Veterans of Foreign Wars of the Volume 17-2 By Post Commander Joseph Byrnes “Hoss” SERVING VETERANS, THEIR FAMILIES, and the COMMUNITY Taking Care of Veterans for Seventy Years 1946~2016 The Camaraderie Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Hello and welcome to Spring. I am writing this from BINGO at the Greater Spring- field Firehouse. Working the Pick 7 game gives me a little time to do some writing. Since I am sitting here on a Thursday night I would like to thank all of the volunteers who are here tonight as well as the dedicated folks who step up each and every week. A little heads up on what’s been going on this year. You may not know this, but a few of the local Bingo loca- tions have closed or were down for some reason or another. So, folks started to come to our game nights and they have stayed mostly due to how nice and friendly our staff is and how much fun they have. It is so nice to hear this feedback about our BINGO operation. Now, my pitch for help. It seems that we are hitting about 100 players a night. Any help you can offer would be great. If you have any community service seeking students in your family, we welcome them with open arms and are willing to be interviewed and questioned as needed. If you have a free Thursday or Friday night, please contact Diana Regan at [email protected](#703-719-7660) to get on the schedule. As you can tell with all of the photos this time around; we held our Annual Community Service Award Ceremony and had well over 100 folks show up. I would personally like to thank all that helped. I especially want to highlight Comrade Gary Kelch, our Americanism Chairman, for all of his planning and dedication to this program. The ceremony went off with- out a hitch in spite of your Commander missing a few beats! Fun was had by all. Just so you know, we enjoy giving awards away; especially to the teachers. If you know of a well deserving teacher in any grade, please contact their principal and get them nominated. Next year’s Patriot Pen and Voice of Democracy topics have been posted to the National VFW site. So get your kids and grandkids involved, there are cash awards all the way up to National level. Helps pays for books!! Last newsletter I told you that we had a few dates that we will need your support for because we will distrib- ute Buddy Poppies for Memorial Day as we do each year. It is our goal to work a total of three locations this year. The first one will be at the Commissary on Fort Belvoir where we will have tables set up at each end of the store. We will also set up at the Huntsman Giant in the main hall. The third site is the Giant located in the Kingstowne area (across from WalMart and Kohl’s). The distribution dates are all in May. For Fort Belvoir Commissary two tables will be set up on the 19th and the 20th. We will not be at the PX this time around. We would rather greet people coming and going at both doors at the Commissary. On the 26th and 27th we will have one table each at the Giant located at Huntsman and the Giant at Kingstowne. This year we are covering a lot of space so any and all help would be appreciated. We will again set up the SignUpGenius for online planning as well as hard- copy forms at the post. If you have any questions, please touch base with Jr Vice Commander Turney, his email is: [email protected] We usually have a good contingent of workers from both the Comrades and the Auxiliary. The contributions collected on all days are then split between the Post and Auxiliary based on the percentage of total hours worked. All donations are placed in the Relief Funds for use on our veterans and their families throughout the year. We are slowly coming to the end of our VFW year and the Department Convention is right around the corner. We are looking for delegates to go to the Department Convention as well as delegates to go to National Convention. (Continued on page 2)
Transcript
Veterans of Fore ign Wars of the
Volume 17-2
By Post Commander Joseph Byrnes “Hoss”
SERVING VETERANS, THEIR FAMILIES, and the COMMUNITY
Taking Care of Veterans for Seventy Years 1946~2016
The Camaraderie
Veterans of Fore ign Wars of the United States
Hello and welcome to Spring. I am writing this from BINGO at the Greater Spring-field Firehouse. Working the Pick 7 game gives me a little time to do some writing. Since I am sitting here on a Thursday night I would like to thank all of the volunteers who are here tonight as well as the dedicated folks who step up each and every week. A little heads up on what’s been going on this year. You may not know this, but a few of the local Bingo loca-tions have closed or were down for some reason or another. So, folks started to come to our game nights and they have stayed mostly due to how nice and friendly our staff is and how much fun they have. It is so nice to hear this feedback about our BINGO operation. Now, my pitch for help. It seems that we are hitting about 100 players a night. Any help you can
offer would be great. If you have any community service seeking students in your family, we welcome them with open arms and are willing to be interviewed and questioned as needed. If you have a free Thursday or Friday night, please contact Diana Regan at [email protected] (#703-719-7660) to get on the schedule. As you can tell with all of the photos this time around; we held our Annual Community Service Award Ceremony and had well over 100 folks show up. I would personally like to thank all that helped. I especially want to highlight Comrade Gary Kelch, our Americanism Chairman, for all of his planning and dedication to this program. The ceremony went off with-out a hitch in spite of your Commander missing a few beats! Fun was had by all. Just so you know, we enjoy giving awards away; especially to the teachers. If you know of a well deserving teacher in any grade, please contact their principal and get them nominated. Next year’s Patriot Pen and Voice of Democracy topics have been posted to the National VFW site. So get your kids and grandkids involved, there are cash awards all the way up to National level. Helps pays for books!! Last newsletter I told you that we had a few dates that we will need your support for because we will distrib-ute Buddy Poppies for Memorial Day as we do each year. It is our goal to work a total of three locations this year.
