Veterans Charity / Support Club
January 16th, 2020
Our first quarterly meeting of the year began at 7pm. in the ballroom with Rich Lynt welcoming those in attendance to include several new members.
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Business Meeting
Rich began the meeting with the Pledge of Alliance followed by thanking Alice Bray who graciously provided several delicious sweets prior to our meeting. He then asked for a motion to approve the October of 2019 minutes. A motion was made and accepted. Kim Koenig presented the treasurers report outlining our expenditures made since our last meeting. Our balance as of the night of this meeting was $ 17,598.20
Prior to starting the business portion of our meeting Rich paid a fitting tribute to Roy Gogel whose time on our board as president has expired. Roy has been here from the beginning and with a small group formed the Cresswind Veterans Club many years ago. Throughout its existence he has been the visionary leader, by far the hardest worker and biggest advocate for not only the club itself but our charity that was formed several years later. Over these many years its not always been easy with Roy being the recipient of many “ slings & arrows coming from many directions from within Cresswind but through it all he hung in there and most importantly never let any of it become a distraction in supporting our mission of touching one life at a time. He has always been the glue that has held the club together. With that, we will be forever grateful. Those comments were followed by a well deserved standing ovation and final thanks to his wife, Mary Joan for all her hard work as well. She has been there all the way never passing up an opportunity to touch one life at a time in partnership with her husband. God’s speed & wishing them all the best as they leave Cresswind onto the next chapter in their lives.
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Rich addressed the members outlining our Charity’s mission in general while offering specific examples of how members can get involved. He touched on Hospice, Veterans Court, Employment Counseling , and Helping Others to name a few. Dick Osborne who heads up our efforts on Helping Others provided additional overview of what is involved and how you can get involved if interested. He also outlined a new agreement he along with board approval negotiated and recently signed with ITN Lanier. Our charity will now be supporting much needed transportation within Hall County for those veterans who have no transportation back and forth to the VA Facility in Oakwood. Dick deserves special thanks for making this happen, It has been a long process but he never gave up.
Next on the agenda to discuss was our Casino Night fundraiser for next year that will be held on February 22nd. from 6pm to 9:30 pm in the clubhouse. Kathy & John Murdock have graciously agreed to head up this effort. We are increasing our maximum number of guests this year to 400 from 300 at out last event. Several modifications have been made to lesson the workload for our volunteers from our last Casino Night. Although many folks have already volunteered to help, it is not to late for you to do so and we can always use an extra hand. Please reach out to John or Kathy if you are willing to help. Many hands make light labor and this will be your opportunity to help raise the funds necessary to help those in need for 2020 & beyond.
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There was a question from the audience about the car donation we were involved with last Fall. Roy Gogel provided the update detailing all the positive results.
Mike Dyer asked if he could say a few words regarding the North Georgia Crappie Anglers who are a registered ( 501 C 3 Charity ) They are sponsoring an event here at Cresswind in April to support veterans and asked that if anyone in our club wanted to get involved to contact him. Please contact Mike for further information.
Lastly for the evening we had our board elections to replace those whose terms have expired. They would include : Roy Gogel, Rich Lynt, Dick Osborne & Bud McGlon. New members elected were : JA Swartz, Bill Edmondson, Amy Devillez, Tracey Merritt. Following the conclusion of our regular meeting the new board met and formed the officers for 2020. They are as follows : JA Swartz, President, Pat Criste, Vice-President, Kim Koenig, treasurer, Bill Edmondson, Secretary. All others will be Members At Large.
Meeting adjourned 8:15 PM
Pat Criste, Secretary