Category: Post Business

Mid-Winter Conference 2019 Recap

By Harold Rodenberger

 

Our Mid-Winter Conference was held in Yakima this year on January 11th and 12th. Representing our post were Sr Vice Commander Joe Tiffany, Jr Vice Joe Fitzgerald, Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger, Service Office Leo Potts, Surgeon Tiffany Cavin, Officer of the Day Anthony Rose and Past Commander Nestor Tamayao.

 

On Saturday, there was training for Quartermasters and Service Officers along with the regular business meeting.

 

One highlight of the conference was the presentation of certificates and $100 checks to those posts achieving 100 per cent membership by December 31, 2018. I was proud to see our post represented in this small group.

 

Another highlight was the awards banquet featuring winners of the Voice of Democracy, Patriot’s Pen and Youth Essay contests. Entrants from our post didn’t win at the state level but our Teacher of the year and VOD entries both won at the District level. Our VOD winner, Kate Cavanaugh, read her essay during the December business meeting and received a standing ovation. Her essay is posted on our website at http://vfwseattle.org/index.php/2019/01/31/voice-of-democracy-winners-essay-why-my-vote-matters/.

Building Project Update

By Commander Pete Krawitz and Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger

 

If you refer to the 2018 Q4 newsletter, you’ll recall that the post membership voted to work with consultants from a local architect firm to review the current state of our building. While there have been a few minor updates in the subsequent newsletters, Comrade Quartermaster Rodenberger and I wanted to provide the post members with a more comprehensive update on the current state of this project, which is getting closer to completion.

 

First off, we’d like to thank the house committee for their hard work (Doug Maines, Jordan Houghton, and Aly Teeter-Baker). These individuals dedicated many additional hours of their free time over the last few months to help see this project through. These individuals have acted as a critical advisory and steering committee for our hired consultants.

 

During this period, the house committee has monitored the development of four tentative options, ranging from minor, mostly cosmetic improvements to sale or redevelopment of the property.

 

As these options have been fleshed out, we’ve visited venues in central and north Seattle to see how other owners manage meeting halls and rental spaces. At the same time, a focus group composed of house committee members plus some volunteers from our post and auxiliary have met with the architects to furnish input and give feedback to help them aim the options toward our goals as a growing and modern VFW post.

 

To aid with planning we met with the city planners for guidance on how an old building such as ours can be updated to meet current usage and code yet meet fiscal constraints. We’ve also had a hazardous materials survey done to find out what we don’t know about the existence of asbestos, lead and other toxic materials in some of the old building materials.

 

Finally, the architects will provide us with some “rough order of magnitude” estimates for the costs of the various options.

 

Once the consultant’s work is completed, what’s next? Well, we know this will help us answer three questions that have been a central theme during our work with the consultants:

 

  • How can Post 3063 maintain a physical presence in Ballard so that we can continue to serve veterans, their families, and the community?
  • How can we reduce and/or eliminate any risks associated with failing building systems?
  • How can we reduce ongoing building operating cost AND increase rental income?

 

Bottom line, we don’t know exactly what the “how” will look like just yet. There is still a lot of discussion and analysis that needs to take place within our post, however, we are confident that our current and future members and leadership teams will be equipped with information that will allow us to be more proactive rather than reactive about our building’s future.

 

We look forward to providing you with additional updates in the coming months.

Quartermaster’s Update (January 2019)

By Harold Rodenberger

 

Halfway through our VFW year, it’s time for a State of The Post post.

 

Officers and members are sustaining our meeting attendance at healthy levels. Commander Pete is using the round table format, joint public meeting with our Auxiliary prior to the regular business meeting, and good visual aids to make a lively and interesting meeting. If you haven’t been to a meeting lately, come on in and join the excitement.

 

Kudos to our volunteer kitchen crew; Chef Kay, Linda, Jan, Jessica, Justin, Dan and others, who have delivered great spreads for the monthly socials. Can’t forget those who faithfully come out for socials to enjoy gourmet meals and support our post.

 

Our post Honor Guard participated in several ceremonies, most recently providing honors and firing the rifle salute for the Wreaths Around America ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery, Dec. 15. Commander Joe Fitzgerald, Drill Captain Anthony, along with expert riflemen Dan, Bill, Tiffany and Norm, put on impressive ceremonies, no matter the occasion.

 

We have been working hard on membership. At the time of this writing we made it to 100% of last year’s numbers.

 

Our Voice of Democracy winner, Kate, won the District 2 competition and advances to the state level. Our Middle School Teacher of the Year winner, Dan, also won at District level and moves up to the state competition. If you know a student from 5th grade through high school, please encourage them to enter one of the three levels of competition. If you know of teachers who go above and beyond, please consider nominating them.

 

We’ve hired an architectural/construction firm to assess the current state of our property and present us with recommendations for updating or remodeling our building. They are making good progress. Our Building Committee has toured similar venues and is developing strategic plans as we move forward.
There was a good fundraiser in September thanks to many volunteers, especially the Seelig family. Proceeds went to our Post Relief Fund which allows us to aid deserving charities and help our own members.

 

In the past six months we’ve accepted over 75 unserviceable American flags for proper disposal. Several people have told me how relieved they are to have found a way to properly dispose of their unserviceable flags and thanked our post members for performing this vital service.

 

We held one secure shredding party this year and have another scheduled for 8:30 am to 10:30 am, Jan. 21. Please bring your documents and encourage your friends and neighbors to come, in return for a donation to defray the cost of this truck.

 

Bottom line, our post is thriving, more events are happening, and officers and members are working on strategies for future development and growth. Thanks to each of you for being a member and supporting our veterans, their families and our community.