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VVA Detroit Chapter 9
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“NEVER AGAIN WILL ONE GENERATION OF VETERANS ABANDON ANOTHER.”
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Thoughts and prayers extended to those with health and personal problems.
Our prayers go out to the victims of all the recent Hurricanes and earthquakes. Sick call: Dave Branham, Bobby Byrant and special to Gail Trevino 1. Veterans Parade meeting: All committees need to coordinate.Things are going forward. Need to raise more funds. Jim McCloughan & Justin Verlander will be the Grand Marshals. City Council members will also be attending. 2. Did a lot of parking this month for Tiger, Lions, Red Wings and concert events. Could use more help once awhile. 3. Attended the Medal of Honor ceremony in Lansing. He will be in our Parade as guest. The chapter will provide Hotel accommodations at the Whitney. 4. Had Parade telephone conference to smooth out the finer points etc. 5. The Kidd Rock concerts brought some nice donation to the Chapter. 6. Task force meeting went well. Lt.Col Brian Mulvihill was our guest speaker. Recommended the great event of Marine week. Trying to get cadets for the Tuskegee air patrol at city airport. Also promoting the Veterans parade. Reminded city council not to forget the "Park & Monument", also going forward with negotiation for the "Fisher House" properties. Gold star mother Pamela Alexander-Bell was present and recognized. Made contact with WSU professor Richard Dogan about bringing WSU veteran students into the Chapter. 7. Went to City about parking permits. Had meeting with Kevin Jones(manager), got the permits with condition to improve lot security, signs, have attendants there to control the perimeter during events. 8. Meeting at the Detroit Athletic club for FISHER HOUSE and Veteran's housing. 9. WEBSITE: http://www.vvadetroitchapter9.org Contact: Lynette Arlene 313-482-8616 Email: production@lynettearlene.com Please put in subject box: VVA9 10. Had interview with Chanel 7 on controversy of players kneeling during playing of the anthem. 11. 50th year pin will be available through Phil Smith (chief VSO). 12. We want to feed the Detroit Police again in October. Need to form a committee. Also need Volunteers to help with set-up, feeding, making care packets, clean-up afterward. 13. Detroit river cruise is still coming. We need to know if lunch or dinner cruise? Need a firm commitment! 14. Merchandise is available. New shirts, hats, mugs, license plates, patches, pins, decals are in. Jerry Sebrowski 248-543-3614 Gudrun Hite 586-739-5258
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Thoughts and prayers extended to those with health and personal problems.
Our prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Irma. May they recover soon and be safe again. Sick call: Dave Brenham at the VA hospital in Detroit. 1. Fundraising at the Masonic went well. Great entertainment and fun for all who attended. 2. Parking going well. Many Thanks to Dave Burns, Jeff & Gudrun for all their help. 3. POW-MIA chair in Lansing is well funded, Need to raise some more funds. 4. FISHER HOUSE is waiting for City to determine cost of lots at Palmer & John R. 5. Business Lawyer John Wright is working on license plate patent.(3 meetings). 6. Attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for Fitness Center. Talked to Justin Verlander about Parade. He will be there. 7. Attended ribbon cutting for the new arena. 8. Parade will be going on CBS Radio and will provide the Armed Service Salute. They will promote the Veterans Parade and help raise funds. 9. Next meeting for the Parade is on 9-27-17 at 6:30 PM at Masonic Temple. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. 10. River cruise will be sometime in October, weather permitting. 11. Web site info: Lynette Arlene 313-482-8616 12. Medal of Honor recipient will be at the Parade. Chapter 9 will be giving him an award and provide hotel accommodation for him. 13. Supported Veterans Parks and helped Revolutionary Flags aka Mike Sloveck with some clean-up. 14. Veterans night at the State Fair in Novi. Info was sent. 15. July 10th. went to Veterans Housing Detroit at Ashland Street & Mack 16. July 20th. Attended ceremony for Keith King at Mumford Pointe Marines. He was awarded" Veterans Business of the year". 17. War Memorial Gross Pointe movie review from Ken Burns was attended by John Mullins. 18. Chapter 9 was represented on TV channel 7 with Mumford Point Marines promoting new location. 19. New Shirts, hat, patches license plate, coffee mugs are available Jerry Sebrowski 248-543-3614 Gudrun Hite 586-739-5258 20. Information officer Mark Spooner 586-466-5708 Any info to be put in News flash about Veterans affairs goes to him. 21. Any info to be put on monthly postcard has to be given to Irene Spooner no later when the 13th of month. 22. Will be feeding the Police in October. NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FOOD donations. 23. State Rep. Stephanie Chang 517-373-0823 is supporting "VETS NEED HELP' Toll free # 844-672-4264 24. Happy 70th. Birthday to Jack Devine. Sorry could not attend your celebration. Hope to see you at Sept. 30, at the Masonic Temple for our monthly meeting. Our prayer and thoughts go out to those in nee at this time. Keep everyone safe.
