Post 10249 Newsletter
Post 10249 Newsletter
VFW Department of the Pacific
Areas, District V quarterly meeting.
Charoen Sri Grand Hotel, Udon Thani
The VFW Department of the Pacific Areas, District V quarterly meeting was held at Udon Thani’s Charoen Sri Grand Hotel on Friday, August 15 and Saturday, August 16, 2008.. Friday, August 15 had a Cootie meeting on the second floor of the Hotel, and according to attending Cooties the meeting was a great success. Tom Smith represented our Post at the Cootie meeting. Tom has been a longtime Cootie member and has attended many of their function throughout the years.
The District V business session was held on the Third floor of the Hotel in VIP room 1. There were 26 District 5 attendees, and all Post’s in the District were represented except there wasn’t a representative from the Phnom Phenh, Cambodia Post. Post 10249 had a super showing as 8 Post members attended the business session, Commander Sal Arcado, Senior Vice Commander Bob Spittler, Junior Vice Commander John Pough, Quartermaster Bill Nienhaus, one year trustee Tom Smith, Forrest Williams, Clarence Tucker, and Joe Hammes.
The following were items discussed at the Saturday business session:
It was agreed that each Post should purchase a wreath on behalf of the District each time a District member passed away. The Post could then bill the District for the cost of that wreath.
District V has District pins for sale. Our Post has ordered 30 pins. Price of the pins was not given at this time.
The District is looking for information or photos that any Post would like included in the Department of the Pacific Areas publication The Typhoon. If the Post has any articles or photos forward them to the District for submission to Department.
District V membership was quoted as 1070 members.
Al Serrano, Pattaya Post Commander,
asked if any Post’s were planning a POW/MIA remembrance. Al stated that
Pattaya was planning one at their Post, and that there would be a remembrance
in
The District needed to nominate a new District Quartermaster/Adjutant, and nominated a member from Post 99. The meeting members voted and approved the nomination.
Each Post hosting a District meeting should notify District of an in need school to which District could donate up to 1000 Baht when it attends that Post’s sponsored District meeting. As Post 10249 was not aware of this until the August meeting, we did not have a school picked. We will in the future.
When a Post acquires a transferred member from any other Post, both the new and old Post commanders need be notified. As such the Post receiving the transferred member should notify the Commander of the members previous Post.
The District briefed on Bangkok Wives Club, and some of their activities, and suggested this could be expanded to other Posts in the district.
The need for Posts forward data to the District on the purchasing and selling of Buddy Poppies was discussed. Sal Arcado briefed that Post 10249 in the last several years had not bought or sold buddy poppies until the past few months. Our Post now sells Buddy Poppies at each monthly Post meeting, and will have them available at any future Post activity.
Each Post made an activities report at the meeting which includes, membership totals, Community Support activities and other Post events. Post 10249's activity report was very well received and is available for reading at the September Post monthly meeting.
At the conclusion of the District meeting photos were taken of each the District attendees, and also of each individual Post’s attendees. Post 10249 then sponsored a Buffet Luncheon at the Hotel’s restaurant.
All in all many District attendees to this meeting complimented Udon Thani on a very successful and enjoyable District meeting. As Post Commander I can say that our Post did indeed do an excellent job, and the Management and Staff of the Charoen Sri Grand Hotel did an outstanding job, not only in the meeting rooms, but in accommodations for out of town members staying there, and also for setting up seating arrangements for all Buffet luncheon attendees.
Post 10249 attending members
2008
Independence Day Celebration
For the second year in a row, Post member Bill Brown and his wife Bauthong hosted an American Independence Day Party at their home. As was last year’s party the affair was a great success with American and Thai food, music, soft drinks and Thai or Lao Beer, even some 1000 firecrackers to celebrate our nation’s birthday.
Bill, his wife, and volunteers from the American expat community here in Udon, including several Post 10249 members, helped plan and worked at the party, serving beer and soft drinks, cooking, providing the music, greeting and selling tickets at the entrance
Proceeds from this party exceeded 20,000 Baht. As in the previous year, Bill and Bauthong, are donating the proceeds to a worthy cause. This year the proceeds will go to aid a disadvantaged Udon Thani area student to attend a local college. The student otherwise would not be able to attend, due to costs. At the present time Richard Phillips, Steve Hoss, and Sal Arcado are in the process of selecting a disadvantaged youth to be sponsored by the proceeds donated by Bill and his wife Bauthong.
Following are some photos taken at the Party taken by several attendees.
A lot of good conversation
Rodger doing an excellent job at the grill
Richard and Jojo take a break from the front entrance duties.
Singing our National Anthem
Setting up the food – which there was plenty of
Ken Spencer was our MC and did a great
job. Wish we could all public speak as well as you Ken.
Thanks to Ron Bates and his wife for providing these photos.
Look at all that food!
Von came all
the way from
Post 10249’s recent Community Support and
Donations to National VFW vet assistance.
Post 10249 has always helped out in the local community, sometimes more than others, but it always has. From giving rice to the old peoples home, to helping the TLC by procuring, and delivering supplies to poor schools in the Udon Area, to helping Post widows and their children., Post 10249 has been there, even if it was at Post members own expense. It has, and will be, there.
This newsletter seeks to keep all Post comrades, and friends of our Post, appraised of our Community Support and other activities. The following are our Post’s latest Support activities;
In August 2008 the Post gave a 10,000 baht emergency donation to the widow of deceased member Ed Hughes on request of a neighboring Post member of Mrs. Hughes. Our Post membership has given a total of 24,000 baht to Mrs. Hughes since the death of her husband last year. In addition, our service officers have been working exhaustingly aiding her to get any VA, or other benefits, she maybe entitled to.
The Post, on the urgent request of VFW National’s Adjutant General, Allen Kent, donated a sum of $450.00 to be used for VFW’s exceeding overtaxed Military Assistance Program. The funds are needed to provide vets and their families such assistance as free phone time, emergency financial grants, and a host of other vet and family support programs. Our Post had previously given $300 to this VFW National program in December of 2007.
Also in August Post 10249 compiled Post members, and District V meeting attendees, signatures in support of a Disabled American Veterans (DAV) petition requesting Congress and the President to enact new laws promptly to properly screen and treat all military personnel and veterans returning from overseas battlefields with psychological wounds, PTSD, brain trauma injuries, and to provide comprehensive support to family caregivers of severely wounded and disabled veterans, including access to VA mental health care services and financial support programs.
Post member Bill Brown made a personal donation of an HP Multifunction printer, scanner, fax and copier for service officer Dale Wages to use in his work helping Post widows and their families. Post Adjutant John Pough presently has the use of the Post’s multifunction printer.
After a several year hiatus Post 10249 is once again involved in VFW’s Buddy Poppy program. At every Post meeting our Quartermaster collects Buddy Poppy donations from Post members for forwarding to District. In the future, the Post plans to offer Buddy Poppy sales at all Post activities.
Our Post is in the process of seeking
a local restaurant to host a planned Thanksgiving Day dinner for Post members
and their families, as well as families of other American Expats in the Udon
Thani area. We have not had such a Thanksgiving Day observance in several
years. The dinner would be a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal with
Mike Patrick, an original member of
Post 10249, has offered to create a new Post web site, as our old site has not
been maintained or updated. Mike lives in the
Sal
Arcado
Editor