return to
news
Now Hear
This-
February 2010
Perinton Memorial
Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 8495
Thursday, March 11 - Nominations for Post Officers and Election of POV
Officers.
Tuesday, March 16 - Auxiliary Anniversary Dinner at the Fairport
Village Inn
Friday March 19- - St. Patrick’s Day Party at Post
Thursday April 8 - Nominations and Election of Post officers at our
monthly meeting
Thursday April 15 - Auxiliary Elections
Thursday April 29 – Pie, Plant and Ice Cream Sale at Canandaigua
Saturday and Sunday May 1st / 2nd - VFW Bowling in Auburn NY
Saturday May 1 - Buddy Poppy Sales Begin
Sunday May 23 - Decorating of Veterans Graves
Monday May 31 - Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony
Tuesday June 8 – Blood Drive at Post
Monday June 12th thru 14th – Flag Day flag sales
Saturday July 3- Independence Day Parade and Celebration
July 23rd, 24th & 25th - Trip to our Nation’s Capitol
Sunday August 1 - Post picnic 12 noon
<>
2010 ELECTION NOTICE
The annual election of “POV” officers will be held on March 11th
immediately following
he regular monthly Post meeting. Positions
to be filled are as follows: President,
Vice
President, and three 3
year term directors. Any member in good standing is eligible t
o
vote and or run for office
The annual election of “Post” officers will be held on April 8th during
the regular monthly
Post meeting. Nominations will be taken from
the floor at both the March 11th and
April 8th meetings and any member
in good standing may nominate, vote, and or hold
office. We
encourage all members to come to our monthly meetings and participate
in
these two important elections. We look forward to seeing all
of you
From
The Desk Of The Commander
I hope everyone had a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. I
would like to thank everyone
for their support throughout 2009 and
making our Post a welcome place to bring family
and friends, because it
takes everyone to make that happen. I want to take time to thank
everyone for making the Xmas party a great success again this year. A
special thanks
to Wendy Shand and her daughter Sidney and of course
Santa for all the work behind
the scenes. (Well Done) I also want
to Thank Jerry Gropp and Gail Gropp for making
the Annual Veterans
Dinner another great success and of course all the volunteers that
helped with Bingo and the kitchen duties. (Well Done)
A special thanks goes to those that helped in Membership this year. The
Post is currently
over 103.85%, thanks to Senior Vice Commander Dick
Grube for 5 new members and
Jr. Vice Commander Ken Gippe the guy who
made all those phone calls and sent out
reminders to make this happen
and Ken is not done yet. The count stands at 18 New
Members and 3
reinstated! (Well Done Junior Vice)
Before I close, a little work still needs doing and that is
post committee reports. They all
need to be into me no later than
April 15th this is so my report can be mailed to the state
no later
than the April 30th.
With my term coming to a close I would like to thank everyone for your
unselfish support
throughout the year. Thanks for the great experience
working with all of you.
Semper Fi.
Dick Van Grol, Commander
POV News-
I would like to take this chance to thank my board of directors
and all the volunteers
who’s hard work and un-selfish dedication have
helped to make this last year such a
success. I am looking forward to
2010 and hope it is even better. We invite all our
members to stop by
and participate in the many activities we now have; which
include our
once a month “Movie Nite”, hosted by Past Cmdr. Rick Gough & his
wife
Pat. This is normally on the 2nd Saturday each month from 6pm
till11pm, but is
subject to change. Call or stop by to confirm date
& time. Everyone normally brings
a snack or special dish to share.
Sunday’s have become our dish to pass day at the bar with everybody
bringing their
favorite dish to share with friends. This has been well
received and is a great time to
see old friends or make new ones. Call
or stop in for details.
We will always have some sort of sports on the 2 new big screen TV’s,
one at each
end of the bar, as well as the large protector screen over
the fireplace.
We will also be hosting some NASCAR Race party’s thru out the season,
& the club
will provide the hots, hamburg’s & sausage. Everyone
bring a dish or snack to share.
