News

October 2018 E-Newsletter Available

Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063’s October 2018 e-newsletter is available here. Highlights include: Commander, Quartermaster, and Auxiliary commentaries; Annual Spaghetti Fundraiser Volunteers’ Hard Work Pays Off; Comrades Cavin and Rose Fight Food Insecurity, Teach BLS; Recap: VFW National Convention 2018 and New Member Spotlight.

Quartermaster’s Update (October 2018)

By Harold Rodenberger

 

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the annual migration of the sun is more noticeable than in other places farther south.

 

The autumnal equinox (September 23rd this year), when our southbound sun crosses the equator each year, reminds the natural kingdoms to prepare in earnest for the winter. It reminds me that kids are back in school, the weather is turning colder and it’s time to air out the woolens. Well, maybe people don’t do that last so much anymore, but you get my drift, winter’s coming.

 

For VFW members, it’s time to get back to attending meetings and socials. Chef Kay has been putting on gourmet dinners for our social nights and Commander Pete’s new meeting format has drawn more attendees and participation. Remember, you can tune in our meetings no matter where you are by hooking up to our Zoom Remote broadcast. Connection info will be sent to your email address of record earlier on the day of the meeting. Warm up that laptop or smartphone and join us.

 

Why not make a note to save the first Thursday each month for our business meeting and the third Thursday for the social?

 

It’s also the time to check around our neighborhoods for potential members. New members usually don’t join our post if they aren’t asked. Even if your neighbor isn’t qualified, she may know someone nearby who is. The only way to find out is to ask.

 

Autumn is a good time of year to distribute Buddy Poppies. Our Buddy Poppy chair is Comrade Tiffany Cavin. She has a supply of special 9/11 commemorative poppies. Please contact her at 253-327-8906 or [email protected] if you are interested in helping with this project.

 

November brings Veterans Day, another day to help our poppy-making veterans. Our Ballard teams will be distributing Buddy Poppies that weekend. Again, if you are interested in helping this vital effort, please contact Comrade Tiffany.

 

Finally, as the sun moves farther south, remember to be safe out there. Street crosswalks, sidewalks and even the steps to your back porch can be dangerous as daylight ends earlier. Keep an eye out for hazards and especially watch out for children.

From the Commander (October 2018)

By Pete Krawitz

 

Did you know that our building is approaching it’s 68th birthday? Did you also know that the last time we pulled a construction permit for our building was 1986? Why is this important? Well, we know that the building likely needs significant repairs in the near future. Tackling those repairs may be a lot more complicated and costly than many of us realize.

 

We’ve been lucky to have our handy quartermaster, Harold Rodenberger, at the helm for so many years, however, some of the inevitable facility issues we will need to address in the future will likely be even beyond his capabilities to solve. So many Seattle building codes and regulations have been introduced and changed since we last pulled permits in 1986. For example, if we do any work in the building that would require a permit, it would likely cause an expensive cascading effect that would force us to bring other aspects of the building up to code. We would soon learn that the expertise and time required to fully understand these implications was well beyond all of our capabilities.

 

In order to better arm our post with the knowledge to make informed decisions now and even 10 years from now, we recruited the assistance of a local design-build team: Schacht Aslani Architects and Heartland Construction. The House committee and the leadership team reviewed a proposal, which was subsequently introduced to the members and approved in August.

 

I believe this will be one of the most important investments that the post has made in many years. The results of this work will provide all of us with critical information that we will be able to use for many years and will hopefully help ensure the long term survival of our post in Ballard.

 

So now what? Over the next few months, representatives from the architect and contractors will be crawling through our building to determine the current state of our facility, researching how new zoning and permitting impacts us, and conducting interviews with a variety of members of the post to better understand how we currently use the space. By early next year, we should have the results of this work and a series of recommendations from these experts.

 

At this stage, we’ve had an initial kick-off meeting with the contractors and will soon be developing the final schedule of interviews and surveys. We will be providing regular updates to the post members via the monthly business meeting and the newsletter.

 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to [email protected] or stop by before the next business meeting on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. (the meeting starts at 7 p.m.).

 

Finally, it’s worth noting that the work described above is going to be the primary focus of the leadership team and house committee between now and the end of the year. This doesn’t mean I want to put all other aspects of our work and mission on hold, we just need more volunteers to assist in coordinating post events and activities now more than ever (socials, VA hospital visits, etc.). If you are interested in assisting and/or leading any of those types of events or activities, please bring it up at the next business meeting (remember, you can submit the agenda items online by visiting www.vfwseattle.org) or send me an e-mail at [email protected].