MOAA: Chapter Activities (Field Reports)

Field Reports
By Col. Chris Giaimo, USAF-Ret., Director, and Col. Jim Pauls, USAF-Ret., Council and Chapter Affairs, and Kris Ann Hegle

Clearwater Chapter Retires Flags

Many people don’t know how to dispose of an American flag once it becomes worn or tattered. That’s why members of the Clearwater (Fla.) Chapter decided to hold a flag retirement ceremony.

More than 50 people attended the chapter’s second annual flag retirement ceremony, held June 14 in Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. Members teamed with officials from the City of Indian Rocks Beach, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and others in the community and collected 1,500 flags, which were retired in a dignified and patriotic fashion.

Articles about the ceremony appeared in several area newspapers, including the St. Petersburg Times. The local CBS affiliate in Tampa, Fla., WTSP, also aired a story about the event.

“I can think of no better project to bring recognition to a small chapter of MOAA than to coordinate a flag retirement ceremony with a city,” says Cmdr. Victor Wood, USN-Ret., first vice president of the Clearwater Chapter. “The influence of this event was large, thanks to the publicity the event received. ... It has been a rallying point for our members this year.”

Two years ago, the Clearwater Chapter almost folded. Fortunately, several hardworking members stepped in and helped reinvigorate the chapter, which has evolved into a community-minded organization with more than 90 members.

“We won a Chapter of the Year award back in 1992,” says Wood. “My goal is to get back to that level again.”

Golden West Chapter Hosts Ryan

Members of the Golden West Chapter in Costa Mesa, Calif., welcomed national MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., and his wife, Judy, at the chapter’s May meeting. More than 140 people turned out to hear Ryan speak, including members from all eight chapters that reside in the state council’s Southwest Area Six region.

During his speech, Ryan said MOAA’s numbers were expected to dip to 340,000 by 2007 if the association didn’t change its name. With the name change, however, membership numbers now are expected to increase to 400,000 by 2007. He also outlined the association’s legislative priorities for the coming year, spoke about the contributions being made by National Guard and Reserve troops, and discussed MOAA’s Educational Assistance Program, which provides scholarships and no-interest loans to deserving students.

Following the speech, Pearl Harbor survivor and Golden West Chapter member Lt. Col. Andrew Weniger, USAF-Ret., formally recognized Judy Ryan. After brunch, Col. William Gavitt, USAF-Ret., president of the California Council of Chapters, reminded those in attendance that their participation was instrumental in helping MOAA accomplish its goals. Gavitt then presented Maj. Wilburn Ohle, USAF-Ret., president of the Los Alamitos (Calif.) Chapter, with a plaque in recognition of that chapter’s 30th anniversary.

Golden West Chapter President Lt. Cmdr. Robert Perry, USN-Ret., says members were honored to host Ryan and his wife during their visit. During the past seven-and-a-half years, the chapter has grown from 137 members to more than 200 members. The average age of a member also has dropped from 78 to 74.

“It was just pure hard work,” says Perry, who also serves as the chapter’s membership chair. “That and persuading several chapter officers who left to come back and rejoin the chapter. They’ve made a huge difference. We’ve had a significant turnaround.”

The efforts of the chapter’s new cadre of officers have paid off. In 2002 and again in 2003, the chapter donated $500 to national MOAA’s Educational Assistance Program. This year, members also donated $200 to the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Fund at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

A New Wrinkle

We’ve been leading council and chapter president symposia for six years now, and for the most part they’ve fallen into a comfortable format. In fact, as you read this, our midwestern leaders, as well as our national board members from the Midwest, will be making final plans to meet in Kansas City for the 2003 gathering.

This year we’re trying something new, but before I tell you about it let me explain why we’re doing it. We’ve long extolled the virtue of chapters having a personal affairs officer on their leadership teams to help a surviving spouse when a member passes away. We’ve emphasized that providing this up-close and personal help in the near-term, as soon after the death as possible, is a mission uniquely suited to a chapter. Our chapter members agree, and today more than 60 percent of all chapters have either an individual or a committee willing to help.

