VVA Chapter 1069 Meeting Report for: Aug 8-9-2023
[posted on: 8-30-2023]

The meeting was held at the usual location, in the banquet room at Mikeska’s BBQ, (located on Hwy 59) El Campo, TX. The chapter officers and membership appreciate Mikeska's support for our VVA chapter! Thank you.

• Photo below shows Chapter President, Richard Woods, opening the meeting at 6:00pm.
  
• Richard then led the membership with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed up with a prayer.
• There were about 35 members, spouses and guests that attended this meeting. Much thanks to all those that attended!
• Richard then recognized all those who were having birthdays in August. Everyone then sang Happy Birthday to them.
• Below photo shows Richard calling John Steelman to the podium to present a small ceremony whereby the chapter will add a recently deceased member's name plate (Guadalupe (Lupe) Ortiz) to our chapter's wall memorial plaque, that hangs in the Mikeska banquet room.
  
  Alex Petersen, who works in the Wharton County VSO office, then helped Richard add Lupe's nameplate to the memorial wall plaque. See photo below.
  
  John then reminded everyone of the recent passing of chapter member, Guadalupe (Lupe) Ortiz. See photo below.
  
  Use the link below to view Lupe's obituary on our chapters Memorial webpage.
  Click Here to View Lupe's Obituary on our Chapter's Memorial webpage
• Richard then temporarily adjourned the meeting, to allow our membership and attending guests to go next door to get lunch from Mikeska's BBQ restaurant.
• Richard then reopened the meeting at 7:00 pm - The following business shown below was conducted.
• Richard then aksed Alex Petersen to the poduim - see photo below. Alex works for the Wharton County Service Officer, Jessica Collard, as her office assistant. Alex himself is a Veteran. Since Jessica couln not make it to the meeting, Alex filled in to present some information to our membership.
  
  Alex then told our membership that the VA's PACT Act backdated benefits deadline had been extended! He told the membership they now have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, August 14, 2023, to file their PACT Act claim - or submit your intent to file - and be eligible for benefits backdated to August 10, 2022. Everyone should take advantage of this extension and file now!
  Alex also offered to help anyone who wanted to file before the deadline. The chapter officers much appreciate Alex coming to our meeting to pass on this informatino to our membership - Thank you Alex.
• Note that the main agenda again for this meeting, was the continued reporting and discussion of our chapter's hosting and planning of the 'Vietnam War Veterans Day' fellowship gathering event, being held on April 3, 2024 at Taiton Community Hall. As a reminder, this will be the third year for this event that includes our chapter, VVA Chapter 1069, and 4 other local area VVA chapters; Hallettsville VVA Chapter 854, Schulenburg VVA Chapter 870, Victoria VVA Chapter 898 & Columbus VVA Chapter 1127.
  And to again clarify, the actual official government date set for the "Vietnam War Veterans Day" holiday, every year, is March 29th. However, that date in 2024 conflicts with a Catholic holy day - Good Friday. So, our chapter has made the decision (with approval from the other 4 VVA chapters) to change the event date to Wednesday April 3, 2024.
  DO NOTE THAT THIS WILL NOT BE A PUBLIC EVENT, BUT ONLY OPEN ONLY TO THE 5 VVA CHAPTERS MENTIONED ABOVE!
  Photo below shows Richard then inviting chapter member, Billy Orsak, up to the podium. Billy along with chapter Vice President, Prudencio Arriaga, are the team leaders for the April 3, 2024, event. They will in turn work with the core committee and all the other committees to help coordinate activites that will be required for the various event tasks.
  
  Billy Orsak then gave a planning committee progress report regarding the April 3, 2024 event. See photo below. Newly assigned committees and volunteers were also announced and discussed.
  
  Billy's primary presentaion at this meeting was to show a TO-DO list that he has created that will be used to help plan and track the progress of all planning tasks and activities required for our chapter successfully hosting the event.
  Some of the items on Billy's event TO-DO list were...
  • Finalize a formal rental contract with the Taiton Hall BOD
  • Finalize the catered meal details with Mikeska's
  • Finalize the theme for the event speaker
  • Consider all options for an event emcee
  • Consider & determine amount of staffing required for the event
  • Finalize the details for a Donor's list for the event
  Do note that Billy again held his planning committee meeting (5:00pm) before the start of our chapter meeting. The attendance included all members of the planning committee and other chapter members & spouses that wanted to attend. Billy will continue to hold these planning committee meetings from here on until March, 2024.
• There being no further business, Richard then adjourned the meeting at 9:00 pm.
• Thanks to everyone for attending our August chapter meeting. See everyone at the September 13th meeting.

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