The first one will be at the Commissary on Fort Belvoir where we will have tables set up at each end of the store. We will also set up at the Huntsman Giant in the main hall. The third site is the Giant located in the Kingstowne area (across from WalMart and Kohl’s). The distribution dates are all in May. For Fort Belvoir Commissary two tables will be set up on the 19th and the 20th. We will not be at the PX this time around. We would rather greet people coming and going at both doors at the Commissary. On the 26th and 27th we will have one table each at the Giant located at Huntsman and the Giant at Kingstowne. This year we are covering a lot of space so
any and all help would be appreciated. We will again set up the SignUpGenius for online planning as well as hard-copy forms at the post. If you have any questions, please touch base with Jr Vice Commander Turney, his email is: [email protected] We usually have a good contingent of workers from both the Comrades and the Auxiliary. The contributions collected on all days are then split between the Post and Auxiliary based on the percentage of total hours worked. All donations are placed in the Relief Funds for use on our veterans and their families throughout the year. We are slowly coming to the end of our VFW year and the Department Convention is right around the corner. We are looking for delegates to go to the Department Convention as well as delegates to go to National Convention.
(Continued on page 2)
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The Camaraderie
Errett “Sonny” Thomas, Life Member and Past All State Post Commander of VFW Post 7327, is a Sales Liaison with Safford Dodge Jeep of Springfield. He invites you to come and have a look at the great selection of Dodge & Jeep Vehicles.
A donation of $100 will be made to the Post or Auxiliary in the name of any VFW Post or Auxiliary Member for every new or used vehicle purchased. Just mention Sonny’s name or this ad. Please bring in your current membership card with you.
Call Sonny at 703-629-4513.
Safford Dodge Jeep, 7611 Loisdale Road,
Springfield, Virginia 22150
At this month’s April General Membership Meeting we will elect delegates. We are also looking for folks who would like to step up and serve as a Post Officer. The Nominating Committee has received some names for elected positions. Commander - Wayne Yancey, Sr Vice Commander - Gary Kelch, Jr Vice Commander- Joseph Byrnes, Quartermaster - JB Young, Chaplain Errett “Sonny” Thomas and for 3-Yr. Trustee - Elwood Jones. If you would like to throw your hat in the ring please contact our QM JB Young at [email protected] or me at [email protected].
Please note that we have a scheduled an Adopt-A-Highway clean-up on Saturday, April 14th. We are doing our part to keep Springfield clean! We will meet at the American Legion Post at 8am and head over to the highway soon after we have our safety briefing. All are welcome and the more the better. Not much more to say folks. I look forward to seeing you at the Post Home and I would be happy if we had a sizeable turn out for this year’s election. Re-member we are in the business of helping veterans and if someone asks you, YES we are open for business.
The Camaraderie newsletter is published by Springfield, Virginia Veterans of Foreign
Wars Post 7327, a community based 501c19 not-for-profit Congressionally Chartered
Veterans Organization. Mailed for educational outreach and information
purposes to our members, volunteers and friends. The newsletter is distributed to over
700 individuals. We have served our community since 1946, providing support to Veterans, their families, active duty military
and community based organizations.
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By Barbara Major
Happy Spring! We made it, though shivering. Let’s hope that the worst of the freezing temperatures are behind us, and those of us who enjoy gardening can begin our outdoor work. The Auxiliary, too, is revving up its Spring activities. At our meeting in April, we will be electing officers for 2018-2019. The slate of officers has more or less been determined, but if you are interested in a position, just let me know. Thank you all for stepping up so that we can continue our efforts to support vet-erans and active military and their families. In addition, several members have volunteered to chair our programs: Americanism, Hospital, Legislative, Mem-bership, Scholarship, Veterans and Family Support, and Youth Activities. This is wonderful, and thank you too. However, as everyone well knows. The more people willing to help, the more we can do and the greater will be our impact. If you are interested or just want information, let me know ([email protected]). Coming in May will be our Buddy Poppy distributions. Stay tuned for the dates and locations. Also, there will be the annual Memorial Day commemora-tion, which we hold jointly with American Legion Post 176. As of this date, plans are still being made, but keep it in mind. The next Auxiliary meeting is scheduled for April 11, 7 pm. I hope to see you there.
Auxiliary Membership
Treasurer Linda Byrnes
As we move into Spring of the 2017-2018 membership year our membership stands at 96.5%. We are doing pretty well, but we really need your help! We
need seven new, rejoin or transfer members to reach the 100% + 1 goal to meet our banner requirement.
