Category: Post Business

District 2 convenes meeting at Post 3063

By Harold Rodenberger

 

District 2 meeting
From left, Officer of the Day Thom Fermstad, Commander Tiffany Bothell, Surgeon Linda Fairbank, and Quartermaster Richard Moore conduct District 2 business Sept. 24 at Post 3063.

On Sept. 24 District 2 met at our post for its quarterly meeting and School of Instruction.

 

In the Department of Washington there are 108 posts divided into thirteen districts. Our post is part of District 2, which also includes Rainier (2289), Farwell Roosevelt (2713), Vashon (2826), Blackburn-Aurora (3348), Burien (4314), and Seattle (6599) Posts.

 

Each district serves as an intermediate level of administration between the individual posts and the department headquarters. District officers guide the posts by answering questions, training and inspecting as necessary. The School of Instruction conducted at this meeting helped train post level officers.

 

Another important function of the district is to screen entries for VFW programs including those for scouts, teachers, first responders and veteran of the year among others, and forward the winners to department level.

 

Our next district meeting will be on Nov. 19 at Farewell-Roosevelt Post 2713 in West Seattle. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. and the meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. All post members are invited to attend.

Report on the VFW National Convention

By Harold Rodenberger

 

Our National Convention was held in Charlotte, NC, July 23-27 2016. Four members of our post attended: Commander Nestor Tamayao, Trustee and Past Commander, Aaron Stoltz, Quartermaster and Past Commander Harold Rodenberger, and delegate Jesse Basher.

 

This convention is the supreme authority of our organization, and as such acts through the delegates to enact and modify laws governing how our group operates. People are appointed as our leaders and enact various goals and programs for the current and future years.

 

This year there were almost one hundred proposed amendments and revisions to be considered and voted on by our convention.

 

In addition to the changes in our governing documents there were many other items of business. We heard speakers ranging from the Mayor of Charlotte to the Secretary of the VA to both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president. We presented our VFW awards, and the winners are listed on our VFW National website at vfw.org

 

One of the main functions of the convention is to elect and install our leaders for the ensuing year. This year we elected Brian Duffy as our Commander in Chief. Chief Duffy is the first Desert Storm veteran to hold that office. We also elected another Desert Storm veteran and the first female to hold the office, Karen Anderson, as our new Quartermaster General.

Report on the VFW State Convention

By Gail Engler

 

Harold Rosenberger, James Williams, Gail Engler, and Jesse Basher attended the State VFW Convention in Pasco, June 22 to 25.

 

A day before the conference started additional training was offered for post veteran service officers and quartermasters. I attended the all day VSO training which was conducted by Nadine Warren, accredited  VSO in Yakima, WA. The training was very good and I hope to become more knowledgeable and receive additional training in order to provide services for our post members and anyone who may contact our post for assistance in filing claims or obtaining benefits. I am not an accredited VSO so will not actually submit the claim myself but assist with completing forms, and providing resources and referrals.

 

As far as the state election there were two positions that were contested: surgeon and quartermaster.  Traci Williams was elected surgeon and Carlos Almeda was elected quartermaster. Post 3063 received a number of awards including second place for our newsletter. Thanks to Charlie Anderson for his hard work and expertise in publishing a great newsletter. Aaron Stoltz received a “white hat” as commander for meeting a number of criteria for the post. Harold should have received a white hat as quartermaster but there was an administrative error at department level so he and others in District 2 did not receive the recognition. Congratulations to all for our post and individual awards.  It was overall a well organized and interesting convention. I recommend that other post members attend in the future and get involved to support and improve our post.

 

Awards presented to members for achievements

By Harold Rodenberger

 

At our last business meeting held July 7th our post and members were presented with many awards. “I don’t remember the Post ever receiving so many awards,” said Commander Nestor Tamayao.

 

Our outgoing commander, Aaron Stoltz, was awarded a Department of Washington White Hat for his selection as a member of the All-State Team. (The All-State Team is composed of commanders who have satisfied all the requirements for their year as delineated by state headquarters.) It’s an honor achieved by few commanders and was a just reward for his final year of eight as our Ballard Eagleson Post Commander.

 

Other awards included:

  • Charles Anderson, editor, for second place in the medium size post category of state post newsletters
  • Gail Engler for her work as Buddy Poppy Chair
  • Russ Seelig for serving as District 2 May 1st Fundraiser Chair
  • James Williams for starting our website and his eight years as webmaster
  • Georgia Warrix for serving as our St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser Chair
  • A JASON Award to our post officers for 100 percent reporting during July to November
  • Outstanding support of the USO
  • Voice of Democracy Awards, department and national
  • Patriot’s Pen awards, again both department and national levels

 

 

Event raises money for Post Relief Fund

Our St. Patrick’s Day Social was a resounding success with good food, good company and an approximate profit of $1,500 for our Post Relief Fund.

 

The cooks received many compliments for the tasty food. From the Irish Soda Bread to the spinach salad, corned beef dinner and the bread pudding with whiskey sauce, the diners raved about the food and the service.

 

Many thanks to the volunteers who put on this dinner. Without the wonderful volunteers it would have not have been possible. Thank you, thank you.

 

More hearty thanks to those who made outright donations to the Relief Fund and those who bought raffle tickets.

 

Most of all we want to thank those who attended this fund raiser. Without you our best efforts would have been for naught. With your participation we all had a good dinner and shared some good camaraderie while raising money for a good cause.

 

– Harold Rodenberger