We want that number to grow. We want folks in our chapters to know that if they volunteer to take on this all-important task, we offer training, assistance, and source material. Also, if this support proves insufficient, the Benefits Information Department at headquarters can answer more complicated questions.

So, for the first time at a symposium, we have invited each chapter to bring along its personal affairs representative. These folks will have their own minisymposium. They’ll receive guidance on whom to contact when a member dies, what steps to take with agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, what paperwork a surviving spouse should have handy, and what general benefits are available to a surviving spouse.

Although this minisymposium is a new concept, its potential cannot be overemphasized. The preamble to our national bylaws clearly states that part of our mission is to “aid active and retired personnel of the various services from which our members are drawn, and their dependents and survivors, in every proper and legitimate manner.” How better can we fulfill this part of our mission than to provide a lending hand, a shoulder to lean on, when the survivor most needs it?

Col. Chris Giaimo, USAF-Ret.
Director, Council and Chapter Affairs

Junior ROTC Students Receive Scholarships

Members of the New Jersey Lakes and Pines Chapter presented $1,000 scholarships to three outstanding Junior ROTC students during the chapter’s June meeting. Helping students is a priority for the chapter’s 270-plus members, who support 11 Junior ROTC units at area high schools and one ROTC unit at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.

In addition, the chapter plans to award several $250 “follow-on” scholarships this fall. The scholarships will be given to previous recipients who have maintained a high grade point average.

“Members support the scholarship program by donating a little extra money when they renew their dues each year,” says Lt. Col. Ray Flavion, USAF-Ret., who has chaired the chapter’s scholarship and awards program since its inception in 1998. “We also have an arrangement with a thrift shop over at McGuire Air Force Base (AFB). When the thrift shop sells an item [on consignment] for a member, the proceeds from the sale go to the chapter rather than the member.”

The Lakes and Pines Chapter is continuing to grow, thanks to the efforts of its members. When McGuire AFB held its Retiree Appreciation Day, members set up a table and distributed information about the chapter, which helped them recruit several new members. The chapter also began publishing a newsletter last year, which has helped increase communication.

Recently, the chapter donated $250 each to the Army Emergency Relief Fund, the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society, the Air Force Aid Society, and the Coast Guard Assistance Fund. Members have vowed to donate even more to these organizations in 2004.

New Chapter Chartered in Texas

It started as a casual conversation. Brig. Gen. Oscar Jardon, USAF-Ret., told Lt. Col. John Gerhard, USA-Ret., he wished an MOAA chapter were in the Rockport, Texas, area where they lived. Gerhard did too. Several years earlier, a chapter in the Rockport-Fulton area had folded, and the nearest MOAA chapter now was 45 minutes away in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Many former, retired, and active duty officers still lived in the area, however, so Jardon and Gerhard decided to see if anyone else was interested in starting a chapter. They were, and on May 15, 2003, the North Coastal Bend Chapter was chartered.

On hand for the event were Col. Chris Giaimo, USAF-Ret., director of national MOAA’s Council and Chapter Affairs Department, and Texas Council of Chapters Second Vice President Lt. Cmdr. Gilberto Rodriguez, USN-Ret., and Secretary Lt. Col. Ed Marvin, USAF-Ret.

Currently, the chapter’s officers are looking into supporting an area ROTC or Junior ROTC unit. However, their primary focus continues to be on recruiting. The chapter already has 60 members, and Gerhard says he’d like to see 100 names on the roster by the end of the year.

“Our main thrust right now is to try and get younger people in,” says Jardon, chapter president. “I think we’re off to a good start, and it’s going quite well so far.”

Sunflower Chapter Helps With Stand Down

More than a dozen members of the Sunflower (Kan.) Chapter set up tents, passed out clothing, and served breakfast to hungry veterans in Kansas City, Mo., during the city’s biannual Stand Down. The event, which was sponsored by the Heart of America Stand Down Foundation, was held June 19–21.

