Yearly Archive: 2013

As we have the past several years, the Post will be hosting a booth at the Edmonds Night Out on July 30th.  If you don’t know what it entails, it is sponsored by the Police Guild and promotes safety for children in our community.  The Police, Fire Department, and EMT’s will all have vehicles there along with a number of organizations promoting youth safety.  We will present the colors to open the festivities and we will be handing out flags and brochures on flag etiquette.  In addition, the Police Guild needs help at the various rides and games they have for the children and can always use an extra hand.  It’s a great evening for the kids so if you have some time, try and make it.  Not only does it help the youth of Edmonds, it gives us the opportunity to let the community know the VFW is alive and well in Edmonds.

Just a reminder that you can find this newsletter along with a ton of information at our website www.vfw8870.org.  We post our Minutes from the last meeting and password protect them from unauthorized folks looking at them.  If you have forgotten the password, contact the quartermaster at [email protected] and he will get it to you.  Along with the minutes, you’ll find contact information for the Post’s officers, membership applications should you run into a prospective candidate and don’t have one with you.  There is also a link to order a copy of your DD-214.  Finally, you’ll find links for the Post’s scholarship, Student Essays, and Teacher of the Year applications.  So spend a few minutes on the site to see what is there.

At our June meeting, Post # 8870 welcomed three veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars who are students at Seattle Central Community College.  These three students have assumed leadership positions for the newly organized Student Veterans Association on campus.  The mission of the Veterans Organization is to ensure academic success of student veterans by assisting them with the financial burdens of higher education.  The organization has organized several initiatives to establish a Student Veterans Scholarship Fund.

VFW Post #8870 has established working relationships with similar student veterans groups at several other area colleges, and we look forward to supporting the Student Veterans Association at Seattle Central Community College.  The Post membership approved a donation of $500 to the group’s scholarship fund, and we look forward to working with the organization in the future.

There will be an annual wreath laying ceremony on July 27th at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Capital Campus in Olympia.  This will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the armistice and the public is encouraged to attend.  I know we have a number of members who are veterans of the Korean War and I suggest that you may wish to form a car pool and attend the ceremony.  The service is to begin at 11:00AM so utilizing the car pool lanes will be beneficial to ensure you get there in a timely fashion.  If you have any specific questions regarding the event, you can contact the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs at 1-800-562-0132 option 1 or email them at [email protected].

Ok Comrades—bring your check books or cash to the next meeting if you intend to go to the Aquasox game on August 17th.  This is VFW day at the park and your family is invited to attend.  Tickets are $10.  I realize it is a couple of months off but we are trying to get head counts and arrange for some special events at the game and I have found that when there is some skin in the game, the counts become more accurate.

I suspect a lot of us are already American Legion members.  For those of you who are not, please consider it.  In our small community, the VFW and American Legion team up in virtually all the community events from Edmonds Night Out to the 4th of July Parade.  For the American Legion to thrive, it needs new blood.  Their meeting takes place on the third Monday of the month at 6PM in the Senior Center’s library room.  Come by on June 17th and consider a membership.

Erv, a young 97, is shown with 3 members of the Mill Creek Fire Department.  Erv was part of a team of members who made this year the most successful on record.  Hopefully, we can all be pulling a Poppy shift when we are 97.

The Post set a new record in Buddy Poppy donations.  The total as of May 28th (some funds are still trickling in) is $13,430.  As you know, this money is used exclusively for our Relief Fund.  We have been able to be generous because our community is generous in their support of VFW.  I want to thank everyone who did “Poppy Duty”.  Duty is a poor word to use.  I should restate it to “Opportunity” since it is an opportunity to hear folks thank you for your service, share stories of their service or that of their father, mother, sister or brother.  For the first time, we experimented with the use of a credit card reader which was attached to our iPhone or iPad.  It was only used at one location, and while it didn’t raise significant funds, we did collect $150 that we wouldn’t otherwise have collected.  Since there is no charge for the equipment and only a nominal service charge for the transaction, we will probably expand their use in the future.  I want to thank Bob Crawford who organized the event.  He did a great job in seeing everyone was in the right place and at the right time.  Elizabeth Mather and Tom Hallums counted the cash and prepared the deposit slips for the bank.

In addition to raising funds, we all had the opportunity to recruit new members to our Post.  I suspect we will need to replenish our supply of applications (I know I emptied my car of the half-dozen that I carry).

Finally, I am not sure how many folks that came by and said they were so glad to see Poppies again for Memorial Day.  I notice that Prince Harry was wearing a Poppy on his recent visit to the States, but I don’t recall seeing a single politician with one in his or her lapel while watching the news on Memorial Day.  Perhaps VFW can bring back a tradition that has faded from the American landscape over the past few generations.  I know that Post 8870 purchased 20,000 Poppies so at least that many folks were wearing them on their lapel on Memorial Day.