MOAA: Chapter Activities (Field Reports)

Kindness Lasts

It seems like only yesterday, but it was 37 years ago. I was a new lieutenant, married with two children, and so far from home that we couldn’t afford to return at holidays.

I came to know a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel named Lou. He had come to the office for legal assistance (I was a young Air Force JAG at the time), and we struck up an acquaintance. He was a retired B-47 pilot who had settled with his wife, Ruth, near our installation, and he often came to visit the hospital, commissary, BX, etcetera.

As our friendship grew, he realized what my family was facing during the holidays. In a gesture of kindness I still remember, he invited us to his house for Thanksgiving dinner — and a grand Thanksgiving it was. He and his wife lived on a large farm with horses, cows, and a tractor, and boy did my kids love to ride that tractor with Lou at the controls. They still remember those rides!

Many of you live near military installations with active duty, Guard, or Reserve units deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or aboard ships. Where are the families of deployed soldiers spending the holidays? Are there any Lous and Ruths out there who think it’s a good idea to have a chapter set up a program where members host one or more of these families for a holiday dinner?

If you do, you won’t be doing it for publicity but because you want to support those who are protecting us. It will be an act of kindness that comes from your heart. As the recipient of such a gesture, it is something I will never forget. And I’ll bet that as the person making the gesture, it is something you’ll never forget.

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

Chapter Helps Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

On Aug. 30, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Like most Americans who live in other parts of the country, members of the MOAA Memphis (Tenn.) Chapter watched as images of battered buildings, demolished roadways, and flooded and wind-damaged homes were broadcast on TV. Then they began calling each other and asking, “What can we do to help the people who live there?”

Soon after, members received an e-mail from chapter President Lt. Cmdr. Kathy Desjarlais, USN-Ret., informing them that hundreds of military families from the Gulf Coast were being evacuated to nearby Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South in Millington, Tenn. Desjarlais attached a list, provided by base housing officials, of household goods evacuees would need.
Chapter members heeded the call, and several gave money to help purchase items. Others rummaged through their homes and donated sets of china, glassware, flatware, bedding, air mattresses, microwave ovens, furniture, TVs, and other household goods. A few solicited donations from other military and veterans’ groups in the area. A dozen more chapter members volunteered to work at the base’s thrift store, which set up a special section so evacuees could obtain many of the household goods they needed for free.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ken Nieves, USN, who is stationed at NSA New Orleans, and several members of his unit visited the thrift store shortly after they arrived at NSA Mid-South in Millington. They were given personal hygiene items, bedding, pillows, towels, and other necessities by chapter member Cmdr. Mike Higgs, USNR-Ret., and his wife, Kathleen, who were volunteering there.

“Hurricanes come and go along the Gulf Coast this time of year,” says Nieves. “You get used to it. This is the third time our unit has evacuated because of a hurricane this year. A lot of us thought it would blow through and we’d be back in two days, so we just left with three or four days’ worth of clothing and not much else.”

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, chapter First Vice President Capt. A. Lee “Goat” Lawson, USN-Ret., has spent countless hours collecting and delivering donations to the thrift store and to servicemembers who now reside in base housing. During the past few weeks, he’s met Navy Seabees from Gulfport, Miss., dozens of military families from NSA New Orleans, and a few airmen from Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss.

“A lot of times all they have is an air mattress, a little bitty portable TV, and a few clothes, because that’s all they could fit in their car,” says Lawson. “Then we go in there and give them a sofa, a decent TV, and a real bed. They’re just so appreciative.”

In addition, chapter members such as Capt. Carl Robertson, USN-Ret., and his wife, Ayn, have offered to let active duty servicemembers and military retirees stay in their homes.

“They have made use of every square foot of housing over at the base,” says Ayn Robertson, who serves as the chapter’s newsletter editor. “Some of the three-bedroom homes have three couples in them. As far as I know, no evacuees are staying with any of our chapter members, but we’re here if they need us.”

South Georgia Chapter Chartered

MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., traveled to Valdosta, Ga., Aug. 24 to charter the newly formed South Georgia Chapter. More than 114 people attended the event, including Georgia MOAA Inc. President Col. Jerry Johnson, USAF-Ret.; national board of directors member Col. Charles Davis, USA-Ret.; and 19 members from the Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Columbus, and Middle Georgia chapters. A reporter from the Valdosta Daily Times also was on hand to cover the event.

