Sons of the American
Revolution
Meeting Notice, March 2010
Compatriot,
The next
meeting of the Tampa Chapter will be held this Saturday, March 20th in the private meeting room of the Piccadilly Cafeteria, located at
This month we’ll award our annual Fire Safety medal and hear the story
of Captain Tracy MacDonald’s heroic efforts to rescue an elderly woman after
her car fell into a pond.
We hope you’ll join us. Guests are most welcome. Those working on
applications can meet our new registrar, Alan Bell.
Regards,
Kevin Yarnell
Secretary,
Color Guard Participates in Massing of the Colors Ceremony
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On March 7th, the Military Order of the World Wars hosted the 29th Massing of the Colors. Thanks to the efforts of our commander, Alan Bell, our color guard was invited to participate. Jack Bolen, John Sessums, and Kevin Yarnell joined Alan for the event. We’re pictured here with Nelson Jantzen of the Clearwater Chapter. Thanks to June Bolen, our photographer. |
Annual JROTC Luncheon Next Month
Please mark your calendars for April 17th when we’ll be hosting our 11th annual JROTC Luncheon. For those not familiar with the event, we invite the cadets chosen by their commanders at each high school to receive the SAR award to attend our April meeting. We rearrange the seating so that we have a member with each cadet and their guests and we provide a program that is suited to both the members and our younger invitees.
We receive wonder compliments each year from the cadets, their families, and Unit Commanders that also attend. Our success comes from the fact that the members are such wonderful hosts. The cadets and their families appreciate the fine conversation and the members have a chance to personally meet the cadets.
Minutes
of the February 20, 2010 meeting of the Tampa Chapter SAR
President Lloyd called the meeting to order at
Members present: Jack Bolen, Marty Miller, Allen,
Welcome guests:
Wives: June Bolen, Jeanne Lloyd, Judy
Copeland, Phyllis Ward
Other guests: David Bryant, Charles Kligg, Sarah Boyya and Helen
Arnold from Southeast Guide Dogs
The President introduced the guests.
The minutes of the January meeting were approved.
The Secretary shared a brief antidote regarding a recent order with the
SAR merchandise center. In this instance the center responded promptly and
somewhat above and beyond the call of duty. He also announced a fundraising
golf tournament sponsored by the Army ROTC unit at USF and pointed out that the
chapter had begun to receive invitations from local high schools regarding our
JROTC awards.
Jack Bolen commented positively on the JROTC awards and encouraged
members to participate in the presentations at the local high schools.
Marty Miller reported that his audit of the chapter books had been
successful. He found a few minor errors (dealing mostly with the sometimes
inadequate handwriting of the treasurer, but concluded that the books were
correct and in order. All the treasurer’s materials were given to our new
Treasurer Chuck Copeland who reported a cash balance of $2808.45.
Registrar Alan Bell reported that he had received inquiries from two
prospective members.
As Color Guard Commander, Alan announced a Massing of the Colors,
Sunday, March 7th,
Vice President Bob Yarnell detailed the programs for the next few
months. These include the JROTC luncheon in April and a presentation by Jim Schnur in May discussing the situation in
President Lloyd offer favorable comments regarding the chapter website
and encouraged those not familiar with it to look through it.
President Lloyd brought up the issue of awards for members. He was
prompted by noticing John Skillman’s service award. He’d like to be sure that
those in the chapter are honored for their work. In the spirit of those
comments the President presented a Past President’s pin to Alan Bell in
appreciation for his service to the chapter.
The President proposed that we might devote a few minutes each meeting
to allow a member to share a bit of their background and story. Members
interested were asked to speak to the president.
The meeting recessed for lunch.
The President introduced our speaker, Helen Arnold, who spoke on the
Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Paws for Patriots program. The facility is located on
23 acres in
|
Thanks to Jeanne Lloyd
for the photo |
Helen took the audience through the process by which the dogs are
trained. The facility breeds and then raises their own
dogs. New born pups are isolated from the public but after 6 weeks are moved
to a puppy center that is open to the public. This is, of course, popular
with the public but it is also good training for the dogs as it exposes them
to many situations they will encounter later. After 3 weeks the dogs are given to dog trainers located throughout
the country. For a year to 18 months the dog is house broken, taught obedience,
and generally socialized. The dogs accompany the trainers on their normal day
to day activities. Only the medical expenses are paid for by Southeastern.
Everything else is paid for by the trainers. At any one time they will have
250 dogs in training. Helen spoke to the sacrifice that the trainers make
when they give up the dog at the end of the training phase. The dog is then returned to Southeastern and the dogs are trained in
the specific skills needed to be a guide to a visually impaired person. Helen
spoke to the benefit they received from an on-sight veterinarian which was
made possible by a recent donation. They next plan to build a veterinary
clinic. The next phase is to match the dog with the person needing the animal.
The ‘students’ as they are called spend 26 days at the Palmetto facility
where they learn to work with the dog under the supervision of an experience
trainer. Some of this training is done on site but the team of student and
dog also goes to malls and other public places to better simulate life
experiences |
Southeaster maintains contact with the teams (person & dog)
throughout the life of the dog.
Not all dogs are suitable for guide dogs and those identified as such
are then trained for other roles – police work: drug dogs, arson dogs, etc.
Other dogs work as therapy dogs. Helen detailed several examples where a dog
was of benefit to children, autistic, or other challenged individuals.
Helen then discussed the Paws for Patriots program. She related a story
where a dog was provided to a soldier with severe post traumatic stress
syndrome. Since 2005 the program has serviced 10-15 veterans. Four are from
this area.
The animal is a $60,000 investment over the life of the dog. The dog,
training and follow-up is provided at no cost to the recipient.
A short video was shown to the membership that detailed the story of a
woman who lost her sight as a result of her tour in
Questions followed.
Kevin won the 50/50. The treasury was enriched by $9.00.
The President announced that we will have two school
participating in the poster contest this year. Each school will be submitting
their three best entries and these will be on hand at the March meeting for
members to judge.
The President led the recessional, Jack Bolen gave the benediction, and
the meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Yarnell
Chapter Secretary