“We want to be more than just a social organization,” says CWO David Kennedy, USMC-Ret., immediate past president. “We want to be a service organization.”

During the Stand Down, needy veterans received food, clean clothing, and counseling about benefits available to them through Social Security and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Participants also received housing and employment service referrals, obtained legal advice, and had pending legal issues adjudicated.

Their commitment to serving the community led Sunflower Chapter members to launch a scholarship program shortly after the chapter was founded in 1998. Initially, scholarships were awarded to students who participated in Junior ROTC units supported by the chapter.

The program expanded in 2002, and students who participate in an ROTC unit supported by the chapter now can apply. In May, members awarded a $3,000 scholarship to Army ROTC Cadet Ryan Dittmer, who attends the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

The Sunflower Chapter, which has added more than 30 members to its roster this year alone, supports its scholarship program through concession sales, drawings at monthly meetings, and an annual Christmas auction. To date, members have raised a total of $15,000 for their scholarship program, and the chapter has formed a foundation so contributions are tax-deductible.

IN FOCUS

A closer look at council and chapter achievements

Invest in the Future

This month, thousands of military dependents will load up their cars and head off to college. Their departure will leave their parents feeling pride and concern—pride that their sons or daughters are going to college and concern about how they are going to pay for it.

Helping members finance their children’s college educations was such a concern that MOAA’s founders stated it as one of the association’s primary objectives. No one has worked harder to help achieve that objective than MOAA’s chapter and council members.

Many chapters and councils have their own scholarship program. Others contribute to national MOAA’s scholarship fund. A few chapters, such as the Ark-La-Tex Chapter in Louisiana, do both.

The Ark-La-Tex Chapter has one of the more successful chapter-run scholarship programs, thanks to careful planning, innovative fundraising techniques, and members’ unwavering support. Building a successful scholarship program takes time, says Lt. Col. Lees Broome, USAF-Ret., a longtime member of the Ark-La-Tex Chapter and a past member of national MOAA’s board of directors.

In the mid-1970s, members of the Ark-La-Tex Chapter began raising money for their scholarship program by running a concession stand at nearby Barksdale Air Force Base when it held its annual open house. During the 1980s, members set up a gift-wrapping booth at the local base exchange during the holidays, which added $5,000 to $6,000 a year to the program’s coffers.

Eventually, the chapter began relying on members’ donations. Today, the chapter’s 2,250-plus members donate an average of $10 each to the scholarship fund every year by adding a little bit extra to their dues renewal check, says Lt. Col. George Finck, USAF-Ret., chapter president and scholarship fund chairperson.

The Ark-La-Tex Chapter banked the money it raised until the fall of 1990, when the interest in the account was used to award five $500 scholarships to college-bound students. Members continued to add to the principal, and several years later the chapter began awarding 10 $500 scholarships annually, one of which is named after the late Col. William Miller, USAF, a longtime chapter member.

In 1999, the Hackney family made a donation to the chapter’s program and created the Hunter Hackney Memorial Scholarship. Earlier this year, a gift from an anonymous donor created the Chief Jimmie Blackmon Leadership Memorial Scholarship. These two $1,000 scholarships also are awarded annually.

This year, rising tuition costs, coupled with members’ generous donations, inspired the chapter’s board of directors to increase the amount of each of its 10 regular scholarships to $1,000. This allowed the Ark-La-Tex Chapter to award 12 scholarships totaling $12,000 in 2003 alone.
In addition, members have supported The Scholarship Fund of MOAA since 1992, contributing a total of $65,000 and creating four “designated scholarships.” Two of the designated scholarships are named after Col. Steve dePyssler, USAF-Ret., a longtime member and editor of the chapter’s award-winning newsletter.

Launching and funding a successful chapter-sponsored scholarship program takes time, as evidenced by the efforts of members of the Ark-La-Tex Chapter. But as their experience demonstrates, putting in that effort can reap tremendous rewards for both the students benefiting from the scholarships and the chapter members themselves, who can take pride in knowing they’ve helped the next generation of America’s leaders on the road to success.