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

Field Reports

It comes as no surprise that in the wake of the hurricanes of Fall 2005, many MOAA chapters and chapter members reached out to help.

Pensacola Becomes Central to Relief Efforts

Members of the Pensacola (Fla.) Chapter (PMOAA) have experienced firsthand the affects of a devastating hurricane. So when chapter President Rear Adm. Joan M. Engel, USN-Ret., learned an evacuation depot was being set up at NAS Pensacola to help military members and their families who had been affected by Hurricane Katrina, she contacted personnel at the evacuation depot, who were expecting more than 1,000 evacuees. Many of these evacuees arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs. Although cash donations were not being accepted, those who wished to contribute were encouraged to donate retail gift cards, which could be used by military families to purchase items not available at the depot.

Capt. Owen Englander, USN-Ret., used the chapter’s legislative e-mail alert system to let chapter members know Engel had agreed to serve as a collection agent for members who wanted to contribute retail gift cards. Florida Council of Chapters President Capt. William E. Knehans, USN-Ret., contacted Col. Henry Ince, USAR-Ret., who also sent out an e-mail message using the Florida Military Message Center/Interstate Military Message Center. The message let subscribers nationwide know they could help military evacuees in Pensacola by sending retail gift cards.

Donations soon came pouring in, with the Indian River Colony Club Foundation in Melbourne, Fla., generously donating $5,700 worth of retail gift cards. More MOAA chapters and state councils also contributed gift cards, including the Rio Hondo (Calif.) Chapter, Clearwater (Fla.) Chapter, Kingdom of the Sun (Fla.) Chapter, Palm Beach-Martin Counties (Fla.) Chapter, Suwannee River Valley (Fla.) Chapter, Tampa (Fla.) Chapter, Kansas Council of Chapters, First in Freedom (N.C.) Chapter, and Piedmont (N.C.) Chapter.

“So far we’ve received $16,030 in retail gift cards, which have been distributed to military families,” says Engel. “We do take care of our own, and I am very proud to be part of this.”

Some of the contributed retail gift cards were used to help sailors aboard the USS John Hall, who departed Pascagoula, Miss., to evade Hurricane Katrina. MOAA member Capt. Peter Labyak, USN-Ret., whose son-in-law is the CO of the Hall, contacted Engel after learning 40 families out of the ship’s crew of 200 suffered a total or major loss to their apartment or home. In addition, 79 sailors lost their vehicles, which had been parked on the pier.

Family members of the ship’s crew were working to collect funds to help those who had been affected, and several corporations indicated they would make donations if they were tax-deductible. Labyak, however, was having a difficult time finding a nonprofit organization that would accept donations earmarked for sailors aboard the Hall.

The Pensacola Chapter contacted national MOAA and was advised that because the chapter had nonprofit status, it couldn’t actively solicit donations, but it could accept them. Engel agreed to accept and distribute the donations, which totaled some $7,445. The money was then used to purchase retail gift cards for the Hall. An active duty naval nurse contacted Engel and donated a large amount of furniture, which was given to the sailors and their families.

“PMOAA’s willingness to step up to the plate in view of various IRS restrictions placed on nonprofit organizations was simply awesome,” says Labyak. “I will never forget this.”

Small Chapter, Big Heart

The Fort George G. Meade (Md.) Chapter only has 125 members, but dozens of them contributed to relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Many members donated money or clothing to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army. Others donated money through their employers, which provided matching contributions.

Chapter Treasurer Maj. John Whitman, USAF-Ret., who works in Falls Church, Va., took his company’s offer and contributed some of his vacation time in lieu of making a cash donation. Meanwhile, fellow chapter member Capt. Jim Gourley, USN-Ret., spent a week on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., helping construct frames for 51 houses, which were later shipped to the Gulf Coast as part of an effort by Habitat for Humanity. Other members showed their support by donating money to the organization.

In addition, several members donated airline miles to help evacuees. Still others contributed to Operation Hero Miles, which allows troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan to fly home on emergency leave for free.

