- The monthly VVA chapter 1069 meeting was held in the big banquet room at Mikeska's BBQ (located on Hwy 59), in El Campo, TX.
- VVA Chapter 1069 President, Leonard Sternadel, declared the meeting open at 1900 hours and the following business was transacted.
- The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was recited and a prayer was said.
- The following Board members were present: Sternadel, Steelman, F. Kulcak, Laitkep, Supak.
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Sternadel then introduced Robert Robinson and his wife as a prospective member.
Welcome Home Robert!
- The meeting was then recessed for the meal and reconvened at 1945.
- The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented.
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Chapter Secretary/Treasurer, John Steelman (photo below), then presented a report on the recently held Audit/Finance Committee meeting.
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The chapter's Veterans Service Officer (VSO), Dwight Winkler (see photo below), then gave his monthly presentation on
veterans benefits and various VA related news.
Dwight also took a minute to note that Ron Miller (the pride of Eagle Lake?), was a chapter member who could
be counted on, to be the first one to volunteer to help with anything that needed to be done for the chapter.
Winkler also mentioned during his presentation, that in the July 2016 issue of The American Legion magazine
(page 29), there was a "Medals Of America" ad/order-form for ALMOST FREE dog tags!
(you still need to pay $2 shipping charge)
See image below. One use for these dog tags could be to hang one of them on your chapter vest - that might be kind of cool.
We have also posted the Order-Form as a PDF file that you may View & Print for your own use. Click on the image below
to View or Print the order form.
His handouts for this meeting included all the pertinent names and contact information of those individuals that
could help veterans with their questions and paperwork. The chapter encourages their members to contact these persons
because they can help you!!! The handout also included Priority 4 and 5 VA benefit classifications. His report
also included stats for the surrounding counties for benefits. He stressed the fact that several counties needed
to have a full time VSO and the numbers supported his thoughts. Dwight also stressed that it would be have to be
those veterans that live in those counties, to drive an effort/campaign to get their county commissioners to create
a VSO position for their county.
The list below shows the content topics of the two handout sheets.
Use the two links below to either View or Print Dwight's handouts (PDF documents) for this meeting.
Page-1
(1) CONTACT INFO
(2) VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM PRIORITIES GROUPS
(3) POTPOURRI OF INFORMATION
(4) DISTRIBUTION OF VA EXPENDITURES FOR 2005-2015 YEARS
Page-2
(5) VA EXPENDITURE DISTRIBUTION COMPARISON CHART FOR WHARTON, JACKSON & COLORADO COUNTIES
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In the July meeting, it was noted that the Stand-Down gathering was held at Ryan’s Lake (Firebase Helen) Saturday,
June 11th. There were 23 members that attended and enjoyed a really great catered meal provided by Mike Ryan. If you
see Mike in the El Campo area, be sure and thank him for allowing us to use his Lake facility and for the great
catered meal. Mike has been a great friend and supporter of our chapter since its formation in 2012. In May of this
year, Mike received a special award from VVA Texas State Council for all his Veteran-related work. The award was
presented to him by Leonard at our annual fishing party. Use the link below to see some photos of the award presentation.
CLICK HERE for photos of Mike's Award Presentation
And as the top photo shows, there were some nice bass caught out of the big lake that afternoon (see photo above).
Hey Frankie - You missed out on this one!
- Sternadel then informed the group that the chapter bylaws are currently being updated. Chapter Secretary/Treasurer, John Steelman has provided a draft copy to the chapter Board members for their review. The draft document will be presented to the membership for approval or other considerations at a future chapter meeting.
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Sternadel again informed the members that a Veterans’s Benefits Summit will be held in Victoria on Saturday, July 23rd.
The event is sponsored by Congressman, Blake Farenthold. He urged all members to attend the event.
Update: The Veterans Benefits Summit was held as scheduled in Victoria. Several members from the chapter, including Leonard
& Dana Sternadel attended the event and all helped setup our chapter's booth/display at the event - see above photo. A van
was provided by the local "Everyday Heroes" veterans organization to carry the members and equipment to the event. The
chapter would like to thank "Everyday Heroes" for use of the van.
Our display booth was setup next to
Victoria VVA chapter 898
- see above photo. This turned out to be a great opportunity to exchange information and future event planning between
the two chapters. And it does appear that our chapter member and our in-house Vietnam Agent Orange Exposure expert/advocate,
Randy Ratcliff, was able to plan a joint Agent Orange Summit with the Victoria VVA Chapter, at some time in the future.
Way to go Randy! - the chapter appreciates all the Agent Orange information you provide for the membership.
Congressman Farenthold asked that our chapter members accompany him on a tour of the inside of the big VA full-service
"Vet Center" mobile van, that was parked in front of the event site. The above group photo was taken after the tour
was over. That is Congressman Blake Farenthold standing out front. Chapter members (left to right) include: Bob Supak,
Frank Kulcak, Leonard Sternadel, Michael Harbaugh, Randy Ratcliff & Robert Glaze. Other members who attended the
event, but are not in the above photo are: Dwight Winkler, Jackie Saucedo & Dana Sternadel. VVA Chapter 1069 would
like to thank Congressman Farenthold for his kind invitation to our members to accompany him on the tour of the van.
Leonard would like to thank all those chapter members that attended the event and helped man our display booth
throughout the day. A full report on the event, with pictures, will be forthcoming shortly on this website.
- Sternadel then announced that the "Comfort Woods" Chapter of the Wharton County "Daughters of the American Revolution" (DAR), are hosting a "Tribute to Vietnam Veterans" event on Thursday, August 11th at 2:00 PM (the day after our next chapter meeting), at the Wharton County Museum. Leonard encouraged all chapter members to attend this event and show support for the Wharton County DAR organization as they truly do support the Vietnam veteran. Click on the link below to read about the details of the event (including the special guest speaker) and to either View or Print the official flyer for the event. CLICK HERE to see the details of the event
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Sternadel then presented & reviewed the VVA National MAC (Membership Affairs Committee) report for May 2016.
This monthly report illustrates the various VVA National, as well as state, membership numbers and statistics.
Some of the May report's contents are shown below. Leonard did make a point to note that the Texas VVA membership
was in #2 place for membership growth.
NOTE: The VVA Membership Statistics Below are for the Month of May, 2016.
- Total VVA Membership: 79,224
- Total AVVA Membership: 9,115
- New VVA Membership: 468
- New AVVA Membership: 128
- Deceased VVA Membership: 57
- Deceased AVVA Membership: 5
- Highest Chapter Membership - Maryland Chapter #172: 1,074
- Highest State Membership - New York: 5,891
- Texas State Membership: 4,714
- #1 in State Membership Growth - Alabama: +31
- #2 in State Membership Growth - Texas: +17
- Bob Supak presented a Chapter membership geographic report showing the city and county makeup of the Chapter.
- There being no further business, President Sternadel declared the meeting adjourned at 2045. Much thanks to our chapter Secretary, John Steelman for providing the contents of this report.