Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 380
Marquette County, Mi.
as written by
Chapter Treasurer:
Lynn Chevrette
Chapter Treasurer:
Lynn Chevrette
Updates for: 07/24/09
380
M
O
N
T
H
L
Y
M
I
N
U
T
E
S
or
U
P
D
A
T
E
S
M
O
N
T
H
L
Y
M
I
N
U
T
E
S
or
U
P
D
A
T
E
S
Hey guys and gals,
Here’s a little update on what is going on in and around the Chapter. You might want to grab a cup of coffee. I haven’t sent you a long update since the helicopter dedication.
We had a board meeting on Monday and membership meeting on Thursday of last week. In these meetings we discussed new tables, our plowing contract, the Christmas party, the next step for the helicopter project, the by-laws, and the dinner dance….among other things.
Tables: we decided to “table” the issue of new tables for now. The ones we have are showing their age. They are getting rickety, very heavy, and too few. We’ve had to borrow tables for things like the helicopter dedication and the dinner dance. We know we want new tables and are in the process of pricing them.
Cleaning the storage area: secondary to the table issue is where we will store them, once we do buy them. The storage is packed to the rafters with junk we have saved “in case we will need it again” - like dinner dance decorations from years gone by. It’s all good “stuff”, but it’s taking up valuable space. Our solution is to get in there and clean that place out.
Some of the chapter members are meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 10am to do that. Wayne will deliver his trailer the night before. Whatever can be burned will be hauled to Vic’s camp for a hellatious bond fire. The other stuff will be taken to the dump truck that parks in the Negaunee Township offices parking lot on “X” Wednesday for pick-up (when I used it in July it was on the 15th, so I‘m guessing it will be on the 18th in November). You have to prove that you are a township resident, paying for trash pick-up with their contractor, in order to take advantage of this service. You are limited to one load at a time, so I hope there’s not so much that we can’t get the job done in one or two trips. I am a township resident and so is Vic. Gary Helstein also lives in the township. If push comes to shove, we can ask him to loan us his last paid garbage bill, too.
As far as I know, Vic and Dan and Bill are spearheading this effort. Many hands make light works. Please come, if you can.
Plowing: we considered three bids in making our selection for a plowing contractor this winter. We went with the guy who did it for us last year (M&R Plowing out of Ishpeming). His bid was in the middle, cost-wise, but not that much higher than the low bid. We went with him because he was reliable and did a good job last year. We was thrilled when I called him last night. He’s looking forward to serving us.
Christmas party: the annual Christmas party will be held at Wahlstrom’s in Harvey (south of Marquette on US 41). Cocktails will begin around 5 pm, and dinner will be served about an hour later. They are again offering us a buffet style meal. The food last year was both delicious and plentiful. I can’t remember the cost, off hand, but I want to say it was around the $10 a plate range.
After we eat, we play a game called crazy bingo. Each person attending is asked to bring three presents - of nominal value ($1 to $3), wrapped in Christmas paper. The bingo part is played with cards. Again, I don’t remember the finite details, other than Linda was calling the cards from her deck and we were matching them with what was in our hand. When someone got bingo, they went to the gift table and selected the present that caught their eye. The fun comes in when the next person gets bingo. They can select a present from those that remain on the gift table, or they can come to your place and snatch your present out from under your nose. We all opened our gifts at the end and showed what we won. Some gifts were great…..others were not what they appeared to be. It was a lot of fun.
Helicopter: we are looking forward to spring for the next phase of our helicopter project. The display is nice as it is, but looks incomplete. We’ve decided to place a retaining wall, reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. We’re still in the process of collecting ideas of what it should be made of, how it should look, etc. I called Associated the other day to price the “Insta-Wall” blocks you see coming up in yards lately. The blocks are 2x2x4, 2700 pounds in weight, and $100 a piece. They charge you an $80 delivery charge and can bring as many as 10 blocks per load. They also charge you $75 per hour for the equipment to put the blocks into place.
We’ve decided against using “Insta-Wall” blocks for our project. The blocks are so heavy, you’d have to build a foundation for them first, it would be difficult to put the blocks into place without damaging the helicopter or tearing up the heavy metal grass we worked so hard at planting this summer.
We’ve also decided against affixing anything to the wall, such as dedication plaques, as it could encourage people to walk through the grass to read what is written there.
We are open to suggestions. Send them to the chapter building (VVA Chapter 380, 173 US 41 East, Negaunee, MI 49866), attention Helicopter Committee. You are also free to attend our meetings during the first week of each month, and present your ideas in person. We have some time between now and next spring/summer, to get a plan in place.
Funding for this leg of the project will come from the helicopter account and the general funds. To that end - we accepted a very generous donation of $1,000.00 from Dave Blondeau the other day. Dave was the grand prize winner at this year’s dinner dance. If you happen to see him around, please thank him. There is also a veteran living at Jacobetti’s that has donated $500 to the Chapter. His donation came with a couple of strings attached. If we can come to a mutual agreement that he will remove those strings and let us use the money as we see fit, it will also help defray the costs for constructing the wall. If he doesn’t, we’ll be returning his money to him with our “thanks, but no thanks.”
If you’ve attended any meetings lately, you will know that we have more than enough money in the kitty for this project. That’s not to say we will turn down any donations, but we are not dependent on that money to get the job done.
