At 11:45 a.m. this meeting convened in Rm E-215 of the Alaska National Guard Armory at Ft. Richardson, AK. The following individuals attended:

 

     CW3 Marcia Harrison                 ARE-JFH, AKARNG             428-6405       marcia.harrison@us.army.mil

President Marcia Harrison welcomed the assembled group and led the Pledge of Allegiance. She then introduced the current Chapter Officers (herself as President), Al Ostrowski, Vice President, and Roger Stickney, Secretary Treasurer.

 

This meeting came about as a result of inquiries as to the status of our chapter which became dormant after a flurry of deployments, transfers, and retirements of key supporters shortly after the last meeting of record in Dec 04. A couple of meetings were scheduled at the regular time (1^st Wed of the month) after that, but none resulted in a quorum, so no business was conducted. It is wonderful to see renewed interest now that many of those who were deployed have returned and want to participate.

 

Since this event came together on very short notice and was not well-publicized, the Treasurer, Roger Stickney, did not have time to verify our account balance for a Treasurer’s report. But, he subsequently found the current balance to be $371.77. The last reported balance (see meeting minutes from Dec 04) was $356.56. The difference appears to have been interest income since there has been no account activity in the interim.

 

 

Marcia mentioned that she would like to see our chapter choose some type of community service project that would to help bring greater visibility to our organization. One such suggestion was to contact Anchorage Police Department about obtaining unclaimed bicycles we could recondition and donate to needy kids. Randy Templeton suggested that we could identify a charity we would like to support and bring ideas and justification(s) to the next meeting for group consideration.

 

Ideas for social activities designed to promote camaraderie among our group will be welcome. A few of us went out on a summer fishing charter, but participation was light.

 

 

Our near-term priority is to build momentum within our chapter. Erin O’Hara fairly recently came here from Ft. Huachuca where she was President of their USAWOA chapter. She mentioned that the best attended meetings are where food is available, so attendees were encouraged to identify a location with a room large enough to accommodate our group. Randy Templeton shared that the Szechuan Restaurant in Eagle River has a separate room worth exploring. So we informally agreed to hold our next meeting there.

 

Erin mentioned that nonmembers were always welcome at the monthly meetings, particularly enlisted folks who do or may aspire to become Warrant Officers, as well as any Warrant Officer Candidates awaiting a class.

 

She said periodic evening meetings (quarterly?) that included spouses were an effective social event. She said motorcycling as a group was a popular pastime among the members of her Ft. Huachuca chapter.

 

A critical link to building our membership is getting the word out. Ideas that were discussed include merging Randy Templeton’s mailing list with the existing Northern Lights Chapter mailing list periodically supplied by our national organization. Secondly, a squib in the Alaska Post may help. Also, a timely notice on the Ft. Richardson electronic marquee would a good way to announce meetings. Marcia mentioned that CW2 Curtis Cain is a webmaster and we might engage him to create a Chapter website for us. She will find out what he would need to charge for such service and where it might be hosted.

 

USAWOA Western Region Director who is CW4 (R) Harry Wilson (harry.wilson@us.army.mil or wilsonh@adelphia.net) has taken a personal interest in seeing us rev up our level of activity and provided several organizational documents to assist the leadership. Since they were only recently sent, they’re still being reviewed.

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

 

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 3 April 08 (11:45 a.m.) at the Szechuan Restaurant at 11751 Business Blvd. in Eagle River. We hope to see you there!

 

                                                                              Respectfully submitted,

 

                                                                              <Original Signed>

                                                                               

                                                                             

                                                                              Roger B. Stickney

                                                                              Secretary/Treasurer