Sampson AFB Vets Assoc

SampsonVets - Association Activities (updated 03/31/08)

LIFE MEMBERSHIP

The board voted to continue the $85.00 life membership offer. The response has been outstanding. Remember, we are attempting to put John Murtha, our membership chairman, out of business. So let’s all become life members.

Also the wings that are given to all life members will shortly be gone and the supplier has gone out of business. We are looking at an alternative to the wings. As soon as a replacement is decided upon the membership will be informed.

NAVY LOGO ITEMS

As of Columbus Day 2007, the Navy vets will no longer be working their museum. It will be turned over to the Museum Director, Krystal Westphal. It has been determined that the state cannot sell logo items. Your association has offered to buy, from the Navy, whatever items they have left over. We will then include those items in our logo sales and attempt to sell them. As of this writing we do not have a decision from the Navy.

MEMORIAL DAY 2008 WEEKEND AT SAMPSON

A mini reunion and march are being planned for Memorial Day Weekend. Last year's Memorial Day Marches were such a big success that we would like to go a little farther this year. Since Waterloo's Memorial Day event is planned for Friday, May 30th, plans are being made to make this year's experience even more interesting. We invite members and wives to join us this year as we start the weekend by marching as a group in the Waterloo Parade on Friday, May 30th at 6:00 pm. This would be the kickoff for our Mini Reunion. Activities in Waterloo will be taking place all day Friday, concluding with their outstanding Memorial Day Parade, which we will be participating in again with Marchers and a float of the restored Sampson Tractor and Flatbed for those unable to march.

Rooms have been blocked out at the Holiday Inn-Waterloo and the Waterloo Microtel. The rates for the Holiday Inn are $65.00 per night and rooms will be held for us until April 29th. The rates for the Microtel are $50.39 for one Queen size bed and $59.39 for two Queen size beds. Rooms at the Microtel will also be held until April 29th. It is important to reserve ASAP. The Holiday Inn phone number for reservations is: 315-539-5011. The booking code is: VET. The Microtel phone number is 315-539-8438. There is no booking code for the Microtel. Just tell them you are with the Sampson Vets Association.

Saturday activities will be spent with visits to the Museum opening, and a boat cruise on Seneca Lake with a barbecue for dinner. The mini reunion will conclude on Sunday morning with a buffet breakfast at the base followed by a Worship Service. We would appreciate knowing if you are coming as we would like to plan a Friday lunch again as we did last year if we have the necessary response. Other activities are being planned. So please call Don or Gerri Lehman at 717-252-2485 or e-mail us at: Sampson-pa@comcast.net so we can keep you informed as we proceed with our plans.

Thank You, Don Lehman

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The votes are in and your new Board of Directors has been elected .

They are: President Chip Phillips, Vice President Don Christman, Secretary Nick Smith, Treasurer Dick Schweitzer.

Trustees: Tom Kirk, Lucky Sandifur, Don White, John Murtha, Hal Fulton and Janet Robinson

RAFFLE RESULTS

Both the annual booklet raffle and the members only raffle were a success this year. The booklet raffle, after all expenses and

prizes were paid, realized a profit of just over $14,000. The members only raffle took in $5,000 and paid out a total of $600.00. So

we realized a profit of $4,400.00.

As we go forward the proceeds of these two raffles will go into our trust fund. The trust fund has been established to ensure our museum will stay open after we are gone. Lets see if we can get the booklet raffle up to $20,000 next year and the members only up to $10,000. At the present time we have a little over $100,000 in the trust fund and we would like it to grow to at least $500,000 during

the next five years.

We have already received the first members only raffle for 2008. The Members Only Raffle donation form can be found in Roll Call

The 2007 Raffle winners are listed below.

Members Only Raffle

1st prize $500.00 Hal Fulton, member No. 207, Wooster, OH

2nd prize $100.00 George Prentice, member No. 2946 Scotia, NY George donated his winnings plus an addional $200 back to the Association.