In January 2005, Lt. Col. Alton “Buddy” Johnson Jr., USAF-Ret., attended a Georgia MOAA Inc. meeting where he received guidance on starting a new chapter. Soon after, he and Col. Allan Ricketts, USA-Ret.; Lt. Col. Ralph Brown, USAF-Ret.; and Lt. Col. Ronald Allen, USA-Ret., formed an organizing committee. On May 5, the South Georgia Chapter was born.

“We already have about 60 members,” says Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, who is now the chapter president. “A lot of guardmembers live in the area, and Moody AFB is nearby, so I don’t think we’ll have problems recruiting.”

The South Georgia Chapter recently started its own newsletter and soon will have its own Web site. Members also are planning to support several Junior ROTC and ROTC units.

New Hampshire Chapter Clambake Raises $4,650

Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.); Department of Council and Chapter Affairs Deputy Director Col. Jim Pauls, USAF-Ret., and his wife, Marvella; and national board of directors member Col. R. Bancroft McKittrick, USMC-Ret., and his wife, Kathleen, were among the 421 MOAA members and guests who attended the New Hampshire Chapter’s annual clambake Aug. 6 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. Chapter members from throughout New England came to the event, including 25 members from the Fort Devens (Mass.) Area Chapter who chartered a bus.

The clambake netted $4,650 for the chapter’s scholarship fund. Currently, the New Hampshire Chapter provides interest-free student loans in the amount of $1,250 to 16 college students who are the children and grandchildren of chapter members. To support their scholarship program, members need to raise $10,000 annually.

“Thirty-plus members ran the clambake this year,” says President Lt. Col. John Graham, USA-Ret. “Everybody worked hard, and the event was a success.”

Attendees were treated to spectacular weather as they dined on a New England-style feast of clam chowder, steak, lobster, steamed clams, corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, and onions. Chapter Secretary Col. Mary Moran, USAF-Ret., also sold homemade cookies at the event, with the profits going to the scholarship fund.

The New Hampshire Chapter has hosted a clambake every year since 1984 to raise money for scholarships. None of the students who have received financial assistance from the chapter has defaulted on a loan.

Chapter Members “Stuff the Bus”

Members of the Kingdom of the Sun Chapter in Ocala, Fla., collected a record $67,000 worth of school supplies and monetary donations during Operation Stuff the Bus. Chapter members worked with Marion County (Fla.) Schools to help collect items for more than 1,000 homeless and needy children living in the county.

“Our goal is for every child in our county to have a good first day of school, at least to the extent that being adequately supplied for that event helps,” says chapter member Col. Lamar Hunt, USA-Ret.

Hunt helped start Operation Stuff the Bus four years ago during a brainstorming session between local school board members, county officials, and community leaders. The group was discussing ways to help homeless and needy children in the Marion County area, when the school district’s homeless liaison remarked that she wished they could just take a bunch of school buses and stuff them with school supplies. Operation Stuff the Bus was born.

More than 75 chapter members assisted in this year’s effort, which received extensive media coverage. Marion County Schools bus drivers parked several donated buses outside area Wal-Mart and Kmart stores for five consecutive weekends in July and August. Shoppers were challenged to “stuff the bus” with school supplies and other needed items. Local civic leaders also donated to the effort.

According to chapter President Cmdr. William Pulver, USN-Ret., members collected more this year than in the previous three years combined. In the past four years, the chapter has collected more than $135,000 for Operation Stuff the Bus.

The 257-member chapter supports other service projects, too. Each year, it holds a flag retirement ceremony, and every quarter it honors county veterans who have recently passed away. This year, members also awarded $1,000 college scholarships to four outstanding area students.

Give Me 10! Campaign Going Strong

The Give Me 10! recruiting campaign runs until Dec. 31. If your chapter hasn’t enrolled, return your opt-in card or call MOAA’s Member Service Center at (800) 234-6622 to get started. Once signed up, you’ll receive marketing support and incentives to win over new members.

Participating chapters receive $10 for every new member they recruit and a one-time bonus of $100 after they recruit 10 members. Chapters will continue to receive $10 for each new paid member recruited, even after they’ve signed up 10 members. Chapters also will be broken out by size, with a $1,000 prize going to the top chapter in each category.

Every time a recruiter signs up a new member, he or she is entered into our sweepstakes with a chance to win $1,000. The new member associated with the winning recruiter will receive a prize too— a life membership to MOAA and $500.

For more information, visit the Give Me 10! Web site, www.moaa.org/givemeten. Remember, we need your help to keep our association strong, so sign up today!

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