Dear Triangle Chapter Member,

Once again, I write to wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy new year and to share both my thanks for those who participated in Chapter activities over the past year and my aspirations for a successful 2024. Our achievements were several: we had a successful scholarship awards dinner in the spring and presented two highly-qualified JROTC cadets with $1,000 awards. We were also privileged to have a guest speaker, CDR Erikson, who brought us up to date on the condition of the JROTC program nationwide. We left with concern that this program, one of the most important efforts in recruitment, is falling short. On a positive note, your financial support for the Scholarship Foundation, continues to be both strong and generous.

We continue to search for a suitable summer event. This year, we met at a newly established winery, with only modest attendance. We will likely consider an organized sports or cultural event this year. Our 60th anniversary dinner this past fall was a huge success! MOAA provided us with a member of their Board as our guest speaker. And while few of us knew COL Robotham ahead, her perspective as an active-duty Air Force officer, with her young family, gave us insight into issues that I dare say few of us grappled with. We were also fortunate to have the Cary High School JROTC color guard participate.

Those of you who missed this event can view it via our website’s YouTube link. COL Robotham also presented us with our 5-star Chapter of Excellence award for 2022.

We had success in continuing to bring our new website into a fully functional state. In lieu of a newsletter, which is currently beyond our capability; the website (and periodic emails on urgent topics) continues to be our principal mode of communication. We abandoned our effort to create a satellite chapter in the Wake Forest area. Despite a MOAA database that showed a population more than ample to support a satellite, response to our mailings was miniscule!

Going forward, it is my expectation that we will have four events this year: a spring scholarship awards dinner, a summer informal get-together, a fall dinner meeting with a national/international affairs focus and a winter volunteer event, perhaps around Wreaths Across America or perhaps at a Veteran’s house building event. Details, of course, will follow.

Our Chapter remains in excellent financial condition, thanks to our dues paying members. But I must add that we are currently carrying 40 members whose are in arears. Please consider bringing your dues current or becoming a Chapter Life Member (details in the website). And contributions to the Scholarship Foundation are always welcome, at PO Box 19861, Raleigh NC 29619.

Last, this year we all have an opportunity to demonstrate our citizenship. Those who want to join in our legislative liaison efforts need to step forward. Our advocacy for important military issues does bear results! And in general terms, let’s all be mindful of our friends and neighbors, as respiratory diseases, COVID, Flu and RSV continue to exact a toll, especially on seniors; consider being fully vaccinated! And yes, this is an election year…tempers may fray…voices may become louder. Let’s each do our part as concerned citizens; study the issues, make an informed decision and VOTE!

Herb

NEW YEARS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR 2023

Dear Triangle Chapter Member,

I am writing to wish you and your family members a happy and healthy 2023 and to share information on recent Chapter activities and plans for the year. Let me begin by noting that this year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our Chapter’s founding (more on this later). Our current Chapter officers have agreed to serve an additional year. That said, notable vacancies remain, particularly for secretary and for legislative liaison. These leadership challenges are not unique to our Chapter; this morning we learned that MOAA has had to close 29 chapters across the country, largely because of the lack of members willing to step up into leadership roles. Please consider joining our leadership team; we especially need members with good communications skills! Let me know…

Since my last message, we held a hugely successful dinner meeting, highlighting the work that Donna and John Culp (LTC, USA, ret) are doing in Ukraine, the latter instructing Ukrainian ordnance disposal personnel in the safe deactivation of the mines and shells the Russian Army has left behind. Your Chapter made a donation in his honor to Bomb Techs Without Borders, the organization sponsoring John’s efforts. Also, I attended the MOAA national convention in Kansas City and received a five-star designation for the Chapter. Bob Penny spearheaded the successful award submission.

We have two significant issues that the Board is moving forward on. You have no doubt noticed that our website has been dormant for some time. We have finally been able to acquire ownership of the domain and are in discussion with a web designer to reactivate the website and bring its content current. This will require a substantial financial commitment on our part but not having a viable web presence is not an option. Henry Scheller has been the Chapter’s point man for this effort and is particularly keen on including a capability to record our meeting presentations and to make them available to members unable to attend in person.

We are also organizing an effort to create a Wake Forest area satellite for our Chapter. This recognizes the large number of MOAA members (over 1,000) who live on the east edge of Raleigh and points east, along the NC 98 corridor, and north, along the US 1 corridor, and have difficulty attending meetings at the NC State Club. We will hold a reception at the American Legion Post #187 in Wake Forest on the afternoon of April 15th. Please mark your calendars and join us in meeting prospective members of the Chapter. Details to follow as we finalize our plans. Matt Segal has taken responsibility for this initiative.

Your Chapter’s general fund is in good financial condition, but we are still carrying a number of members whose dues for 2022 remain unpaid. If you are one of those individuals, please bring your membership up to date with your $25 check. Chapter bylaws require us to consider whether we can continue to carry those in arears. Also, your Scholarship Foundation is currently several hundred dollars short of the $3,000 we need to fund the three scholarships we traditionally have provided to outstanding graduating high schoolers headed to university ROTC programs. Please consider donating to the Foundation. Our address remains PO Box 19861, Raleigh NC 27619.

We do not have firm dates for Chapter events past the April 15th reception in Wake Forest. We expect to have our annual JROTC scholarship award dinner at the NC State University Club in late May and a summer social. We have asked MOAA if the newly installed President , retired Air Force General P.K. Kelly, is available to join us for our 60th anniversary celebration in the September to November time frame and will accommodate his schedule if we get an affirmative answer. Stay tuned!

You have my best wishes for the new year, with the hope that you will take a more active role in Chapter activities.

Herb