Even though various members of a Post may complete these reports, it is the Commander’s responsibility to insure they have been sent up the chain of command. White Hats are predicated on how many points each Post accumulates through achieving various projects mandated by Department. How Department determines if those projects have been addressed is based on the submitted Community Service Reports. Please try to keep your reports up to date to insure you capture everything your Post has done during the month. Its easy to stay current and a son of a gun if you fall behind.
District School of Instruction
The District School of Instruction will be held on August 16th at 1PM (lunch will be served at noon). This is a mandatory meeting for both Post Commanders and Post Quartermasters. We try not to repeat what can be read from handouts. However, we need to get everyone on the same page for the 2014-15 year so there will be a bunch of information for you to take back to your Posts.
Everett Aquasox
VFW Night at the Aquasox is scheduled for August 16th at 7PM. Our Commander has to pick up and pay for the tickets on August 5th. If each Post Commander could collect the money from their Post members and drop it by Post 2100 (or someone from District will pick it up) no later than July 30th, it would make life much easier. We will then have to deliver the tickets back to the Posts for distribution. It is up to the Posts to coordinate this with their members. This is an opportunity to show off VFW. Unlike the prior years, we will all be sitting together. It’s a lot of fun and we can show the community that VFW is alive and well in Snohomish county. By the way, there will be a great fireworks show following the game. Last year, there was a short fuse which made for a really interesting show.
Post 8870 Meeting Location Changed for July Only
Post 8870’s July meeting will be held at the American Legion Hall in Edmonds at 117 6th Ave. S. due to construction activities at the Edmonds Senior Center. Lunch will be served, as usual, at 11:45AM and the meeting will begin at 12:30. Scholarship recipients of the four $1,000 Dexter Miller Memorial Scholarships will be recognized at the meeting.
District 1 Awards Presented at Department Convention
| Chaplain’s Report | 921 | 1040 | 1561 | 2100 | 2554 | 7511 | 8870 | 9417 |
| Americanism | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Buddy Poppy | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Chaplain Recognition | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Community Service | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Hospital | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Nat’l Military Services | X | X | ||||||
| Patriots Pen | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Safety Program | X | X | ||||||
| Scouting | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Teacher Award | X | X | ||||||
| USO | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Voice of Democracy | X | X | X |
It would be nice to see every category marked for every Post next year. I suspect that there should have been more “X”s last year but the reporting failed to reflect what the Posts had done.
VFW Post 8870 Secures “Veteran Plaza”
After many years of attempting, and failing, the Edmonds Post finally secured an area near the Public Safety building where a memorial to past, present, and future veterans will be recognized. There will be a competitive design contest opened to the public in order to come up with creative ideas to develop the plaza. If you know aspiring artists, landscape designers, architects, etc., let them know that the information about the competition will be make available later in July and will be available at Post 8870’s website www.vfw8870.org.
Lynnwood Post 1040 Dedicates Memorial to Korea War Veterans
While Edmonds Post 8870 is in the infancy stage of developing Veterans Plaza, Post 1040’s Veterans Park is a beautiful park and on June 25th, added a memorial to the Korean War Veterans. June 25th was selected as the dedication date marking the 64th anniversary of the start of the war. The Memorial was an Eagle Scout project of Art Winton, 16, who is a Meadowdale High School junior.
Commander’s Corner
As I assume the position of District Commander for the coming year, I have some big shoes to follow. Jim Traner did an excellent job and I hope that I will do as well. We have great leadership in the District and every Post is represented.
I have set up three Commanders meetings for the next year in hopes that we will achieve our goals for the Posts, the District and Department. I will be holding a Commanders Meeting at Post 2100 on August 11 at 6:30 pm and the School of Instruction on August 16th at 1:00 pm. These two meetings will start the year.
Throughout the year I will attend as many of the Post meetings as I am able. I do encourage all Comrades especially Post Commanders to attend other Post meetings in order to see what is going on in the other Post and to see how other Posts work. I have done this over the past few years and have learned a lot.
Let us all have a productive year.
Installation
At the May 17, 2014, VFW District 1 meeting the newly elected officers for the VFW and its Ladies Auxiliary were installed, immediately after which they assumed their year-long term of duty. There are eight VFW Posts in District 1, which covers all of Snohomish County. The officers of the Ladies Auxiliary were installed by Marcella Raymond who is a member of the Arlington Ladies Auxiliary. Members of the VFW were in-stalled by former District 1 Commander, Ron Haley (Lynnwood).
Don Wischmann (Everett) was installed as District 1 Commander, and he replaced Jim Traner (Edmonds) who had been District 1 Commander for the past two years. Commander Wischmann’s major goal is to continue to be proactive in the recruitment of new members, which is vitally important in light of the aging population of the VFW membership. Don will also embark on a fund raising effort to support District initiatives and program. The newly installed District 1 officers are:
Commander: Don Wischmann (Everett)
Senior Vice Commander: Danny Houghton (Snohomish)
Junior Vice Commander: Bill Morris (Arlington)
Quartermaster: Ron Haley (Lynnwood)
Surgeon: Doug White (Gold Bar)
Chaplain: Jim Raymond (Lynnwood)
Judge Advocate: Ken Kosters (Monroe)
First Year Trustee: Frank Matinez (Lynnwood)
Second Year Trustee: Dennis Peterson (Edmonds)
Third Year Trustee: Richard Richter (Lynnwood)
Chief of Staff: Jim Traner (Edmonds)
After having served as President for the past three years, Louise French was replaced by newly elected President E. Charline Larson. The newly installed officers of the Ladies Auxiliary are:
President: E. Charline Larson (Edmonds)
Sr. Vice President: Eleanor Shipley (Lynnwood)
Jr. Vice President: Arden King (Gold Bar)
Secretary: Marcella Raymond (Arlington)
Treasurer: Tami Wagonner (Lynnwood)
Chaplain: Tammy Bunch (Gold Bar)
Conductress: Lea Provence (Everett)
Guard: Verna Mines (Arlington)
Patriotic Instructor: Patricia Fawcett (Snohomish)
Historian: Lynda Griffin (Stanwood)
Chief of Staff: Constance Daily (Edmonds)
Post & Auxiliary Meetings
Same time and place unless indicated below. See the listing from the links on left sidebar.
Edmonds Post #8870
Meeting Place (July meeting only): American Legion Frank Freese Post 66
117 6th Avenue S.
Edmonds, WA. 98020
If you change the date or time of your meeting, please let both District and Department know of the change.