Dave Branham, who is still in VA in Ann Arbor needs your calls and cards. Kathy Sebrowski a speedy recovery. And anybody else who needs our prayers. 1. Feb.4 Attended Chinese New Year of the Rooster with our friend of South Vietnam association of Michigan. Enjoyed the great performances by Wayne State and Buddhist temple young kids. The chapter donated $ 200. 2. Feb.6 Bought supplies for VA care packs. Also like to get 100 coupon books for commissary. Will distribute packages in March (no date yet). Need volunteers to help visit patients and give package. 3. Feb .8 Attended Parade meeting. New Board chairs were elected. Need to raise $ 20.000 this year. Try to surpass last years attends. 4. Feb.14 Task force meeting of City Council for Veterans Affairs. Col. George Pettigrew (Ret) was guest speaker. Also AARP addressed Senior Veterans problems. Also took Award to ROTC Pershing High school. What a nice bunch of kids. Had a group session and talked about life and it's problems. 5. Feb George Adams had fundraiser for MCREST(shelter team) at Church in Shelby Twp. George gave 10 tickets to chapter for Wild Game Dinner. Thank you George! 6. Feb.24 All you can eat Steak & Shrimp dinner at East Pointe Lions, East Pointe Manor 24611 Gratiot, East Pointe The chapter got 2 tables for this. Call Paul 586-404-0034 if any tickets are left. 7. Got new phone service at Masonic Temple. Same number - 313-832-6500 (VVA # 9) 8. With the money made from moving sale, the chapter purchased a new TV. 9. Did assemble the care packs for VA with help from volunteers Gary H., Suzanne F.,Mark LeP., and Dan. Also George A. donated socks and lip balm. Thank you George!!! 10. Like to get a clean-up crew together for Cass Park, maybe with help from Mitch Albom. Need volunteers again!!! 11. April 30th the South Vietnamese will hold their celebration again. It will commence at the Masonic Temple. 12. Like the chapter to attend a hockey game. 13. Sent a gift basket to Channel 4 and Paula Tubman for the excellent coverage on our old Chapter building. 14. The Purple heart flag will be posted at the Masonic Temple. 15. Need to find storage space for granite panels. 16. Like to donate the Greenfield sign to the Michigan Historical Society. 17. LZ Michigan Veterans organization is holding his event again in July. Are we going to participate? 18. Like the chapter to pick a school in Detroit and give $ 1.000 to a deserving ROTC student. 19. Pick any grade school in Detroit and donate supplies for students activities. 20. Feb.15 Went to Funeral viewing at the Fox theater for Mike Ilitch. Had a contingent of about 35 veterans and wives to march from Chapter 9 building down Woodward to pay last respect to Mr.I. Channel 7 did a segment on the News. 21. Received a refund check from insurance for $179.50 22. Sold licence plate for 69.78 through mail order. 23. Irene Spooner will run the web site www.VVA#9.org and also the postcard. Please submit to Mispooner@woway.com 24. Mark Spooner is our Public relations officer - 586-466-5708 25. Merchandise chair Jerry Sebrowski - 248-5433614 SPECIAL NOTICE:
Fall of Saigon Remembrance 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. VVA 9 Board Meeting – 11:00 a.m. (before every meeting) General Membership Meeting – 1:00 p.m., Chapter Elections Sick Call: Jerry Sebrowski’s wife, Ted Dzengelewski, Claude Marcoux’s father passed, Glenn Middler house fire. Thoughts and prayers extended to those others having health and other personal issues at this time. 1. Our elections come up this month. Paul Van Denabeele is the committee chair and will work with Jerry Stefanski and Dan Reynolds to oversee the event. They have an up to date membership roster in their possession. Members MUST be in good standing for a year in order to take part. To run for office a candidate must also be a member in good standing for a minimum of one year. Nominations opened at our March meeting. All positions are available. We will announce Member of the Year as well.
