News – Page 62 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

Quartermaster’s Update (October 2020)

By Harold Rodenberger

What a summer it’s been! Pestilence, fire, smoke, it seems almost Biblical. No swarms of locusts or floods yet, but the year’s not over. The fires and smoke have gone, but the pestilence remains, and will for who knows how long. Mask up, wash up and space out. Best practices for you and your fellow humans.

The highlight of the summer quarter was our fundraiser. As of this writing, the net gain to our Relief Fund is approximately $4,350. We are still receiving donations so I don’t know what the final figure will be. Whatever it is, it will be much appreciated by the needy recipients of our Relief Fund donations. Many thanks to all of you who contributed items for the auction; those who purchased items from the auction; Chef Kay and helpers; all those who helped put on and serve the spaghetti dinner; and the drivers who delivered to our members who were unable to attend.

This year, in nursing homes and hospitals across the country, the disabled veterans who normally assemble our VFW Buddy Poppies have been unable to do so. As a result, VFW Posts throughout America have been asked to help out by assembling Buddy Poppies. To encourage participation, we will earn $0.02 for our Relief Fund for each poppy assembled. If you would like to help out, please email me at [email protected] or call or text 206-972-2135 and I’ll get you started.

Our Post has mementos of past events that need to be preserved for future generations of members, ergo we need a person (Post Historian) who is interested in organizing, documenting and posting photographs and documents to the online History Room on our website. If you would like to help out in this way, please contact me, and let’s get important post history preserved.

This year disabled veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war, and primary caregivers for qualified veterans were added to the list of patrons at the military exchanges and commissaries. If you have a Veteran Health identification Card (VHIC), you can shop there. If you qualify but have no ID card, you can apply for one at https://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/vhic.

At some time, we all did our patriotic duty by serving in a war zone, defending our country and its allies. Soon it will be time to do our patriotic duty again. In this year’s general election, we will be choosing our leaders from local city, county and state officials all the way up to members of congress and the president. The right to vote is embedded in our constitution and is a patriotic duty of all Americans. Exercise your rights and vote! You can check your voter registration info at voter.votewa.gov.

Officer Spotlight: Sr. Vice Commander Bryce White

This is a recurring column that highlights the 2020-2021 post officers.

Tell us about your new position and what you hope to accomplish during your term.

As the second most senior official in the post, I will assist the Commander in his duties and in preserving order. I will preside over meetings in the absence of the Commander. I hope to work with our post members and identify and or initiate programs needed in our community. Reaching out into our communities is crucial to our organization. This will help in developing relationships with community leaders and local civic groups. We must find the ways and means to be more active and visible within our local community. Finally, I would like to recruit new members to our post.

How long have you belonged to Post 3063 and did you previously serve in an officer position?

I joined Post 3063 a few years ago. At first, I would just come every once and a while to connect with other veterans, but lately I have been trying to get more involved and helping in any way possible. I just recently served as the Junior Vice Commander last year. I also joined the post’s Honor Guard last year.

What do you enjoy most about belonging to the VFW?

I like belonging to the VFW because the VFW advocates for veterans. If someone needs assistance or wants the camaraderie, the VFW is a great place. If a veteran is having issues with mental health, there is always a helping hand. I have a purpose to serve, and most Marines have a place in their heart to serve as well. It’s a better way to serve and better the community by doing things such as helping veterans and your community. We volunteer to make a difference in our community, and we get to meet new people.

Update on Covid-19 and Don’t Forget to Wear Your Mask!

By Robert Lehman, M.D., Post 3063 Surgeon

As a physician, public health officer, and member of this organization, I offer this brief update of where we are with COVID-19.

There are 7 corona virus strains that affect humans. Four of them we have all experienced, as 25% of the common cold is a corona virus. In 2003, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) killed 800 people in China and 3 other countries. With very tight isolation and wearing masks, and with the luck that the virus was less contagious than the flu, the disease was controlled, and disappeared before a vaccine could be created. In 2012, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) affected 27 countries, primarily in the Middle East. Although 900 people have died from this, (one-third of those infected), it has not easily been passed from human to human. And now we have SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the disease COVID-19.

