11th ACVVC President
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Frank T. Church, G Troop 2/11, 8/1969-8/1970 Frank T Church |
President's Message
By: Frank T. Church
3rd Quarter, 2023
The 11th ACVVC is still rolling along, although a little slower than
in the past. Age and a loss of our youth is affecting all of us.
Your leadership is not immune to that. We realize that and are
taking steps to keep our organization viable into the future. We
know that we last forever but are putting plans in place to last as
long as we can. To do that we must outsource functions that would be
very difficult to continue when any one of our committee chairs can
no longer perform. Looking to the membership and current Officers/BOD
is only pushing the prob lem down the road is only a temporary fix
that will need to be addressed again when another one of us falls.
Our Reunion Chairman and Vice President Steve Page has stepped away
from both positions. His health and age prevent him from fulfilling
his duties. I am grateful that Allen Hathaway as agreed to fill that
role of Vice President pro-tem until the next election is held. I
will take the lead for Reunions until we can find an alternate
solution. We owe Steve a huge “thank you” for all the contributions
he has made to the 11ACVVC. Ollie Pickral, our Treasurer, also had a
health scare but continues in that role. These two occurrences have
confirmed the need for us to find a more permanent solution to our
aging.
We are in the process of finalized the transfer of managing the
Quarter Master to Finish line Awards. They have experience in doing
this for other organizations and are very capable of meeting our
needs. That company will be at the Grand Rapids Reunion. Jerry and
Jan Beamon will still be involved in the QM but will not have the
work load and responsibilities they now have. There will be new look
with the addition of new merchandise as well as our unique items.
So, continue make the QM your second stop, Bob is still in the
registration booth.
A large part of our success is due to volunteers that every year
step up, any changes in our procedures does not take away the need
for volunteers to help so please continue to support that. With that
said, the role of President and Reunion Chair is very demanding and
one person cannot do both for an extended period. I am making a plea
to anyone out there that feels they can be an assistant to the
Reunion Chair at the reunions please speak to me or any officer. I
have provided some detail to what that would entail in the Reunion
update article.
We are still in need of a secretary to replace Greg Mason when he
retires at the end of his term in 2024. If you have the skills and
desire to do this job, please see any Officer or BOD member. Mike
Rafferty has agreed to manage the Silent Auction but will still need
volunteers to help. The permanent position of Vice President will be
voted on at the 2024 Grand Rapids Reunion. Our By-laws require
nominations to be made and a vote to taken.
A few updates on what has been happening in the past few months.
Allen Hathaway has completed an update to Our Memorial by having the
names of 6 previously unknown WW2 KIAs’ added to their place of
honor on their monument.Thank you, Allen, for your work and the to
The BlackHorse Association for paying the cost of the plaques.
We are close to closing an agreement to set up a trust fund to
maintain our Memorial into the future. Details of this endowment is
still being defined.
Chaplain Bill has secured a scholarship match from his alma mater,
St. Francis University. They will match the scholarship funds of any
awardee of the 11th ACVVC if they chose to enroll and is accepted at
SFU.
The transfer of ownership and responsibility of the M-60 Tank in
Colorado Springs is still an ongoing project. We continue to have
discussion with the BHA on how best to do that. Pete Walter
continues to seek cost reductions in the cost of publishing Thunder
Run while maintaining the present quality and in quarterly editions.
The leadership of the 11ACVVC is and will always be committed to its
members and the continued success of the organization. We will
ride this horse until we are no longer able.
We were, are and always will be proud “Blackhorse Troopers”!
Frank