Search Results for: edmonds veterans plaza

Number of Results: 100

From the Commander’s Desk 

Author: October 21, 2022

  1. Watch the weather. It is Autumn now and it will be getting colder and wetter. Make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids, wear sunscreen, don’t be out in the sun too long (while it lasts). 
  2. The Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. This is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. It is relevant to Vietnam era Veterans. You can find more information at the following links: 
  1. Consider signing a Veterans Day card for a fellow Veteran. See the link below. The VFW has a special way for you to show our brothers and sisters they’re appreciated as we head toward Veterans Day. The VFW will be sending cards and we want to make sure a fellow veteran receives one from you. We know how much you care, so please sign a card for a hospitalized veteran or service member (at this link) and brighten their day. 
  2. Speaking of Veterans Day, this year it will be Friday, November 11th. We are planning a ceremony at our Edmonds Veterans Plaza at 11am. Our keynote speaker will be Mike Schindler of Operation Military Family. Pins, and a display from the Northwest Veterans Museum will be there. 

We will be be handing out Buddy poppies on Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5 at three stores: 1) QFC Westgate, 2) QFC Mukilteo, and 3) Town & Country Market in Mill Creek. As always, we need volunteers. Please attend our October 19th Post meeting for a chance to signup. 

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Monthly Meet Up to Connect Military, Veteran & Civilian Culture

Author: July 26, 2022

Did you know?

A monthly meet up to connect military, veteran and civilian cultures. Speakers each month share knowledge. Learn something, meet someone new and make a difference.

Watch for a review of the upcoming July 13 event, to be held at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza, announnced earlier via email. 

The next event will be on August 10 at the Edmonds Food Bank, 828 Caspers St, from 10:30 to 12:30 PM and will feature a panel of Veteran Services, including Lori Tiffin, YMCA, Shawnee Baza, Dept of Veteran Affairs and James Armstrong of Workforce and DVA. 

Coffee and baked treats at 10:30; Lunch at 11:45, speaker at 12:00 PM. 

Did You Know? is a collaboration of Edmonds Food Bank and Operation Military Families. 

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Important Events Coming up!

Author: June 12, 2022

The busy month of May

Important Events Coming up! The busy month of May

Our calendar is a busy one for the Memorial Day weekend period. We begin, of course, with our semi-annual Buddy Poppy distribution at our local grocery stores, which will begin on the morning of Friday, May 27 and proceed through Saturday, May 28. We could certainly use more of you to participate. It is this simple, the more poppies we hand out, the more money we bring in for our Veterans Relief Fund. It is a very rewarding experience, with lots of folks expressing their gratitude and recognizing our service, so come out and help. If you can’t give us a full day, work half a day. If half a day is not possible, come for a couple of hours. (We will have rain shelter at all locations) 

Important Events Coming up! The busy month of May

On Memorial Day itself, (Monday May 30) we need a few hands to move flags for the ceremonies at the cemetery and the Veterans Plaza. Please meet at the Legion Hall at 8:30 if you can help with that duty. 

We should meet at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery at 10:30 for the 11:00am ceremonies there and will then move on to the Edmonds Veterans Plaza for a short observance at that location, to begin at 1:00pm 

Wear your cover and join us to remember our fallen comrades. 

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Memorial Day 2021

Author: June 15, 2021

Abbreviated Poppy Drive – Dedication at The Plaza 

Memorial Day 2021

Once again Memorial Day was not quite our expected event. The Edmonds Cemetery Board conducted a drive through event and handed out poppies to those in attendance, during which they collected $ 140 for our Relief Fund. Many thanks to our friends on the Cemetery Board. 

In the afternoon of Memorial Day, the post held a brief ceremony at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza, attended mostly by members and their families The primary purpose was to dedicate a new group of memorial pavers to be installed near the information Kiosk at the southeast corner of the Plaza. (The City has yet to actually install these pavers due to COVID staffing issues) 

Memorial Day 2021

Colors were held, of course, and Chaplain Dan Doyle, after an introduction by Jim Traner, delivered a brief speech honoring our fallen comrades. 

Many thanks to Buglers Chris Edwards and Debbie Dawson for once again providing their excellent “echo” rendition of Taps, always a moving experience. 

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Memorial Day Observance

Author: May 22, 2021

Our usual Memorial Day observance at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery will not be held this year because of COVID crowding concerns, but VFW Post 8870, with American Legion Post 66 will conduct a small Memorial Day Ceremony at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza at 1:00 pm on Monday, May 31. We will be recognizing the installation of sixteen new veterans’ pavers at the ceremony, perhaps including yours. Due to COVID restrictions, we are not advertising the ceremony to the general public, but only inviting our membership, friends and families. There will be a VFW honor guard and our Post Chaplain, Vietnam veteran Navy Corpsman Dan Doyle, who served with the Marines at the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968, will be our speaker. The ceremony will conclude with the playing of taps. The Edmonds Veterans plaza is located at 5th Ave. N. and Bell St, adjacent to the Edmonds Public Safety building.

Memorial Day Observance Slated

Author: May 22, 2021

Memorial Day Observance Slated

Our usual Memorial Day observance at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery will not be held this year because of COVID crowding concerns, but VFW Post 8870, with American Legion Post 66 will conduct a small Memorial Day Ceremony at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza at 1:00 pm on Monday, May 31. We will be recognizing the installation of sixteen new veterans’ pavers at the ceremony, perhaps including yours. Due to COVID restrictions, we are not advertising the ceremony to the general public, but only inviting our membership, friends and families. There will be a VFW honor guard and our Post Chaplain, Vietnam veteran Navy Corpsman Dan Doyle, who served with the Marines at the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968, will be our speaker. The ceremony will conclude with the playing of taps. 

