August 21, 2017
Chapter 5 Meeting After Action Keeping Our Members in the know!!!
At our meeting on Saturday August 19th, we discussed several key topics. For those that attended and those unable to, this is a brief summary of the meeting. We want to keep our family in the know!!!!!
What we did/discussed this month:
• Once again, we had approximately 70 members attending.
• We voted in 2 transfer members and had 4 new members join our family. We, also, welcomed guests and prospective members.
• I would like to thank our new chapter officers for their assistance in setting up and breaking down the room
• National Service Office NSO (Frank Tejeda)
o No report this month
• Chapter Service Officer (CSO)
o The CSO’s were introduced
o I am meeting with the Veterans Service Coordinator at Wayland Baptist University on Monday Aug 21st to further discuss a small office area
o The university is very excited about setting up this office to help veterans
o The church is setting up an area for us to use, also
o Guido is working with several veterans from the Corpus Christi area and several from as far away as Taiwan and England. These far away folks are interested in joining our chapter due to his help. Great job
o I was put in contact (from one of our out of state members) with a veteran from Tyler.
o I want to caution all CSO’s to be very aware of the FIOA and HIPPA regulations when helping veterans. Contact may have to held in another part of the church or after the meeting. Privacy must be maintained at all times
• Legislative Committee:
o Guido Libertiny explained how the action to stop Individual Unemployment (IU) is dead. The president and VA secretary has stated it will continue
o The VA Choice Program was brought up. Some chapter members are having issues with the civilian doctor not knowing why the veteran was sent to them
o It was mentioned that to fund this program several other areas will be cut to include the IU and COLA increase
o I will do research and see if I can find answers
o A thought I had:
To see if we can get a representative from the VA to present information on various legislative issues
The idea is to see if we can get someone on a monthly or as often as possible
I or the Adjutant will look into this
• Volunteers:
o Audie Murphy and the VA in general are always looking for volunteers
o Jim Volstad expressed that Tonya Martinez wanted to thank the chapter for the gift certificates we provide to bone marrow families
o I received correspondence from our state volunteer office.
They would like all chapters to appoint one person to submit the monthly volunteer hours
I will be asking for a volunteer from one of the chapter officers
More information to follow
CSO’s need to account for their time assisting the veterans
If you go to Floresville Veterans Home, or any place and spend time with veterans
Time spent helping with the Forget Me Nots, Golden Corral, etc
As the largest chapter in Texas we have one of the lowest reported volunteer time
The paper work necessary to submit volunteer hours can be located on our chapter website
o Audie Murphy and the VA in general are always looking for volunteers.
o DAV has a scholarship program for high school students. The countrywide awards are based on their number of volunteer hours
o
• National Convention:
o Paula Payne provided an update from the convention
o Our chapter is either the second or third largest in the nation. I try to confirm the actual rating
o A&W Root Beer donated $100K to the VA
o Ford donated 8 vans to the Waco office
o Camp Corral (Golden Corral camp for military kids) donated $620K to the DAV
o Texas has the most women veterans
o There are still 92 thousand claims outstanding
o The goal of the VA is to get claims completed within 30 days
• Membership:
o New recruitment year and we are off to a good start
o There is a convenient, fast, paperless mobile phone app to help members signup new members
o This link provides more information https://davalamo5.org/membership-sign-up-information/
o As noted we have gained several new member including 2 that signed up during the meeting
o To limit interruptions during the meeting, if a member is signed up during the meeting, please hold off all announcements till GOOD OF THE ORDER portion of the agenda
• Women’s Veteran Advocate:
o Nancy Taylor and Paula Payne will be attending the Women Veterans Convention in Houston this upcoming weekend
o Several updates have been added to the Women Veterans Information web page
• PAO information:
o Opioid Crisis- If you are taking a prescribed opioid from the VA you will be required to sign a form. The form states you will not take any over the counter opioid in any form or you will be terminated from the VA
o If you have a DV license plate, please be courteous and not use the handicap parking places—if you do not really need them
o DV license plates (only) are not authorized to park in the Handicap parking places at the Audie Murphy Hospital. You must have a Blue Placard or the wheelchair on your license plate
o Do Not take a picture with a politician wearing any kind of DAV apparel. The DAV is a nonpartisan organization. We get our funding from everyone
• National DAV 5K Run/Walk/Roll/Ride To Honor Veterans
o Several members took flyers to distribute at various locations. Thank you for the support. This will benefit all disabled veterans
o Jeff Berg and I are going to Ft Sam to see if we can distribute some flyers to the training units
o I have meetings on Aug 30th and 31st with state and national event coordinators
• Miscellaneous:
o Jewish War Veterans Post 753 presented a check for half the payment on the bingo machine we presented to the CLC at Audie Murphy.
o Melvin Hoggard was presented a certificate for his help during the past year on the Forget Me Not and Veteran Day fund raisers. Congratulations
o You must dial all phone numbers in the San Antonio area with the 10 gigit number. Officially starting in October, the city of San Antonio will be implementing a new area code (726)
o JR Garza was once again nominated and accepted to be the chapter PAO
o VG Clark Cancer Fund
There have been over 39 requests (from cancer patients) for funds, thus far this year
o A new web host for our website has been found. We will be using Blue Host and saving lots of money
o Jim Volstad donated money to provide scholarships for veterans attending one of the Alamo Community College System schools. Information can be found on their website
o We received our annual national dues. Duke will be putting some of our finances into CD’s at Navy Federal Credit Union. They are providing the highest interest rate
o Aug 3rd several chapter members attended the medal ceremony for Juan Zepeda
Our Adjutant Amanda Almaraz did an outstanding job coordinating the event
Several chapter members stepped up and assisted her
• The Blog: https://davalamo5.org/blog/
o Is up and running
o Feel free to leave comments
o Check it out and leave any comments/ideas/updates, etc
• Happy birthday to all August birthdays
• Ralph Parris would still appreciate visitors. I was able to get him and his roommate to laugh and smile on my last visit. He is in Room #110 Meridian Care, 7181 Crestway Drive, San Antonio, TX, 78239
• Jim Bowens is still at his daughter’s house recovering
• Lula Emery (past DAVA Commander and our Commanders wife) is still recovery from surgeries to remove cancer. Please keep her in mind as she slowly recovers
• Robert Rayl is at home recovery from his severe back surgery and driving his wife crazy
• Good to see Jeff Berg is feeling better
• Jr DAVA member KatieJo Ector is recovering from her fall, but is recovering very well
• Jim Davis is hoping to attend the meetings starting in Oct. He is going through medical procedures, but still recovery nicely
• Leroy Rogers is now at the Sorrento rehab Center on Babcock Road. He is not ready for visitors now. They have going lots of rehab exercises
• Adjutant Amanda Almaraz is having another surgery on Monday and is recovering from previous procedures
• Al Owens son is having major dental surgery.
• Joe Noonan’s 10 year old grandson is recovering great from his medical procedure several months ago
• Joshua Hill – USMC veteran from Tyler recovery from surgery ( I am helping with his claim)
• If you know of any chapter member that may be under the weather, please let one of our chaplains/officers know so we may visit and check on them
• Please keep all our members and veterans in harm’s way in our prayers
• Bingo at Floresville:
o Sunday Sept 24th
o From 1430-1600
o Frank Tejeda South Texas Veterans Home
o 200 Veterans Drive, Floresville, TX
o Volunteers are always appreciated, so any time you may give is great
• September Meeting:
o Sept 16th at 0930 hours
o Rolling Oaks Baptist Church
6401 Wenzel Rd, SATX 78233
o Hope to see everyone there