This virus is rapidly spread because 40% of those infected NEVER have symptoms, and thus continue to infect others, often for weeks. This is a respiratory virus spread by an infected person when breathing out. That is why EVERYONE needs to wear a mask when around others, as the person without symptoms does not know they are infected and thus can infect others. It is breathing that infects others, and that is why it is vital that the NOSE and MOUTH be covered. Face shields are NOT approved as there is no filtering when that person exhales, and bandanas have been shown to be worthless.

To emphasize this, masks are primarily worn to protect OTHERS; although there might be a small amount of protection to the person wearing the mask. [Wearing a mask should remind people to wash their hands whenever they remove their mask, before they touch their face.]. People who stand out at rallies without masks and say “if I die, I die” don’t understand this. They need to wear a mask as they can never tell if they themselves are infected and thus passing it to others. It isn’t their lives at risk when they don’t wear a mask; they pose a risk to the rest of us.

This has been a confusing virus as 40% of people infected have no symptoms, and yet others become extremely ill and die. I’ll skip the long scientific explanation, but a protein named ACE2 might be a key. It appears that ACE2 receptor is a magnet for the virus. Those with higher levels of ACE2 might get ill easier and far more severe than someone with a low level. ACE2 is higher in chronic lung and heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, smokers, and pregnancy. Genetically, it is higher in some families than others. It does appear that it tends to be less in children.

Lastly, the world seems to be putting its hope on a vaccine. But to use the annual flu vaccine as an example, flu vaccine is recommended to prevent people from DYING from the flu. As we all know, some people will continue to get the flu despite having been vaccinated. I hope that I am wrong, but I doubt a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will prevent all cases of COVID, but hopefully it will dramatically decrease deaths and the need for hospitalization.

In the meantime, please wear your mask whenever around others to prevent infecting others if you happen to be one of those infected and without symptoms (and who may continue to shed the virus for 14 days or more). AND, wear a mask to also remind yourself that your hands might be contaminated and might infect yourself. ALWAYS wash your hands or use sanitizer whenever you remove your mask, particularly for eating, drinking, and smoking.

Commander’s Corner (September 2020)

ONWARD AND UPWARD!

Comrades.

I hope this finds all of you in good health and continuing to stay safe as we perhaps can start the cautious and careful process of an eventual return to some degree of “Normal”. Just IF, what, and when that normal will be remains to be seen but the signs are growing more positive by the day. There is Hope.

In the meantime all of VFW is moving onward and upward with zoom meetings. We are successfully replacing the in-person meetings at the post with our own Zoom video meetings. That success is a bit muted however, as the only people who have qued into the Zoom meetings and actually attend are mainly the Post officers, – or sometimes special guests! The bulk of our membership has been largely absent. We do understand that there are reasons why some cannot attend.

However, I do want to insure that each of you is aware that you can and should join us if you able to at all. Our Post business Zoom meetings are held at the same time as our in-post meetings were – on the first Thursday of each month at 7pm sharp and are easy to access. Some of you just won’t be able to – I get it. But there has to be more than just the board who can attend these Zoom meeting. I encourage each of you to at least try to join us. I would especially like to see the the newest and younger members at these meetings. It actually is very easy and can done on your computer, or your Pad, or your phone. If you can’t join us via video on your phone, you can still join us via voice on the phone. The Zoom meeting connection process has been widely disseminated by Comrades Rodenberger and Teeter -Baker in previous newsletters and mail. If you do have any trouble you can contact Quartermaster Rodenberger or myself to to help you with connecting.

When you bring up Zoom you will be asked for the ID Number.This is 505 701 2075. You will also be asked for the Password or Passcode. This is Ballard306. Note that this password is case sensitive as the B is capitalized, while the other letters in Ballard are lower case. Once connected you will be in a wait mode and then Harold will admit you to the meeting. It is that simple.

Thank you and see you in Thursday’s Meeting.

Yours in Comradeship,
Commander Joe Fitzgerald