As in the past, you can still “sign for cash” every time you come in
and may win lots of
$$$$$$.
Remember, this is your Post, so come and enjoy it. If you have a
suggestion of an
activity yo think people would enjoy, please let us
know and we can try it. I look
forward to seeing each of you around the
Post.
Your Club President, Jim Schenkel
Decoration of Graves
Volunteers are needed to help with the decoration of graves. It is
really an enjoyable
time and only takes 2 or 3 hours in the morning to
complete. The work consists of
installing a flag and planting a
geranium at the grave of each veteran in the town of
Perinton with the
exception of White Haven and Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. In all, we
do
about 350+ graves. The American Legion takes care of Mt. Pleasant
Cemetery.
In the past, flags have been placed a few days early at
St. Mary’s Cemetery by Dick
Cronkite and crew and at Elmwood &
Greenville Cemetery by Linda Forbes. This
has greatly expedited
the planting of flowers on Sunday. If anyone would like to
assist
Linda or Dick it would be greatly appreciated. Please let myself
or Dick or
Linda know if you can help.
Decoration of graves will take place on the 23rd of May this
year. Volunteers are
needed on this date and need to meet at the
post by 8:30 AM to receive their
assignments. If all goes well we
will be done by 12-noon or earlier
Jim Schenkel – Chairman
Bingo report
Volunteers are needed to help with Bingo each week. A number of
our dedicated
volunteers have passed away or are unable to help anymore
because their health
is failing.
As a volunteer, your obligation would consist of giving up 3 to 4 hours
of your time
on one Wednesday night a month. You do not have to
know anything about bingo
to be a worker and will be assigned to one of
four teams. Many of our volunteers
enjoy coming every Wednesday night
as it is a night out as well as a time for
camaraderie with your fellow
VFW members. If you are interested in helping,
please contact me
directly on my cell phone at (585) 698-7671, or let one of the
post
officers know, and we will get you on a team. We look forward to
hearing
from you.
Jim Schenkel – Bingo Chairman
Senior Vice Commander
Welcome to 2010 Comrades: Well, we have a busy year ahead of
us. I'd like to
thank all who made 2009 a great year.
Considering what the country went through
in 2009 we did a remarkable
job at the Post and throughout the community. Here
are a few Highlights.
Veterans Court started by Judge Patrica Marks (wife of Past Commander
Jeff
Marks) finished its first year and held the first graduation of
Veterans from this
program on January 25th, 2010. I work as Peer
Mentor in the court every Monday
afternoon helping Veterans in the
legal system get through the program and get
a second chance. We
now have 95 Veterans in the program and demand for this
service is
growing. This is the second Veterans Court in the State and I am
helping
train mentors in Albany and Wayne County to bring the program
to other
communities. We can use more mentors. If you can
give up an afternoon every
Monday please contact me at the Post and I
will explain the program in detail.
I was contacted by the Legacy House in Penfield in 2009 by one of their
supervisors
and we now have a Happy Hour at the Post once a month on a
Friday for the
Veterans who live at the Legacy Home. They arrive
around 5:30 and we provide
Pizza and Wings and enjoy a couple of hours
with some Great people. Watch for
the announcements in Post
E-Mails and join us.Our efforts in the Poppy program
provided additional funds for
the Hospital in Canandaigua but also helped our
ellow comrades out in
the community. Through the Rochester Regional Veterans
Business
Council we received a request to help an Iraq Veteran who needed
house
repairs, medical care, family care services, and unemployed. The
98th
Division in Rochester contacted us on several occasions with
needs
to help
Veterans who were out of work to pay heating bills. We
had a request from the
Vet center to help buy food for a homeless vet
who could not find food for diabetics
at the shelters. This same
Veteran got some additional help from us for a security
deposit for an
apartment. He is slowly getting back on his feet thanks to help
from
us and other veterans services. We also sent a Veteran with an
addiction problem
to a Phoenix House near his parents to help with his
recovery. Lastly the Post
donated funds to the Veterans Court so
that we may expedite evaluations of
Veterans and provide bus passes to
these Comrades to get to their clinics and
group meetings. For this; I
thank you......POPPIES will be my main focus in
the
coming months and as most of you know this is my pet project. We
raised
more than $17,000.00 last year and I would certainly like to
surpass that amount.
