VVA Clermont County Chapter 649 September 2020 Newsletter

September 10th Membership Meeting at 6:30 PM

VVA 649 Meetings

VVA 649 meets the second Thursday of every month.

NEXT MEETING: Sept 10th

LOCATION Union Township Civic Center

Amphitheater

4350 Aicholtz Road Eastgate Exit of I-275 Meeting at 7:00 PM

AVVA Membership Associates of Vietnam Veterans

Members actively participate

and work in supporting VVA.

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The mission of Chapter 649 of the Vietnam Veterans of America is to provide fellowship, advocacy, education about veter-an benefits, as well as financial assistance, as appropriate, to veterans of all eras, pursuant to the founding principle of the Vietnam Veterans of America, “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”

Our September meeting will be held again in the Amphitheater directly behind Union Township Civic Center. The buildings are still not open for events. We are asking that you bring a folding chair as

there is limited seating. The meeting will start promptly at 6:30PM and end at 8:00 PM. We will ob-serve social distancing rules, 6 feet apart, with masks as requested by Union Township. There will be no food served. Water will be provided. In case of rain we will meet on the covered stage. To get to

the Amphitheater, park on the far-right end of the Union Township Civic Center and follow the walk-ing path down to the outside theater. Please lock your vehicles and leave no visible valuables inside!

Our Guest Speaker will be Union Township Police Officer Dave Perkins and his partner Kaos from the Union Township Canine Unit. The Union Township Canine Unit has proven to be an effective crime fighting tool. Officer Perkins and “Kaos” have been on patrol since July 2016. Canine Kaos has been cross trained to detect illegal narcotics and to search and track people.

August Business of the Month

The August VVA Chapter 649 Busines of the Month award was presented to Ken Geis, Union Township Administrator and the Union Township Trustees for their support of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Chapter’s activities in the community. Ben Joehnk, First Vice President of Chapter 649 presented the award. The award is presented monthly to local busi-nesses and organizations that support the chapter.

Memorial Bricks Order Now

Placed by Veterans Day Forms at www.vva649.org

VVA 649 September 2020 PAGE 2

September Birthdays

VVA 649 Schedule of 2020 Activities

Sept 10: General Membership Meeting 6:30 PM Union Township Amphitheater

Sept 12: VVA649 Annual Golf Outing at ELK’s Run Golf Course.

Oct 8: General Membership Meeting 6:00 PM Location War Bird Museum

Nov 11: Veterans Day Event at Helicopter. Union Township Veterans Memorial Park TBA

Birthday Information If your birthday has not appeared here this month or anytime this year, or if the date is not

accurate, please contact Ken Williamson with the correct information. 513-260-6501

The VVA Veteran printed edition will no longer be published and mailed to members. Budget cuts, due to the Household Goods program being shut down during the Covid-19 Pandemic is re-sponsible for the magazine only being published on-line. The link to read it on your computer is www.vvaveteran.org

Sorry we missed your birthday: Francis Kelly July 15th

Michele Pennington and Tom Olenick were just two of our members who worked recent Meet and Greets at Everything Bagels and Eastgate Walmart. Many veterans stopped by to lean about benefits , membership and to talk with us about various topics. If you want to join us for future events contact Mark Brandon at 513-309-3568.

09 / 01- Cliff Riley

09 / 05- Herstle Bridges

09 / 05- Robert L. Barger

09 / 06- Bruce Nutley

09 / 06- Robert Ireton

09 / 06- Wayne Waligorski

09 / 06- James “Peanut” Kahles

09 / 07- John Pane

09 / 07- John Swigert

09 / 10- Tom Fecher

09 / 13- Kim Bredenbeck

09 / 13- Richard Day

09 / 14- Danny Sims

09 / 14- Walter Shipley

09 / 16- James Bell

09 / 20- David Watkins

09 / 20- Lannie Cornell

09 / 21- Darryl Trace

09 / 22- Luther Perry

09 / 23- Stephen Dehass

09 / 25- Frank Brisker

09 / 25- James Ohsenhirt

09 / 26- George Anderson Jr

09 / 26- John D. Rudolph

09 / 27- Cindy Smith AVVA

09 / 30- Dennis Waler

VVA 649 September 2020 PAGE 3

15th Annual Golf Scramble Saturday, September 12th

Elks Run Golf Club

NOT A GOLFER? You can still help by getting hole sponsors and door prizes. You or a business you patronize can be-come a hole sponsor for $50. A sign with

your name or business name will be posted on the golf course. Door prizes are easy to ask for. We need discount coupons, gift cards to restaurants, tools, gift items, etc. If you can help, Call Ken Williamson at 513-260-6501

October Membership Meeting to be Held at The Tri-State War Bird Museum

Our October 8th meeting will be held at the War Bird Museum. Doors open at 6:00 PM and food will be served at 6:30 PM. We will be meeting in the hanger surrounded by the aircraft on display. There will be a short business meeting and speakers from the museum will provide information about the museum and its dis-plays. There is no cost for this event. Food will be a ca-tered box lunch paid for by the chapter.