The by-laws: we haven’t reviewed our Chapter by-laws since 1988. There is room for improvement in that regard, so we have agreed to meet as a group and go over them, to see where they need to be revised. We don’t have an exact date yet, but plan to do it around the beginning of next year. Because it may turn into a lengthy process, we have decided against combining this meeting with either the board, membership, or finance committee meetings. I’ll let you know what date and time we come up with, once it is established.
Here’s a little update on what is going on in and around the Chapter. You might want to grab a cup of coffee. I haven’t sent you a long update since the helicopter dedication.
We had a board meeting on Monday and membership meeting on Thursday of last week. In these meetings we discussed new tables, our plowing contract, the Christmas party, the next step for the helicopter project, the by-laws, and the dinner dance….among other things.
Tables: we decided to “table” the issue of new tables for now. The ones we have are showing their age. They are getting rickety, very heavy, and too few. We’ve had to borrow tables for things like the helicopter dedication and the dinner dance. We know we want new tables and are in the process of pricing them.
Cleaning the storage area: secondary to the table issue is where we will store them, once we do buy them. The storage is packed to the rafters with junk we have saved “in case we will need it again” - like dinner dance decorations from years gone by. It’s all good “stuff”, but it’s taking up valuable space. Our solution is to get in there and clean that place out.
Some of the chapter members are meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 10am to do that. Wayne will deliver his trailer the night before. Whatever can be burned will be hauled to Vic’s camp for a hellatious bond fire. The other stuff will be taken to the dump truck that parks in the Negaunee Township offices parking lot on “X” Wednesday for pick-up (when I used it in July it was on the 15th, so I‘m guessing it will be on the 18th in November). You have to prove that you are a township resident, paying for trash pick-up with their contractor, in order to take advantage of this service. You are limited to one load at a time, so I hope there’s not so much that we can’t get the job done in one or two trips. I am a township resident and so is Vic. Gary Helstein also lives in the township. If push comes to shove, we can ask him to loan us his last paid garbage bill, too.
As far as I know, Vic and Dan and Bill are spearheading this effort. Many hands make light works. Please come, if you can.
Plowing: we considered three bids in making our selection for a plowing contractor this winter. We went with the guy who did it for us last year (M&R Plowing out of Ishpeming). His bid was in the middle, cost-wise, but not that much higher than the low bid. We went with him because he was reliable and did a good job last year. We was thrilled when I called him last night. He’s looking forward to serving us.
Christmas party: the annual Christmas party will be held at Wahlstrom’s in Harvey (south of Marquette on US 41). Cocktails will begin around 5 pm, and dinner will be served about an hour later. They are again offering us a buffet style meal. The food last year was both delicious and plentiful. I can’t remember the cost, off hand, but I want to say it was around the $10 a plate range.
After we eat, we play a game called crazy bingo. Each person attending is asked to bring three presents - of nominal value ($1 to $3), wrapped in Christmas paper. The bingo part is played with cards. Again, I don’t remember the finite details, other than Linda was calling the cards from her deck and we were matching them with what was in our hand. When someone got bingo, they went to the gift table and selected the present that caught their eye. The fun comes in when the next person gets bingo. They can select a present from those that remain on the gift table, or they can come to your place and snatch your present out from under your nose. We all opened our gifts at the end and showed what we won. Some gifts were great…..others were not what they appeared to be. It was a lot of fun.
Helicopter: we are looking forward to spring for the next phase of our helicopter project. The display is nice as it is, but looks incomplete. We’ve decided to place a retaining wall, reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. We’re still in the process of collecting ideas of what it should be made of, how it should look, etc. I called Associated the other day to price the “Insta-Wall” blocks you see coming up in yards lately. The blocks are 2x2x4, 2700 pounds in weight, and $100 a piece. They charge you an $80 delivery charge and can bring as many as 10 blocks per load. They also charge you $75 per hour for the equipment to put the blocks into place.
We’ve decided against using “Insta-Wall” blocks for our project. The blocks are so heavy, you’d have to build a foundation for them first, it would be difficult to put the blocks into place without damaging the helicopter or tearing up the heavy metal grass we worked so hard at planting this summer.
We’ve also decided against affixing anything to the wall, such as dedication plaques, as it could encourage people to walk through the grass to read what is written there.
We are open to suggestions. Send them to the chapter building (VVA Chapter 380, 173 US 41 East, Negaunee, MI 49866), attention Helicopter Committee. You are also free to attend our meetings during the first week of each month, and present your ideas in person. We have some time between now and next spring/summer, to get a plan in place.
Funding for this leg of the project will come from the helicopter account and the general funds. To that end - we accepted a very generous donation of $1,000.00 from Dave Blondeau the other day. Dave was the grand prize winner at this year’s dinner dance. If you happen to see him around, please thank him. There is also a veteran living at Jacobetti’s that has donated $500 to the Chapter. His donation came with a couple of strings attached. If we can come to a mutual agreement that he will remove those strings and let us use the money as we see fit, it will also help defray the costs for constructing the wall. If he doesn’t, we’ll be returning his money to him with our “thanks, but no thanks.”
If you’ve attended any meetings lately, you will know that we have more than enough money in the kitty for this project. That’s not to say we will turn down any donations, but we are not dependent on that money to get the job done.
The by-laws: we haven’t reviewed our Chapter by-laws since 1988. There is room for improvement in that regard, so we have agreed to meet as a group and go over them, to see where they need to be revised. We don’t have an exact date yet, but plan to do it around the beginning of next year. Because it may turn into a lengthy process, we have decided against combining this meeting with either the board, membership, or finance committee meetings. I’ll let you know what date and time we come up with, once it is established.