Our Warmest Wishes For The Holidays - Korean War Veterans ...

Although I joined this outfit in 1996, except for paying my dues,
I confess to contributing little. This year I helped bring a Department
into existence, and assisted Messrs. Dauster and Mac Swain in their
duties. I pledge right here, right now, to do more, to help where I can
with my small talents and skills. As I promised at the Convention, I
consider it my duty to call, fax and email my United States
Congressperson and both my U.S. Senators to give us our federal
charter. I hope every veteran who reads this will do the same, and do
it today. We should all be persistent in our focus towards that goal:
to get our charter.
As Father Stegman pointed out, “We can’t fix yesterday, tomorrow
is not yet here, only today is ours to use.” How we do that is our
choice. I choose duty.
“Duty, honor, country”: a common call to us all that truly goes
way, way back. Without duty, duly performed, there is no honor.
Without honor given to the order, there is no country. That applies not
only to the service in which you served, it is a standard
just as meaningful to the fraternal order named the National
Korean War Veterans Association. May God bless us, each and every
one, and yes, America, too!
Respectfully and fraternally to all,
George E. Lawhon R018750
California Chapter 6, Santa Clara County
Secretary, KWVA California State Department,
www.dcakwva.org, george@lawhon.org
DATABASE from page 9
know” information! The Graybeards, though an excellent and important
resource, can only provide so much and, at best, only on a periodic
basis of every two months.
A portion of this Management Information System is available to
KWVA members and the public at large who have access to the
Worldwide Internet System. There you are able to view information
concerning title, name, address, phone number, mailing address and
email address of KWVA National Staff, Department Presidents and
Chapter Presidents. You can also locate where, when, and what time
the chapters meet. This information is updated daily by the
Webmaster, Supervisor of Membership Records Management, and
the Membership Recording Secretary.
The information can be found on the KWVA homepage by clicking
on these two links, “Directory of Officials” and “List of
Depts/Chapts,” which are found in the center of the dark blue bar just
under the flag. In order to keep this information up to date, it is necessary
that Department and Chapter Staff report the date of their last
election and the officers’ names and titles as provided for in the
KWVA Bylaws and Standard Procedure Manual. Presently, that
information is to be sent to: “Supervisor, Management System,”
preferably by email, to the address listed below and in The
Graybeards and on the KWVA Website.
Individual KWVA Members are able to view their membership
status with KWVA by entering their KWVA member number in the
appropriate space after clicking on the link in the upper-center portion
of the homepage titled, “Check Your National KWVA
Membership Status Online:”
Here are some interesting statistics. It is obtainable on a daily
basis as needed by Board Members and those staff with a higher level
of authorized access.
As of 11/20/07:
[1] There are 16 active departments and 231 active chapters.
Of the 247 active departments and chapters, 228 have email address
contact, 239 have presidents who are members of KWVA and dues
are current, 179 have reported their current election information.
[2] 143 of the 247 active departments and chapters are in “good
standing,” which qualifies them to be issued passwords that allows
them to access their membership records in the data base and print
their own rosters. Chapter Presidents or their designated staff, without
email contact, may receive a current copy of their chapter membership
upon request by mail or phone.
[3] There are 16,739 KWVA voting members, of whom 9,842
are reported as being assigned to chapters. There are 420 associate
members and 294 of these are in chapters. Included in the 16,739
KWVA members, 7,220 are Lifetime Members, 358 are Ex-POWs,
14 are Medal of Honor recipients, and 43 are Gold Star Members.
[4] Approximately 1,100 annual members have not renewed
their membership for the current year. When Departments and
Chapters were issued their charter, it was required that the members
and officers be KWVA members in “Good Standing” [dues are current].
Sadly, that requirement has not been maintained over the years
for a number of the departments and chapters.
There are an undetermined number of chapter officers, including
some chapter presidents, who are not current in their membership
dues. This does not set a good example for the chapter members, and
violates the intent of the KWVA Bylaws. I would urge the officers to
honor their commitment to the organization and act accordingly!
Though some of the statistics above don’t look positive, this has
been a year of steady improvement. With your support, I believe that
we can accomplish the goals listed below.
Desirable goals the coming year are to:
1) have 100% of the Department and Chapter Presidents current in
their dues
2) reduce the number of membership non-renewals to less than 500
3) decrease the number of Departments and Chapters without email
communication
4) have close to 100% reporting of Department and Chapter
Elections and Meeting Information on a timely basis
5) have every Department and Chapter that has email communication
capable of accessing and printing their membership rosters
directly from the password-protected section of the web site.
I have enjoyed talking and working with many of you over the
past 3-1/2 years. We have made much progress, contrary to what
some of you may have heard via the “grapevine.” Keep positive, stay
the course and do what you know to be the best for our organization!
Yours for a better KWVA,
Jake Feaster, Ass’t Secretary
KWVA Supervisor
Management Information System
22731 N Hwy 329, Micanopy , FL 32667
JFeaster@kwva.org Ph: 352-466-
71
The Graybeards November-December 2007