during meetings and outside the post. Many members fly the flag to honor our country and its veterans.
Looking forward to the second half of our VFW year, we are still well short of our membership goal. We value your membership, please take a minute to make sure your dues are current.
Welcome to the new “roaring twenties” and may the coming year be kind to you and yours.
Yours in Comradeship,
Harold