2. The Vietnamese American Association of Michigan will once again hold their Fall of Saigon ceremony at VVA 9 on April 30 from 10:00 a.m. until around 4:00 p.m. They will enter from Woodward and use the front half of the building and the Chapter will use the side door and meet in the back half.
We are invited to participate as we can, however they understand it is also our election meeting. 3. With the retirement of George Sheppard, Mike Sand has agreed and was voted in to finish out George’s term of office which expires this month. Mike has been working with chapter life member and retired financial manager John “Jack” Mullins to streamline the accounting methods used to manage chapter funds. VVA 9 now has a Quickbooks Non-Profit account which makes it much easier to monitor our finances as well as filing reports with VVA National and the IRS. Mike has also created and makes available various forms to track VVA 9 activities ranging from building use, membership matters and equipment loans, to required VVA National documents. Requests for donations and contributions from VVA 9 must be submitted in writing in advance to be reviewed and decided upon before enacted. Mike is taking a break from VVA 9 and will be relinquishing his duties effective April 30. The Chapter has openings for the positions he once filled.
4. Opening Day Tiger game was Friday, April 8. We had four large groups signed up and a great crowd showed up as well. The Chapter raised over $4000 thanks to the efforts of our loyal volunteers. It is extremely important that we continue to follow the City of Detroit’s policy regarding parking procedures and regulations. I have renewed my parking attendant permit and our contractors utilizing the lot have been very cooperative in grading the lot and more. Ed Tuggle and I spent three days going to the City to acquire the parking permits needed for this Detroit Tiger season. It cost $750 for the permit which goes until October 1, 2016. After that we must reapply with Planning and Development if we wish to continue.
5. VVA 9 has been asked to help with the Detroit VA Medical Center’s mission to recognize the 50th Commemoration of the Vietnam War. A date of Saturday, May 21 (Armed Forces Day) has been set, a committee has been formed, and an agenda has been established. The proposed site is Cass Park, the beginning time is 10:00 a.m. and it should run until around 3:00 p.m. A press release will be forthcoming. There is an afternoon Tiger game that day and we hope to dovetail into that to better recognize our Detroit area Vietnam vets.
6. Mark your calendars… We are registered for the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade held on Sunday, May 29 on Harper Avenue. Step off time is 1:00 pm sharp.
7. I appeared on WDIV Channel 4 to talk about the Life Chest project that Ms. Donna Yost has initiated. She hopes to have the chests made in Detroit by veterans like those currently living at Piquette Square. There is a building owned by a Vietnam vet that could make a good “factory” for these vets to make them.
8. On April 7 Mike Sand and I attended a public hearing at the City/County Building pertaining to the historic designation of certain buildings in the New District Detroit. Olympia Development of Michigan (ODM) has to submit plans to the City regarding their plans to develop the area. The Veterans Memorial Park of Detroit (VMPoD) is supposed to be included in this plan but it has not yet been revealed. The City, State and potential donors and supporters want answers which we have been promised. Patience is running thin and we are told that an announcement is forthcoming.
9. April 19th, I represented the Chapter at the Capitol regarding the addition of a POW/MIA Chair of Honor to be placed near the Michigan Vietnam Memorial Monument (MVMM. The Rolling Thunder organization is spearheading the project. Because of VVA 9’s major role in building the MVMM I was asked to attend.
10. Jim Froehlich volunteered to help with VVA 9’s role in the USS Detroit coming to Hart Plaza in September. VVA 9 has played a big part along with Ms. Janine Jacobs from the Navy League in making this happen. We will continue to keep you appraised of events as they come forth.
11. The Chapter now has an official document (brochure) to list the goals and achievements we have reached since 2005. This has been put in a printed form and will be used in promoting chapter projects as well as in our fundraising efforts.
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Chapter 9 President Paul PalazzoloCurrent President, Archives
October 2017
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