Newsletter: September 2008
President's Message
by Rod Williams
While we were enjoying our summer break a lot of things happened for us to catch up on. I recently received word that our Columbia River Chapter will receive the 2007 5-Star Level of Excellence Award. This award speaks to our community service and continued excellence as a chapter. John Donnelly led the charge of pulling the details together for the award nomination package, but the strength of an active chapter is what tips the scales. So thanks to John and all those who helped pull the package together and congratulations to all members of a great chapter.
This has also been a year of growth as we have exceeded our Give Me Ten recruiting target. Much of this year's recruiting has come by expanded focus on our Guard and Reserve partners. We all see daily signs of the huge role they play in the total force of today's military. They have certainly stepped up to a tremendous role in the War on Terrorism - as they have often done in past times of need whether military or civil emergencies. Please join me in seeking out our new members at our next functions and welcoming them to our Chapter.
National MOAA has given us another recruiting target for the coming year. MOAA announced a special recruiting initiative to get more national MOAA members into chapters as part of the "Year of the Chapter" efforts. This first-ever effort is unique because national MOAA will "push" new members toward chapters while chapter leaders' work to "pull" new members into their chapters with their own recruiting efforts. You will see this announced in the October issue of Military Office magazine. The program will target more than 290,000 non-chapter MOAA members through a special magazine cover wrap. The cover wrap will thank you and all current chapter members for your important contributions to our association and our communities, and will contain a compelling message directed at non-chapter MOAA members who will be offered a complimentary one-year membership in their local chapter.
Also included in the cover wrap will be a tear-out postcard that contains the member's name and the name of their nearest chapter. Interested members will mail that postcard to MOAA where they will be sorted by chapter, and new member lists will be prepared for each chapter. We will put the new members on our chapter rolls, send them a welcome letter, and invite them to their next chapter meeting. After completing these steps, we will notify MOAA and they will send us a $15 rebate for each new member processed. I know there have been a number of efforts to work with National MOAA and recruit national members into the chapter. What is different this time is that this will not involve "cold calling" prospective members, but responding to those who have already made a positive step.
I look forward to another great year doing good things together.
See you at the annual BBQ at the Donnelly's on Saturday, September 13th.