Please encourage eligible family and friends to join! Applications are available in MALTA or you may contact the following officers:
Linda Byrnes, Treasurer, 703-732-7539
Alice Merrill, Secretary, 703-569-1771
We hope to hear from you soon!!
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The Camaraderie
CHAPLAIN’S CORNER Post Chaplain Wayne Yancey
Hello Comrades, members of the Auxiliary, and friends of the Post: Congratulations to Comrade Aaron Sylvester who will retire from the U. S. Army on July 31, 2018 af-ter 24 years of dedicated service. A retirement Ceremony for Aaron was conducted on March 9, 2018 at Fort Lee where he is currently stationed. Present at the ceremony were the Sylvester’s extended family, friends, and co-workers from various duty stations. Aaron is the husband of Katy Sylvester, who has done an excellent job as editor of the Camaraderie for the past ten years. Thanks to those who came out in support of our Annual awards Ceremony on March 17, 2018. Ninety eight guests accepted our invitation to attend making it the largest turn-out ever. Senior-Vice Gary Kelch chaired the event and, as usual, did an excellent job. Thanks to everyone that helped make it a success. Our recent visit to the VA hospital scheduled for March 20, 2018 was cancelled due to the anticipated snow storm. Our make-up visit is scheduled for April 17, 2018. As usual we will leave the Post Home at 6:00 pm and should be back by 9:00 pm. Members and friends of the Post and Auxiliary are invited and en-couraged to join us. It was great to see Comrade Rosco Newsom at the American Legion on March 20, 2018 for our Tues-day morning breakfast. Rosco recently had surgery but said he is feeling a little better each day and is starting to get out again. By the way - several of us have been enjoying breakfast at the American Legion on Tuesday mornings when possible. We gather at approximately 9:30 am, order breakfast from the menu and fellowship for an hour or so. Feel free to join us. It’s good food, at a good price, and great camaraderie. Our next highway cleanup is scheduled for April 14, 2018. We will leave the American Legion park-ing lot at 8:00 am and, if all goes well, we should return at approximately 11:00 am. I rode by our stretch of highway last week and it is in bad shape. We can use all the help we can get. Members of the Post and Auxil-iary are encouraged to lend a hand and help out if possible. My contact information is provided below. As always, please let me know if I can be of service to any-one.
Home: 703-719-7660, Cellular: 703-350-8409
A special shout out of thanks to our hard working volunteers who put together our best attended awards banquet to date! Without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for the festive decorations, excellent food, beautiful certificates, and time invested in honoring our guests.
You are the best!
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Voice of Democracy First place, Brynna S. Boyd – 10th grade, Second place, Abigail E. Mills – 12th grade,
Third place, Lindsay I. Hanks – 12th grade. Bryanna Boyd reading her winning essay, right.
Comrade Gary Kelch emceed the ceremony, left.
Comrade Frank Konieczny
reads the Missing Man Table history, right.
The table is a place of honor, set up
in memory of fallen, missing, or imprisoned military service-members.
Chaplain Wayne Yancey opening the ceremony with an invocation.
Commander Joe Byrnes, Sister Alice Merrill, and Alex Robbins, representing Congressman Gerald Connolly,
present the awards.
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The Camaraderie
Patriot’s Pen Award Winners First Place – Elizabeth Anne Erickson – 6th Grade, Springfield Estates Elementary, Sponsoring Teacher Ms. Tata Belle
Second Place – Kathleen E. Higgins – 6th Grade, Silverbook Elementary School. Sponsoring Teacher – Ms. Kristen Tull Third Place – Suraya Y. Suleman – 6th Grade, Silverbook Elementary School. Sponsoring Teacher – Ms. Kristen Tull
Public Safety Awards
Firefighter – Samantha Green Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services
Nominated By – Captain Daniel C. Wedding
Emergency Medical Tech – Tory Albertson Fairfax County and Fire Rescue Station #35 Nominated By - Captain II Dennis Passmore
Emergency Medical Tech – Jayme Dubinsky
Franconia Volunteer Fire Department Nominated by – Chief Tim Fleming
Emergency Medical Tech – Julien Crolet Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services
Nominated By – Captain Daniel C. Wedding
VFW National Firefighter Award Assistant Chief Gary E. Gaal
Franconia Volunteer Fire Department Nominated by – Chief Timothy Fleming
Teacher of the Year K – 6th Grade Elementary – Mr. John Henry, Sixth Grade Silverbrook Elementary School.
Nomination by Principal Melaney Mackin
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Public Safety Awards—Law Enforcement
Lieutenant Timothy M. Forrest
Franconia District Station Nominated By – Captain Michael F. Grinnan
Police Officer First Class Steven Randazzo
West Springfield District Station Nominated By – SGT Brett W. Choyce
Community Patriotic Award
Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce Veteran’s Committee