We did this with the help of about a dozen Comrades and the Ladies
auxiliary.
We did some new things last year and it paid
off. Think what we could do with
Twenty Volunteers. We need
people to cover K-Mart, East View Mall, The Post
Office, Tops, Perinton
Square, The Lilac Festival, and the list goes on. The
Volunteer List
will be up on the Bulletin Board starting in March. Please give
this
program some time. This is the one time of the year we can
replenish our RELIEF
Fund. You’ll hear more from the
"POPPYMEISTER" in the coming months
THIS IS WHAT WE DO......
DICK GRUBE SR. VICE COMMANDER
Junior Vice Commander
Membership is over 400 strong and we are over 103 %
I want to thank everyone for all the hard work and your support. We
need your help!!!
If anyone knows any of the following members listed
below and have an address or
phone number please call meKen Gippe at
585-703-4045.
Annunziata,
Anthony
Barager,
William
Chorazy, Stanley
Costanza,
Anthony
Drojak,
Michael
Flint, Stephanie
Kostecke,
Joseph
Myers,
James
Rodger,
William
Teta,
Nick
Robillard
Harvey
Simmons Robert
Marino,
Joe
Loftus. Gerald
The following is a list of new members to Post 8495
Gippe,
Matthew
Hayes,
Jason
Ortiz, Gabriel
Panton,
Andrew
Reedy,
Laura
Semler, Christopher
Van Grol,
Clinton
Williams,
Jeremy
Wood, Daniel
Robillard,
Harvey
Simmons,
Robert
Marino, Joe
Loftus, Gerald
Highway clean-up on Rt. 31 we need your help!!The dates are April 25th
at 09:00
with a back-up date of May 2nd There will be a sign up sheet on the
service officers
board or call Ken
at 585-703-4045
Flag Day -We need people to sit outside the areas that we do the
poppies for the
weekend of June12th-14th to hand out small flags. The money goes to
Veterans
Outreach
Center
Kenneth R. Gippe
Junior Vice Commander
Auxiliary News –
On Tuesday March 16 we will have our annual Anniversary
celebration. Dinner will be
at the Fairport Village Inn at 6 pm.
Invitations will soon be mailed.
On Thursday April 15, we will have the election of officers for 2010 –
2011.
We have had a very successful year. I would like to thank each
and every one of our
sisters
for all your support, help and dedication.
Auxiliary President Gail Gropp
Honor Guard
This past year has been both exciting and demanding of the Post Honor
Guard.
The effort and energy that went into making this past year
noteworthy can only be
described as a “full frontal attack” in dealing
with the many changes and demands
placed on the Guard.
Without a doubt this could not have happened without the full
cooperation and dedication of the members of the Guard. First we
experienced
a changing of Command. Frank Balik retired as
President of the Guard, Pat
Cammilleri was elected the new President
and Dave Crawford was elected
as the new Captain of the Guard. Next,
were the many funerals and activities we
participated in. These
activities are listed below:
We had 27
requests to render Military Honors at funerals
Participation in two parades: Memorial Day and Independence Day
Raising Colors for the opening ceremonies of the Little League season.
Flag Raising for Cub Scout Pack 273
Posted Colors for the Post Anniversary Dinner
Posted Colors for the Forest Park Veterans Day Dinner
Had a major role in the opening and closing ceremonies for the Wall
that Heals
Conducted a 9/11 Memorial Service at the Post
Salute to America at the Perinton Community Center
POW/MIA Ceremony at Charlotte Beach
Veterans Day Ceremony at Jefferson Road School (two services)
Veterans Day Ceremony at the Post
Pearl Harbor Day Ceremony at the Post
Korean Armistice Tribute at the Post
Of special significance in the above list is the “Wall That
Heals”. The planning,
training and time necessary to field a
first class Honor Guard required a
dedicated effort by all.
