News

As most of you know, our Post is a big supporter of Mike and his efforts to provide portraits to any families of fallen service men and women who request one.  To date, Mike has drawn over 3,500 portraits.  At the annual Christmas party, Post Commander Fred Apgar surprised Mike with a check for $2,000 to continue to support his project.  For once, Mike was at a loss of words, an unusual situation as his friends can attest too.  A few days later, the VFW Foundation provided him with a check for $25,000, the second payment of a 3 year commitment by National.   Mike has always had our support and it is nice to  have National do the same.  The war continues to consume American lives and Mike continues to draw portraits of young men and women who given their all for our country.  Hopefully, that will come to an end in the near future.  In the meanwhile, Mike is providing a way for families to say good bye to their loved ones.

If you are a Korean War veteran then you are eligible for a free hard covered book produced by the Korean government to thank American veterans for their service.  It is a well done book covering both the war and the aftermath of the war and how the country has been successful due to the sacrifices of so many American servicemen.  If you are interested in copy, let us know in advance and we will try to have sufficient copies available at the next Post meeting.

A few of you are reading this and realize you haven’t paid your dues.  Guess what, your membership expired on January 1st.  The best deal in town is still a VFW membership for $35.  That works out to 8 Grande, Non-Fat, 1 Pump Vanilla, Extra Hot Lattes from Starbucks.  The guy that owns Starbucks sold the Sonics to a bunch of robber barons from Oklahoma City.  Your VFW protects active duty military and veterans from similar villains, the US Congress (see the article “What VFW Does”).  $35 is cheap.

I attended a VFW meeting at another Post when under “Good of the Order” a comrade got up and discussed the “COLA Penalty”.  For those of you who not familiar with the term, Congress recently passed a bill that will be extremely detrimental to our military men and women and military retires.  I have provided an excerpt from the VFW website (www,vfw,org) and what you can do to help rectify this.

Background: Congress passed a budget deal that includes a provision that penalizes working age military retirees younger than 62 by cutting a full one percent from future cost of living adjustments (COLA). VFW calculates that a Gunnery Sergeant or Sergeant First Class (E-7) with 20 years of service would lose more than $80,000 in income by age 62. This also unfairly punishes those who have been medically retired as a result of their wounds defending our nation. This is totally unacceptable and will have a devastating impact on retirement benefits for retirees and survivors and jeopardizes the future value of military career benefits, while also adversely affecting recruitment, retention and our national security.

The VFW is now working with members in both the House and Senate to find a bipartisan solution that will replace this unacceptable provision. We are urging all of our members and advocates to contact their legislators and demand they find a solution that doesn’t balance the budget on the backs of our military retirees.

Action Needed: Call, email and schedule appointments with your legislators today. Tell them this should be the first priority when they return to Washington after the New Year, and that the solution cannot penalize veterans, military retirees, or jeopardize the future value of military career benefits. Asking those who have given the most to shoulder the burden of reducing government spending is unacceptable.

So the next time you are recruiting a new member and he or she asks what do we do, just refer them to the National website.  What we do as an organization is to mobilize when Congress decides to balance the budget on the backs of service personnel and veterans. Without an organization like VFW protecting our interests, who else would?

I received a letter from Linda Fairbank, Department membership chair, regarding the ongoing saga of changes in National dues.  Apparently, they will now honor the old price for continuous members through January 31st.  However, the .  We also have new membership applications and will attempt to have them at the next Post meeting.  Until then, continue to use the old ones except when someone is signing up for a Life Membership.  The new forms are an improvement on the old ones, but the only substantive change is in the Life Membership Installment Plan.  You must now pay $45 before being able to select  Life Membership and make payments on the installment plan.    Also, the new forms clarify that a member must have the Expeditionary Global War on Terrorism ribbon, not just the Global War on Terrorism ribbon.  One final note—payments received after 1/31 with the improper dues submitted will be returned.

For the Visually Impaired

For those veterans who are visually impaired, they will be given first priority in the lending of audio and braille books, playback equipment, and other specialized materials.  Information regarding these services and applications for free library services can be obtained by visiting the web site for Washington Talking Book and Braille Library at: www.wtbbl.org

Service Dogs for Disabled Veterans

America’s Vet Dogs is the premier provider of guide and service dogs for disabled veterans.  Guide and service dogs will be placed with qualified veterans.    Information regarding this service can be obtained visiting their web site at: www.vetdogs.com

I think most of you are aware that we set a record for a Veterans Day Poppy drive by raising $11,324 bringing the total for the year to $24,663. Bob Crawford has been heading this up for the last couple of years and has done a great job, but don’t for-get Phil Sacks who took over some years ago and began the organization and outreach to the area stores. The funds raised are placed into our Relief Fund and used to support veterans and educational programs such as Voice of Democracy, Teacher of the Year awards, and our Scholarship awards. If you can lend a hand for our next fund raiser at Memorial Day, it sure would be appreciated.

All members of VFW Post #8870 and its Ladies Auxiliary together with American Legion Post 66 and their guests are invited to attend our Annual Christmas Party. The luncheon will be held at the Edmonds Senior Center on Saturday, December 14. The meal will be served at 1:00 PM, but you should plan on arriving at Noon. A raffle has been added to this year’s event in which winning ticket holders will be choosing from among a variety of donated items. The more tickets you purchase, the greater your chances of success.

We are asking members and guests to bring along a non-perishable food item for a local Food Bank and a new, unwrapped toy or a clothing item suitable for teenagers, all of which will be donated to Holly House.

The family of John Bustard will donate and cook a turkey and the Post will donate a ham. Guests are asked to bring a dish to be shared. The food item categories are:

Side dish Salad
Rolls/bread Dessert

Please RSVP to Fred Apgar ([email protected] or 206-940-7502), indicating the number of guests who will attend and the category of dish you will provide.

This is a month early, but please mark your calendars for the January 4th District meeting where we honor our student essay winners and the Teacher of the Years for elementary, middle, and high school. This is an important event for the kids and their families and sitting with veterans is a special treat for them. If you can make some time in your day, your attendance would certainly be welcomed. Please note that our Post along with Post 1040 are the hosts. That translates into we will need some volunteers to help setup and takedown the meeting room.