Those planning to attend will need to make a reser-vation by September 25th as space is limited. You may reserve by signing up at the September meeting, Calling or texting Ken Williamson 513-260-6501or sending an email to kenw1@fuse.net.

Masks and social distancing rules will be followed.

Tri-State War Bird Museum 4021 Borman Dr. Batavia

Scholarships Awarded

Three $1,000 scholarships were awarded at our August Membership Meeting. This program be-gan several years ago with one $500 scholarship. We are hoping to add a fourth scholarship in 2021.

Committee Chair Phil Dodge presented a certifi-cate to each of the three finalists; Bryce Goad, Sean Lyons and Kaila Nutter. Bryce’s mom, Hollie accepted his certificate because Bryce was already away at college.

$1000 CASH Cash Raffle. Who couldn’t use an extra few bucks to buy a few masks and take a trip around the block? The money we raise from our raffle and golf outing goes back out to our community in the form of scholarships, help to veterans at Christmas and to support our mission throughout the year. We need help sell-ing tickets. Call Michael Newman today at 513-607-9309. Tickets also available at our next membership meeting.

Got News? If you have news that you would like to see in the newsletter or a correction, Please contact: Ken Williamson at 513-260-6501

VVA 649 September 2020 PAGE 4

From the President

Meeting Times

I appreciate all the members who have continued to attend the membership meetings at our “temporary” outside location. I know these are difficult times for all of us. Last month we did not have 20 members so we could not vote to accept the minutes or make any other decisions. This month we will again be meeting at the Amphitheater but at an earlier time, 6:30 PM. The earlier time will al-low us to finish by eight and leave as the sun is setting. We are hoping that the governor will finalize plans to reopen Senior Centers across the state in September which will allow us to begin meeting at our regular location in the Union Township Senior Center starting with our November meeting. I will keep you informed. Wherever we meet, the new start time will be 6:30 and the end time will be 8:00 PM. The focus of our meetings will be continue to be more on the guest speaker and chapter activities and less on business. Membership and Volunteers

VVA 649 continues to be the largest chapter in Ohio with 262 members and membership across the

country continues to grow with a total of about 88,000 members. We expect to have another 20 to 30 new members in Chapter 649 by next year. While membership continues to grow, The Covid-19 situ-ation has hit us hit us hard with the temporary loss of our Household Goods program. With the clos-

ing of thrift stores nationwide our annual income has been reduced. The effect on Chapter 649 is a po-tential loss of $4000 income per year. This amount is difficult to make up from other sources. Pickups for thrift stores have restarted and some thrift stores have reopened but it remains to be seen when or if those funds will return to the local chapters.

While the chapter has appreciated the Household Goods income, we have not been entirely dependent

on it for supporting our programs and activities. Our mission is not about money. It is about working together for the greater good of all veterans and that requires funding. Those who volunteer on many levels, including fundraising, deserve credit for keeping the chapter moving forward. There are a core

group of fifteen to twenty members who do the majority of the heavy lifting. We would love to see more of our members take a leadership position with respect to spreading the work around and helping to make our programs more successful.

We all have talents that can be used for the greater good. Think about how many more veterans we

could meet and help, if we could staff more meet and greets around town. The golf outing, now in its 15th year, could be a bigger and better event if we had more members gathering door prizes and sell-ing raffle tickets or helping make sponsor signs or send out mailings. Our memorials would look nicer

if they were cleaned four times a year. (We are looking for work details now.) Some of our members could attend our meetings if they had volunteers who would pick them up and drive them to an event. The list is endless and I am sure that there are members reading this right now who could come up

with their own list. Who can send get well cards to our hospitalized veterans? Who can call our 262 members periodically and ask how they are? Who can help set up chairs for our meetings?

I know, the military taught us never to volunteer for anything—but that was 50 years ago. I hope some of you will come up with your own list or volunteer to do one of the items mentioned above. Contact

any board member - we would be happy to sign you up!

Got News? If you have news that you would like to see in the newsletter or a correction, Please contact: Ken Williamson at 513-260-6501