Chapter Meeting Notes - 18 May 2013

SOG EXPO 2013: Held 1 and 2 May. SOG MWR Expo was a great success. The Chapter had 16 members turning out to help including Ike Camacho signing books.

8th Annual CSM(R) John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament. Chairman Greg Brown. Tournament will be on 7 September at the Fort Bliss Underwood course. Prizes for winners will be the same as in the past. Committee Meetings are held at 1200, before the general meeting.

Fort Bliss Relaxation (R and R) Center: AD Soldiers still meet on Monday’s from 1100 hrs to 1600 hrs in Bldg. 48 at Fort Bliss. Chapter donates $200 each month for arts & crafts. If you want a dog collar made, get Chuy the dimensions. Chaplain John Szilvasy recently donated a bunch of leather for the crafts.

Chapter IX Shirts, Coins, Mugs and Blazers: Shirts, mugs and coins are available. Coins are $10 each. We ordered 100 more. Anyone needing a blazer needs to talk to Pete. We are also selling golf balls for $2.00 each, hats for $10.00, cups for $7.00 and green Chapter 9 shirts for $35.00. They are available at the VFW.

Isaac Camacho Head Start School: 125 students in the school. Any school supplies that you wish to donate please bring them to the meetings. Chapter is donating up to $100 per month as needs arise.

SFA National 2013 in San Antonio: Registration deadline is 15 June! SFA 15 is hosting the convention and we need to support them. The HQ hotel is sold out but they secured an additional 100 rooms at the El Tropicano Hotel (877-214-9768). It is located a few blocks away from the Hyatt Regency but is still on the Riverwalk. It is a great deal at the $106.00 rate plus free full breakfast, free parking, and free wi-fi. A city bus shuttle that will take you to the main hotel is available in front of the Tropicano every 15 minutes, plus a river taxi is also available. Some are staying at rooms at the O’Brien Historic Riverwalk Hotel, thru Choice Hotels (800/521-2121) and if the 100 additional rooms fill up this may be the only reasonably priced option. Their rooms are available at $85 a night with $15 parking fee for the week. It is within walking or boating distance.

Jerry Rainey Memorial Scholarship: Chairman Greg Brown. We will present 2 each $1,000 scholarships.

SFA 9 Sign:   SFA 9 will pay for a 4 x 8 foot sign once the VFW approves it. Numerous groups will be on the sign and share the costs.

SF Room at VFW: Negotiations have begun – no decision yet. We want to build a room onto the existing structure that will be available for use by the VFW. We are getting quotes and we selected an engineer to begin plans.

Soldier Mentors Program: Mentor program is in progress with the El Paso Courts system for Soldiers who have no violent offenses for 8-12 months. See Tom Brady.

Veterans Summit: 38 organizations are now involved. They are building a co-op. Fort Bliss is very involved.

82nd Airborne Association: SFA 9 voted to donate $230 to the 82nd Association for bike presentations for kids. Visit the Chapter: Benavidez-Patterson All Airborne Chapter. www.bpaac.org The Chairman is Joe “China Boy” Lopez. This Chapter meets the 4th Saturday of each month; lunch at 1300 and meeting at 1400. Chapter bar is open every Friday and Saturday from 1500 until whenever.

VFW Post 812 News: Commander Ramon “Moose” Saiz. 1st Sunday of every month is a fish fry from 11a-2p. This post provided free food all day Memorial Day. www.vfwpost812.com

President's SITREP:

I was out of town for the May meeting and some of our members to include myself will be out for the June meeting to support the VFW Post 812 golf tournament. The VFW is still looking for teams, sponsors and workers for the day of the tournament (15 June) so if you want to play or support please let me know.

We completed the remodeling of the bar area of the VFW Post 812 so I encourage you to come up and visit. It was voted on to make the Post a Non Smoking Post which passed and the place looks great. I hope to see more SF members visiting the Post and supporting our home. God Bless and we’ll see you on the DZ.