Not to mention the coordination of Color Guards from
the Marines, Air
Force, Masonic War Veterans, VVA Chapter 20, American
Legion County
Color Guard, Patchen Briggs Post 307, and the Fairport Fire
Department
Band. I am proud to say that the VFW Post 8495 Color Guard
and Rifle Squad were exemplary in their presentation of the Colors and
the
firing of a rifle salute to our fallen comrades.
The total hours expended by the Guard in the above listed funerals and
activities
came to 1,168 man hours for 2009.Of special significance to the Guard
was our
recruiting in 2009.
I am proud to say we have six new members. They are: Mike
Smith, Ron
Fox, Roy Sargent, Robert Polle, Randy Clark, and Victor Wahlberg.
Thank you for joining the Guard. We look forward to your active
participation.
Both age and health related matters are diminishing our ranks. We
are very thankful
to the above six men for their desire to be part of
our Guard. We are always looking
for new members for the Honor
Guard. As our reputation as a first class Honor
Guard grows, so
do the demands. While we cannot always respond to all the
requests we receive, we do our best to respond to as many as
possible. We can
only do this with a solid number of members in
the Guard. If you are interested in
Joining please call Pat
Cammilleri at 377-6281 or Dave Crawford at 1-315-521-8607.
The Honor Guard is very proud of VFW Post 8495 and its members for all
the support
you have provided us during this past year. Of
special note we want to thank the
Women’s Auxiliary for their support
and encouragement. And finally, a special “thank
You” and
recognition to our spouses and significant others. We thank you
for having
the patience and understanding for what it is we do. I
know we all have busy lives,
with family, friends and many
commitments. Yet, when called the members of the
Guard
respond. THANK YOU.
I was recently asked if the Honor Guard gets paid. My reply
was that every time the
Guard marches in a Parade and the crowd stands
and applauds, we get paid. Every
time we raise a flag for the Boy
Scouts and explain the meaning to the Scouts, we
get paid. Every
time we post Colors and play taps for the senior Veterans in
community
living centers and they thank us, we get paid. Every time we
attend a
school function and explain to the children why we perform
certain ceremonies and
the meaning of those ceremonies, we get
paid. But most importantly, every time
we render honors for a
fallen Veteran and the family comes to us with tears in their
eyes, and
say “thank you, my dad would have been very proud”, we get paid.
<>Patrick Cammilleri
President, VFW Post 8495 Honor Guard
Service Officers Corner
The Post Service Officer assists members of the Post, their widows and
orphans and
other worthy cases brought to their attention in obtaining
rightful benefits from the
federal and state governments.
If you have access to the internet, we have added a “Veterans Help
Page” with links
to helpful sources to find earned benefits and help
for both the newly returned veteran
and other veterans that need help.
A very important web site for information is the
VFW web site
www.vfw.org.
William Hanifin – Post Service
Officer
Horseshoe League
The post is planning to form a horseshoe team and join a
horseshoe league this year.
If you are interested, please contact Dave
Crawford at the post or by telephone at
(315) 719-5357 after the 1st of
April
NYS Bowling Tournament
The 5th annual VFW Mixed Bowling Tournament will be held at the Polish
Falcon
Lanes in Auburn, NY.We still need bowlers to fill out teams for this
year’s tournament.
All
members of the VFW & Ladies Auxiliary are eligible and encouraged
to participate.
The tournament dates are Saturday & Sunday, May st & 2nd this
year. Please contact
me at 1-315-521-8607 for more information about
location & costs.
Billy Kuhn – Bowling Chairman
Canandaigua VA Pizza Party
In March 2009 VFW Post 8495 started the monthly Project Arden Pizza
party in Bld #7
at the VA Hospital in Canandaigua. The post hosts
the pizza party every first Thursday
of the month starting at 6:45 and
lasting about 2 hours. In 2009 we logged over 115
hours of volunteer
time putting on these parties. During the summer we put on a picnic
with pizza/chicken fingers and entertainment.