The Edmonds Veterans plaza is located at 5th Ave. N. and Bell St, adjacent to the Edmonds Public Safety building. 

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Memorial Day Planning

Author: April 22, 2021

It appears that the Memorial Day events at the Edmonds Cemetery will not be held again this year due to the ongoing pandemic. The Post will conduct its own small ceremony at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza on Monday, May 31, so mark that event on your calendar. Check next month’s edition of this newsletter for more detailed information.

Memorial Day Planning

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Large Grant from Anonymous Donor

Author: December 19, 2020

Large Grant from Anonymous Donor

Veterans Plaza & Relief Fund to Benefit 

We are very excited to announce that the Post has received a large grant for the Edmonds Veterans Plaza and for our relief fund! A benefactor who donated to the Plaza earlier was contacted by Ron Clyborne regarding a new project for the facility (details on that project to be forthcoming). The donor asked if we had any other needs and was told that we were short $15,000 in our relief fund due to a disappointing virtual poppy drive. The result is a check deposited the other day by Jim Traner in the amount of $ 40,000; $25,000 for the Plaza project and $15,000 to flesh out the relief fund. With the $ 1800 raised in our virtual poppy drive, this brings our fall relief fund revenues to just under $ 17,000. Many thanks to Ron for his initiative and to the anonymous donor for his amazing generosity! 

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Results of Call for Donations to General Fund

Author: November 1, 2020

Funding effort to continue 

Members responded to last month’s call for donations with a total of approximately $ 1,000.00, half of which came from a single anonymous member’s $ 500 match. Those gifts, combined with funds received from VFW National for Life Member dues and a few other gifts has kept the Post general fund afloat for the moment. 

We are continuing our funding drive by preparing a mailing to the members honoring their service in foreign wars, and asking for a donation to our general fund. It also asks members to update their demographics. The mailing includes a stamped return envelope to Post 8870. Please give this your attention when it arrives. 

We have rearranged our donation page on the web site to make it easier to choose between donating to the general fund, the Poppy (Relief) fund or to the Edmonds Veterans Plaza. Donations can be made by credit card at https://vfw8870.org/. The “donate” button is right there on the landing page. You will receive a prompt email receipt. 

You might also consider a regular small donation on your credit card, (add it to your monthly bill list). Every little bit helps and remember, we are not permitted to use funds generated by our semi-annual poppy drives for Post operations. 

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Memorials in the age of Covid-19

Author: August 22, 2020

Memorials in the age of Covid-19
Amos Chapman
Amos Chapman

In this age of the Covid pandemic (six months into it as this is written) gatherings of friends and comrades have been pushed aside. Post meetings are held “virtually” over Zoom, social gatherings of any size cancelled and even proper farewells to our fallen comrades are being “postponed”, pretty much indefinitely. It is difficult not having the opportunity to say goodbye in the long established ceremonies of our social order, religious or otherwise. 

One thing that goes on is our Post’s resident sketch artist Mike Reagan’s effort to remember each and everyone of our comrades in portrait sketches, most recently those of Buck Weaver and Amos Chapman, two much loved members of VFW Post 8870. 

Buck Weaver
Buck Weaver

Recently, Reagan, along with Post Commander Rose Gilliland, has arranged small, properly masked and socially distanced, gatherings of Post and family members to present Reagan’s sketches of our lost comrades to their families. The photos included here show these presentations to the Weaver and Chapman families held recently at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza. What better use for this space that our members worked so hard to see built. 

No doubt we all agree that these brief, informal remembrances are a grossly inadequate farewell to our comrades. Once we are able to gather in greater numbers, we must see that they are bid a proper goodbye, each according to his own traditions. We know our Honor Guard is anxiously awaiting that opportunity. 

Memorials in the age of Covid-19

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Kiosk Data Collection

Author: August 22, 2020

Edmonds Veterans Plaza Kiosk

We would like to complete the Information Kiosk at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza by inputting data for each dedicated veteran. We created Online Forms for this purpose. Please help us! 

If you have purchased any of the several types of memorial spaces in the plaza for either yourself or other veterans, living or deceased, please select one of the Forms below and use its link to enter requested data for each honoree: 

Form A: For those who have a Google account or are willing to create free account. (If you use Gmail or Google Calendar, you have a Google account. You can create it by visiting: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en) Only Google account holder can upload photos directly from the form. Prepare the photos (Read Photo Specification*) and start the form below. —> https://forms.gle/HXNLN8AoGuJWtW4G7 

Form B: For those who do not or wish to have a Google account. We will send a separate email requesting photos later. Please go ahead and fill the form below. —> https://forms.gle/1iqMkSoaPUHfzo8H9 

Either way, you will be requested (but not required) to provide up to 2 photos. *Photo specification: Ideally optimized for 400w X 500h in pixels at 72 DPI and JPG (.jpg) format is preferred (up to 10 MB per photo in size allowed). You may want to start preparing them before you start filling the form. If you do not know how to do these, do not worry but go ahead and upload photos as they are. 

If you have any question, please email at [email protected]. 

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