April 2004 NEWSLETTER

Good Day Post #57 Member!

Enclosed you will not find a copy of the minutes from the March 16th Post meeting. To conserve paper, I will only be printing out enough for the meeting. The minutes are available to read by any Post member at the Post. Our next meeting is on April 20^th and we hope you will attend. If you have any other ideas for activities for the Post, please let us know! Come share your ideas with us at the next Post meeting on April 20th. Remember, this is your post and your inputs do matter.

March was a busy month for our Post. We had a Blood Drive, a Veterans’ Benefits Seminar, our first Community Social and several State Commander’s Dinners.

The Blood Drive was the first drive in Ash Fork. We had thirteen folks attempt to give blood and ended up with 13 pints thanks to the program of Super Red. Super Red allows the donor, if they meet certain qualifications, to actually give two units of red blood cells. I tried, but my blood just runs too slow so they were only able to get one unit out of me. We did have some folks who were able to give the Super Red and some folks that were turned away as ineligible to give blood.

This was a learning experience for me. I learned that certain medical conditions don’t necessarily prevent you from giving blood. For example, diabetes. I know a lot of people have it and may think they can’t give blood, but this just isn’t true. Our last donor for the day had diabetes and he was able to give. It all depends on the type of treatment you are on for your condition. So, if you are interested in giving blood but think you can’t because of a medical condition, find out for sure and ask the screener. We plan to have another blood drive in September. Hopefully we can double the amount of blood units donated.

The Veterans’ Benefits Seminar was very informative. We had 32 people attend. Lee Borgen explained how VA compensation works and other benefits. She left behind the extra copies of fact sheets she brought so if you are interested, stop by the Post and pick up one.

Our Community Social was fun. We played Bingo for door prizes. Some folks played Cribbage while others just sat and socialized. We had some music and some food. Thanks to the ladies of the Auxiliary who provided some great munchies. We want to have another one, maybe sometime in June but we need your input. Remember, these socials are not just for the folks who had birthdays or anniversary during the quarter. They are for everyone to help them celebrate those occasions and to socialize, so if you have any ideas on what to do for the Social, please let us know.

There were four Commander’s Dinners in March. Post members went to three of them. At the Grand Canyon Commander’s Dinner, our own Fred Fernow received a certificate acknowledging his 50 years as an American Legion member. I just spoke to Fred and found out he’s been a member of our Post the entire 50 years! If you see him, congratulate him.

If things go as planned, we will be celebrating Cinco De Mayo on Saturday, May 1^st from 3-8 pm. More details at the April 20th Post meeting come and find out what it’s all about!

ITEMS OF INTEREST (if interested in an item listed, contact the Post for further information)

Are the summer upcoming electric bills becoming a concern to you? Would you like a way to know what your electric bill will be every month so you can manage your budget better? Well, you can!! APS has a program call the Equalizer Plan were they take an average of the last 12 months of your electric bills and make that your electric bill. Want to know more? Go to APS.com or call them at 1-800-253-9405. I’ve signed up and it’s great!!

Retiree Activities Officer (RAO) Bulletin 29 Feb 04, topics include: Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Update 16, Reserve Temporary Health Benefit Program, Medicate Late Enrollment Penalty Update 1, IRS Consumer Warning—Identity Theft, Agent Orange Cancer Study

RAO Bulletin 15 March 2004, topics include: CRSC Update 17, Reserve Legislation Update 1-04, VA Disability Compensation Facts, Reserves Job Placement Program, DIC Widow Entitlement Change, Social Security for Military, Tax Attack

RAO Bulletin 30 March 04, topics include: Commissary Self Checkout, Medicare Late Enrollment Penalty Update 2, SBP Paid Up Provision, CHAMPVA Survivor Policy, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005, Medicare Solvency, VA Loan Update 1, Space “A” Dependent Travel in U.S. Update 1, Reserves Temporary Tricare Program Update 1, DOD Military Retiree Employment

American Airlines is offering passengers born before January 1, 1930, special discount fares to France in Commemoration of 60^th Anniversary of D-Day. Deadline to buy tickets is 15 April 2004.

School Supplies needed for Iraqi children. If interested in donating, come to the Post and read email from Department Adjutant.

Charitable Donations: Make sure the money you are giving is going to a bona fide charity. Scammers are out there and even misrepresenting themselves as a veteran’s charity.

UPCOMING EVENTS TO PUT ON YOUR CALENDAR:

11 April 2004, Easter – no Bingo

20 April 2004, Post and Auxiliary Meeting, 6 pm

23-24 April 2004, American Legion National Leadership and Information Conference in Chandler

25 April 2004, Bingo, doors open at 1:30 pm, play starts at 2 pm

1 May 2004, Cinco de Mayo, 3-8 pm

16 May 2004, District Meeting at Grand Canyon Post 42, 11 am

18 May 2004, Post and Auxiliary Meeting, 6 pm

23 May 2004, Bingo, doors open at 1:30 pm, play starts at 2 pm

15 June 2004, Post and Auxiliary Meeting, 6 pm

17-20 June 2004, Department Convention in Chandler

If you have an article or piece of information that you think would be of interest to the whole Post, let me know and I will include it in the first newsletter after receiving the information. You can get me the information by emailing me, dropping it off at the Post or mailing it to the Post at P.O. Box 45 or calling me at 637-2240.

Do you have an email address? Have you sent it to me? If not, please do so. My email address is rockin_g@netzero.com Make sure you let me know who you are when you send me the email so I know whom the email address belongs to.

Yvonne Gorniak

Editor

Post 57