It is a great opportunity to interface with our vets who can use some
company. We
spend time with them and share our experiences with them.
They enjoy our company
and the pizza and look forward to seeing us
every month.
If you want to help out just let me know. We can always use more hands.
My contact numbers
are:
(H) 585-223-7323
(W) 585-427-1311
Cell 585-721-2948
Thanks Joel Smith - Canandaigua VA Hospital Liaison
Chairman
Annual Pie, Plant and Ice Cream Sale
The annual Pie, Plant and Ice Cream sale will be held in Building 5 at
the
Canandaigua VA Hospital on Thursday April 29th from 9:30 to 2
PM. All
monies raised from this sale will help to support
programs such as the
Volunteer picnic, National Volunteer Week as well
as to help absorb the
cost of the annual Volunteer Awards Banquet.
Donations of mature
houseplants and bulbs, rummage sale items (jewelry,
plates, etc (no
books or clothing) should be dropped off by 8:30 at
building 5. If possible,
donated items price should be
included. Donations should be dropped off
in Bldg. 5 Auditorium
on April 29 before 8:30 AM or in Volunteer Service
beginning April
22.Pie slices are served with ice cream and coffee, whole
pies are also
available for sale. Plants are priced according to maturity and
distinctiveness. All pie, assorted baked goods and plants are
donated by
volunteers. Please plan on supporting this project by making
donations or
bringing in your family and friends to make purchases.
Blood Drive -
Perinton Memorial Post 8495 and its
Ladies Auxiliary in
cooperation with the American Red Cross will be
holding a blood drive on 6/8/10
from 2 - 7 PM at Post. Those of you
desiring to help with the canteen, socialize
with the donors and/ or
signing up donors, please contact Pat Cammilleri.
Additional
information will be posted throughout the area as well as the Post.
Thank you in advance for your support and assistance in this worthwhile
cause.
Pat Cammilleri - Chairman
Freedom Hill
With well over 1000 bricks, space will soon be getting tight.
Please, if you have
been thinking of a brick for yourself or a loved
one, get it now. Brick request forms
are available at the post and the
deadline for a brick to be in by Memorial Day is
May 7th.
Bob Gill - Chairman
Monday May 31 - Memorial Day Parade
and Ceremony.
Parade starts at the Fairport Baptist home at 10:00AM and usually ends
up at Potter
Park at about 11:00AM. The route is south on Main Street
to Church St. where it
continues west on Church street and stops at
Potter Park where we do our Ceremony
of Remembrance. The ceremony lasts
about 25-30 minutes. All members are invited
to return to the post
following the ceremonies for refreshments. Please join us by
marching
with our honor guard. Vehicles will be provided for those who wish to
participate but are unable to march.
Saturday July 3rd - Independence Day
Parade
The parades will start off at the Fairport Baptist Home at 10am
sharp. Anyone that
has either a uniform or service cap will be
more than welcome to march with us. As
usual, we will have
vehicles available for those who are unable to march and would
like to
participate in the parade. Meet at the post at 9am and we will
leave for the
parade promptly at 9:30am. As in the past, all
members are invited to a social hour
after the parades at the Post Home
with food and refreshments provided.
Post Trip to Washington, DC
We are planning a trip to our Nation’s Capitol on July 23rd, 24th &
25th to visit the
WWII and Korean War Memorials among other
attractions. We are designing this
trip around the needs of our WWII
and Korean Veterans to give them an opportunity
to visit the memorials
honoring their service. Sites to be visited also include the
Smithsonian, Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, Arlington
National
Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Holocaust Museum.
We are working on the itinerary now and will finalize the plans
shortly. We are
anticipating the cost for the trip at $550 per couple,
$280 per individual for Post
members and Ladies Auxiliary members.
Prices for others not members of the
post or auxiliary will be higher
depending on the accommodations selected and
will only be available if
space allows. A waiting list will be kept listing those
interested on a
first come first served basis.