Mayport Chapter Helps Evacuees Recover

Members of the Mayport (Fla.) Chapter helped dozens of servicemembers and their families who fled Hurricane Katrina and streamed into the Jacksonville, Fla., area. President Lt. Ron Henderson, USN-Ret., contacted chapter members via e-mail and asked them to contribute money and household items to the Greater Jacksonville Area United Service Organizations (USO). Chapter members answered the call and donated $953, which Henderson presented to the USO’s executive director, K.C. McCarthy. Other members contributed household items and clothing.

CWO4 Charles Fouts, USA-Ret., and his wife, Jen, and Lt. Col. Jim Rollins, USAF-Ret., and his wife, Deborah, also went out of their way to help. The Foutses placed an announcement on their retirement community’s closed circuit TV system asking residents to contact them if they had clothing or furniture they wanted to contribute to hurricane victims. They collected and delivered the contributions to the USO.

The Rollinses, who live on Amelia Island in Florida, also collected and delivered donations. While collecting in their community, the Rollinses met John and Nina Sammon, who wanted to donate their 1994 Chevy Suburban. The Rollinses asked McCarthy if she knew of a military family that needed a vehicle. Soon after, the vehicle was given to Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Rogers, USN, and his wife, Christine, who have four children between the ages of 4 and 17. They lost their home in Mississippi during the hurricane.

“She was really, really grateful,” says Henderson. “Her husband was aboard ship, so he wasn’t able to be there when she got the keys. It felt good to be able to let this military family know there are people out there who care.”

Ongoing Relief

MOAA chapters and chapter members continue to contribute to hurricane relief efforts. The Albuquerque (N.M.) Chapter recently donated $2,000 to the American Red Cross. The money was raised through members’ contributions, with a matching donation coming from the chapter.

Others, such as the Nashoba Valley (Mass.) Chapter, contributed $200 to the Salvation Army Hurricane Relief Fund, while the West Suburban Chicago Chapter and the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Chapter each contributed $500. The Huntsville (Ala.) Chapter also helped out, donating $250 apiece to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard emergency relief funds.

Members of the South Jersey Chapter decided to donate $200 to the Mississippi Coast Chapter after learning several members of that chapter had lost their homes. In Texas, the Houston Area Chapter donated $500 to the Army-Navy Hurricane Relief Fund, which used the money to help military families who had been affected by the storm. The Southside Virginia Chapter reached out to military families at nearby Fort Lee, Va., donating $1,000 to the Army Emergency Relief (AER) fund, which provides emergency loans and grants to soldiers who need help with a personal or family situation.

“Several soldiers from Fort Lee had to borrow money from AER to drive down to Florida to pick up their family members affected by the Katrina disaster and bring them back to Fort Lee,” says Col. Victoria Revilla, USA-Ret., Southside Virginia Chapter president. “The money we donated assisted AER in closing or decreasing some of those loan paybacks.”

In addition to donating money, many chapter members opened their homes and hearts to those who had lost everything. MOAA board member and Northeast Arkansas Chapter member Col. Jerry Bowen, USA-Ret., and his wife, Connie, housed a young family from Gulfport, Miss., free for seven weeks until they found a place to rent. Meanwhile, 80-year-old Lt. Col. Johnny Thompson, USAF-Ret., of the Golden Triangle (Miss.) Chapter, spent four days reconstructing houses in Gautier, Miss.

Maj. Jim Cunningham, USA-Ret., executive vice president for the Alamo (Texas) Chapter, helped hundreds of evacuees from the Gulf Coast area who were in temporary housing centers in San Antonio. Cunningham and his 15-year-old daughter, Grace, worked more than 40 hours setting up telephone stations and laptop computers with Internet access so evacuees could contact their loved ones or touch base with FEMA.

Two officers in the Atlanta Chapter also pitched in to help with hurricane relief efforts in their area. Second Vice President Col. Art Carey, USA-Ret., spent five days collecting, sorting, and boxing donated clothing, which was shipped to a relief organization in Baton Rouge, La. Chapter President Lt. Col. Mel Wilkerson, USA-Ret., collected six van loads of clothing, shoes, personal care items, and food from area organizations and delivered them to the Atlanta VA Medical Center, which was caring for both veterans and nonveterans who had been evacuated from the Gulf Coast.

Contributors are Col. Chris Giaimo, USAF-Ret., Director, and Col. Jim Pauls, USAF-Ret., Council and Chapter Affairs, and Kris Ann Hegle