November 2007

To all our Veterans on November 11th , Post 3433 salutes you. The Veterans Parade on November 11th in downtown Charleston will be at 2pm. Our Post will have a float in the parade with clowns and a Boy Scout troop marching beside it to cheer all.

Our Local salute to Veterans will be on November 12th at 10:30 in front of the county building on Main Street in Summerville, a reception will follow at Post 3433 after the ceremonies. Come out and join us for our Salute to all Veterans.

Our Thanksgiving Day Feast at the post will be at 13:00 on Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd. All Post members are welcome. Please bring a dish or dessert to help us make it a successful day for all.

The Post's 26th anniversary gala event will be on the 10th of November this year so come out and enjoy some fun. There will be heavy hors d' oeuvres and dancing to the Mike Brooks Band, who has an excellent show and music for all.

Remember that Daylight savings time is to fall back one hour on November 4th this year.

Our October volunteer of the month goes to comrade Paul Popik who over the years has committed himself to the Post's annual Coastal Fish Fry, organizing and getting things done in a fast and orderly way. He was called upon again and did an outstanding job. Give comrade Paul Popik and his wife Pam, a hardy hello and handshake for a job well done. Also to Jim Bolin and Sam Smith for brewing the great catfish stew, Sarge and Betty Gander for making great hush puppies, and especially to the Boy Scouts of Troop 752 who helped at the coastal Center to make it a great success.

Tickets for our annual 20/20 Gala event are on sale now for our Party on March 26th 2008.

Winter fest Tickets are still available, the drawing will be on December 1st at 18:00 hours. It will be a great time for a winter party for the up coming holidays

In Comradeship,
Gary L. "Goose" Gander

The Fall Conference went very well.  It was informative and we got a lot accomplished.  I would like to congratulate our Jr. Vice, Denise Voskamp for taking 2nd place in our Buddy Poppy display.  The display is on top of our supply cabinet.  Also thank you to each and everyone who helped Denise to complete her project in such a short time.  I am very proud of our Auxiliary and I am sure we will do just fine in everything we do. Chairman, please turn in your reports so our Auxiliary will be recognized at our Conferences.  If you are having any problems with your reporting please contact me and I will help in anyway I can.

Our hospital visit consisted of Danny and me.  I know our visit fell on the Sunday after the Conference and many were late getting back from Myrtle Beach.  Our visit went well as always and one of the patients in the Psychiatric Ward said she sent us a thank you card, but it was returned due to an incomplete address.  It really touches you when they want to thank you for visiting them, when in all actuality, we should be thanking them for their services.

We visited the Victory House on October 21st and it was such a wonderful visit. The residents really enjoyed our visit.  The Beaufort MOC/MOCA was there and provided cookies, punch and friendship cards.  We brought t-shirts from our MOCA. The visit was "Make a Difference Day, The VFW Way".

Don't forget our Southern Conference, November 1st – 4th.

I would like to wish everyone and their families a Happy Thanksgiving.

Our next meeting will be November 6th, hope to see everyone there. Don't forget we always need volunteers. We need our members to continue paying their dues.  We are at 94.5% right now and we need to be 100% in order for our Auxiliary to receive any kind of awards at the end of the term, so if you know of anyone wanting to join our Auxiliary, the dues are $15 and the applications are kept behind the bar, just ask the bartender on duty.  If you know of any members who haven't renewed their dues, just give them a little pep talk and persuade them to renew.  

Operation Stand-down will be the 1st and 2nd of November.  Volunteers are needed on October 31st to help set up everything to be handed out to homeless Veterans and homeless people in the Low Country.  Please try to help out by volunteering.

Don't forget our Anniversary party on November 10th.  The Veterans Day celebration will be on the 11th of November.  We need to be downtown in time to ride or walk by the float before the parade begins at 2pm.

Please don't forget to bring something to our next meeting for our headache cooler. Commander Goose has given us permission to start selling tickets as soon as I can put it together.  This is very important because it's going towards Operation Uplink to help our soldiers get phone cards for home.  The drawing will be held Christmas Eve and you need not be present to win.  Our tickets will be 6 for a $5 donation.

Before I close, thank you all for your help and I am very proud of our Auxiliary.  Let's keep up the good work.

Yours in friendship and sisterhood,
Carrie Conyers

Well, here it is another month. The Turkey shoots have started and seem to be off to a good one. We still need volunteers for Thursday nights. If you can, please avail yourself to help out. We cannot do it without the help.

Thanks to all who came out and helped with the Breakfast, it was a rousing success.

Upcoming events include Wings on October 31st and the Veterans Day parade on November 11th. We will also be doing our hospital visit on the 11th after the parade. So come and join us.

Our van is now insured and licensed so it will be available during the Grand Scratch we are hosting in January. I have been told it will be a Hawaiian theme for the banquet. So dust off your grass skirt and Hawaiian shirt for the evening.

Membership dues are now due, so if you are not a life member please pay your membership so we can be 100%. And please come to the scratches as your opinion counts.

L.O.T.C.S.
Seam Squirrel Betty

We have started the Turkey shoot and are doing well.  Thank you to the sisters that have volunteered their time. 

The November Hospital visit is the same day as the Veteran Day Parade, November 11th.  We will meet at the Post. I will put out a flier on the time. We are planning on doing the Hospital visit after the parade.

We still need members to pay their dues.  I would like to have them paid before December if at all possible.  Contact me if you need some help.

We have decided on the Grand theme it is going to be a luau.   So let's start getting ideas for it.

Our next meeting is November 13th, after the hospital parade.  Be sure to mark your calendars.

Hugs and Smiles to you,
Anna

On behalf of the Post and Ladies Auxiliary, sincere condolences are extended to the families of Paul (P.J.) Wiersch and Sister Edna Fidurski, who recently went to their heavenly homes. 

Condolences are also extended to the family of Rita Ramstadt. Although she was not an Auxiliary Sister, she was a valued volunteer for quite some time. She will be missed.

Get well wishes are extended to Harriet Smith and Denise Vos Kamp. Both of these Sisters sustained foot injuries recently. Get well wishes are also extended to Brenda Wickline who underwent complicated Oral surgery. All seem to be on the mend.

Post Chaplain

MOC Chaplain    

Auxiliary Chaplain

Tom Musolf

Larry Miller         

Shirley Olson

The post has reached 79.9% of its membership goal as of today, October 21st.

We have several applications to be voted on at the November meeting which will put us over 80%.

Renewals are coming in slowly so if you have not yet sent in your annual dues please do so as soon as possible. If you wish you may pay them at the post and we will send them to National.

I am sure that there are many veterans of the present wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who have served a tour and are eligible to join, invite them to visit the Post and while they are here give them an application…membership is every member's business!

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Thoughts

It's the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It's the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.

It's the soldier, not the politician that ensures our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is the solider who salutes the flag , who serves beneath the flag, and who's coffin is draped by the flag.

Please remember this on this Veterans Day and pray for our men and women who have served and are currently serving our country and pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

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The "Old Farmer" says:

Birthdays are good for you. The more you have the longer you live.

There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

Quartermaster
Phil Gardner