Included in the price are: Round trip motor coach transportation
(including tours in
DC), a tour manager, 2 night’s hotel
accommodations, 2 breakfasts, 1 dinner,
admission to all attractions
and driver gratuity. <>
A non-refundable deposit of $125 per person is required to secure your
reservation.
We will begin accepting reservations 4/1/10 from post /
auxiliary members.
Non members may put their names on the waiting list
beginning 4/1/10. Send
reservations and deposit to the post. Mark
envelope: DC Trip
Rick Gough - Chairman
The Post Family Picnic
Our annual Family Picnic will be held on Sunday, August 1st in the
pavilion. This is
always a fun event for every member of the family. It
is a time to renew acquaintances
and have some fun. Games and door
prizes are planned as well as cooking by our
crew of superb chefs. As
in the past, we ask everyone to bring a dish to pass. Mark
your
calendar and plan to join us for this wonderful event. Watch the post
bulletin
board for opportunities to sign up to help out. See you there!
Post Sick Call – If you know of an ailing or deceased comrade
please call our post
Chaplain Frank Pittinaro at (585) 223-7294 or send
an e-mail to the post website -
webmaster@vfw8495.org
TAPS – Post
Members
Daniel Piccarelli - 10/30/09
Justin R. Tubbs Jr. - 12/09/09
Howard H. Williams - 1/16/10
Roy Bergen -1/20/10 - Past Post Commander 1992 and long time Honor
Guard member
FYI
Internet –
To help improve our posts’ recognition in the community, we have
established an internet presence:
Website vfw8495.org Facebook “Perinton Memorial VFW
Post 8495”, Twitter “VFW8495 “
And
AmericanTowns.com/ny/fairport
Post Telephone numbers (585) 223-9723 and (585) 425-1363
Post Hours: Monday 2pm-7pm; Tuesday 2pm-10pm; Wednesday (closed except
for bingo);
Thursday 2pm-10pm; Friday Noon-11pm; Saturday Noon-11pm;
and Sunday 2pm-7pm.
Bingo - Wednesday evenings at the post. Doors open at 6:00 PM and games
start at 7:15 sharp
Post Meetings at
post:
2nd Thursday of the month at 7:30pm
Ladies Auxiliary Meetings at the
post:
3rd Thursday of the month at 7:30pm
Perinton Overseas Veterans Meeting at the post: 3rd Thursday of
the month at 7:30pm
Officers 2009 –
2010
Post
Officers
POV
Officers
Post
Commander:
Dick Van Grol
President:
Jim Schenkel
Senior Vice
Commander:
Dick
Grube
Vice President: Chuck Gunio
Junior Vice
Commander
Ken
Gippe
Secretary:
Dick Grube
Post
Advocate:
Rick
Gough
Steward:
Stan Buczkowski
Quartermaster:
Jerry
Gropp
Treasurer:
Jerry Gropp
Adjutant
;
Mike
Fedele
Board:
Chaplain:
Frank Pittenaro
:
Mike Lucci
Surgeon:
Stan
Buczkowski
Rich
Gough
Officer of the
Day
Chuck
Gunio
Francis
Balik
Service
Officer
William
Hanifin
Dick
Cronkite
Guard
Mike
Lucci
Dick Van Grol
Trustees:
Thomas
Crispino
Bob Gill
Dave
Crawford
Dave
Crawford
Dick Bartela
Honor Guard
President
Pat Cammilleri
Honor Guard
Captain
Dave Crawford
Public
Relations/webmaster
Dick Cronkite
Ladies Auxiliary
President
Gail Gropp
Sr. Vice
President
Claudia Allevato
Jr. Vice
President
Pat Gough
Treasurer
Gean Becker
Secretary
Melissa Johnson
Conductress
Liz Beauter
Chaplain
Linda Forbes
Trustees
Claudia Allevato
Brenda Rooks
Mary Jane Schenkel
Guard
Ginnie
Wacenske
return to
post news