CHAPTER CHATTER
The Official Newsletter of the
Shenandoah Valley Chapter #313
Korean War Veterans Association
COMMANDER'S COMMENTS
Ray Ewing
In response to propositions of using the funds the chapter collects in the name of “veteran benefits” the Board of Directors adopted a budget for
2018 that included a line item for veterans’ services in the amount of $4,500.
Considerable discussion ensued concerning what all assistance might be permitted to be subsidized under this heading. Discussions ranged from providing transportation for medical appointments to supporting certain VA Hospital programs.
Any ideas or suggestion the membership might have will considered by the Board when it will again attempt to identify those areas of support to be funded at its March meeting.
I feel our attention should first be focused on our members and their needs for support or assistance, however it need not be restricted to our membership or to merely Korean Veterans since our Charter states that the Association is to assist all veterans.
Therefore any viable veteran support suggestion will be considered. An item of serious concern for KWVA both on the chapter and national level is membership. Even though this is a strong chapter that has been maintaining a steady membership of 100 plus
we could quickly find ourselves like many other chapters suffering because of loss of members.
Again, we are maintaining a strong level of membership even though we lost five members to death last year. Obviously as time passes that number is going to increase.
Both candidates for national president have plans to aggressively address the membership problem. Obviously the only answer to the survival of this Association is the recruitment of Korean Defense Veterans. We already have a number of those veterans on our rolls that are active and productive members. However there apparently is some reluctance on the part of some Defense Veterans to join our ranks.
Narce Caliva, a member of the National Board of Directors joined in discussions with the Board at our last meeting debating the issue. The Board decided to communicate our concerns and encouragement for the development of an aggressive recruitment program to national officials.