Booklet Raffle

1st prize $1500 Harry Biller, member No. 2 Harpers Ferry, WV
2nd prize $750 Eugene Roy, member NO. 3253 Southhampton, MA
3rd prize $300 Jim McCombs, member No. 3339 Lithia, FL
4th prize $200 Michael A. Kubik member No. 2999 Santa Maria, CA

5th prize $150 Ronald J. Kerrigan, member No. 1818 Greefield, IN

6th prize $100 Robert W. Kohanski member NO. 528 Dracut, MA

BUY A BRICK

SUPPORT THE MUSEUM MAINTENANCE AND T-33 RESTORATION FUNDS

The brick fund-raising program assists your Association in paying for completing
the construction of the museum and the restoration of our T-33 for static display.

For a donation of $35.00, a brick with
wording of your choice will be placed
in the Museum Courtyard in your honor.

Further details can be found in Roll Call.

Click here for a “BUY a Brick” print and mail form

SIGNING UP OUR CHILDREN

As you all know, we are not going to be around forever. Therefore, we discussed at the Board Meeting how to get our children involved and hopefully they will carry on once we are all gone. So, we encourage all of you to talk to your children and
See if they are interested.

ASSOCIATION BY LAWS

The Association By Laws can be provided to all members. If you would like a copy contact Chip Phillips

DELINQUENT DUES

The Association would like to remind those who are behind on their dues, to please send them in. Our membership is presently at 3800+ , with the hope of reaching a goal of 4000 by the end of this year, we also do not want to lose any of you. (To those who already have sent them in Thank You , “Sampson Lives”).

MUSEUM DIRECTOR

The Museum Director is still on track. However, there has been a change in philosophy. In January the Navy president, Bill Andre, at the urging of his Board of Directors, decided not to invest their money with the Friends of Sampson, but with the Parks Commission. As a result of this decision, the re-write of the Friends by-laws has stopped and we have taken a step back and will observe what the Navy and Parks Commission accomplish this coming summer.

The following was written by Kiystal Westfahl and outlines what has been accomplished since the December Roll Call was published.

Chip,
Here are a few bullet points on what has happened so far and what the Parks and I have been up to:

• On January l8 Navy expressed concern with transferring collections and money to “Friends”. Parks met with Bill Andre to discuss the best route for the Navy. Navy wanted to transfer to Parks instead.

• At “Friends” meeting we discussed this was the route that Parks was prepared t&c6ept - the responsibility of the Navy Museum.

• I inventoried the collection of the Navy the week of February 5 through the 13th

• I went to the Bureau of Historic Preservation at Peebles Island for several days showing them the collection and getting training on archiving, collections management, exhibits, and collections policy. We discussed how to s)owcase the collections in a way that would be thematic to the time period and what are the first steps in aècessioning the collections into State Parks holdings. I came back with archival material for artifacts and started doing an extensive inventory of the Navy’s holdings in storage.

Right now Parks is working on putting together the legal documents to transfer the Navy’s assets to the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) account and a document for “gifts”. We won’t start this process with Air Force until we have all of this information ironed out. The transfer of the Air Force will come second when we figure out what you want to do with your museum.

We need to set up a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the coming summer (or for longer if you don’t want to transfer everything for another couple of years). This MOU will outline the roles and responsibilities of both parties. Over the summer we will however, support you in creating themes for the Museum, archiving important objects such as pictures, uniforms, books, general memorabilia. We will also help with museum staffing for the days that you can’t have volunteers there or need extra help. The hope is that both sides of the museum will be open 10-4 Monday- Sunday (this may be variable-we will see how the summer goes).

As far as the “Friends” group as an advisory committee; we feel that “Friends” will always be there to support the museum and as Museum Director, I will be in constant contact with the “Friends” and will be coming to meetings to give constant updates. I can also give updates in the Roll Call as well as the Navy’s newsletter. However, the “Friends” Shouldn’t be a group that advises Parks. As an organization the “Friends” group is to support the workings of the Parks and to assist in what needs to Parksmay have. I will be in constant contact with “Friends”/Navy/Air Force for upcoming events and exhibits in the Museum.

I will be here for you for support and help. This is going to be a summer of learning. The Air Force will be able to see the progress that the Navy Museum will undergo and you will reap the reward of additional promotions; I will be promoting this as the Sampson State Park Military Museum.

Krystal.

In light of some recent correspondence, I must emphasis that we will not do anything until such time we are satisfied with how the Navy transition has worked out and we have legal counsel revue all of the documentation. I strongly believe that we are on the right track and when it does come time for us to walk away, our museum will be in good hands.