BLINDED VETERANS ASSOCIATION
Chartered by the United States Congress
FLORIDA REGIONAL GROUP
3801 Coco Grove Avenue
Miami, Florida 33133
(305) 446-8008
email gstocking@bellsouth.net
BVA-FRG web site: www.bvafrg.org
FRG Newsletter June 2013
To get on the FRG List Serve call Terry
King at (941) 505-7747.
FRG President's Message: Here we are all once again opening a new page in
the long productive history of the BVA-FRG. I
am once again honored to serve the Blinded Veterans of Florida, as President of the FRG,
and I shall do it to the best of my ability, along with the other members of the board, of
which I consider to be very hard workers and dedicated to the BVA-FRG. The following blinded veterans were elected at the
FRG Annual Business Meeting on May 4, 2013 at the FRG State Convention: Terry King President, Mike Taylor Vice President,
George stocking secretary-Treasurer, Earl Bessent Central West Director, David Kinney
Central East Director, Bob Walczak South West director, and Jim McCoy South East Director. The North West Director and the North East Director
shall be appointed by the president, and of course, must be approved by the FRG Board of
Directors. This year we are going to attempt a
couple of new ideas. First of all for those of
you that are not aware, the directors that you elected have many assistant directors that
are appointed by the directors and perform many tasks.
This year we are going to be calling two thousand plus blinded veterans in Florida
and asking them a myriad of questions. For
example, have you any problems with the VA, any aids and or devices that you need that may
improve your quality of life and many other items that we feel that are important to the
well being of our Blinded Veterans of Florida. Secondly,
we shall attempt to locate and encourage our blinded comrades to step forward and accept
leadership positions, and particularly our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Our World War
two and Korean War veterans are moving on, therefore it is going to be up to the Vietnam,
Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans to carry the flag forward if we intend to maintain the
benefits that we are currently receiving. Here is an excellent quotation for all of us to
remember. While I was serving in the
military Ill never forget President John Kennedys quotation don't ask
what your country can do for you ask instead what you can do for your country. Now my last item in this Presidents message
is the rumor mill. We all remember the game we
use to play whereby people sat in a circle and one person whispered something to the next
one and so on around the circle and by the time the initial comment got back to the
original person it sounded nothing like it started off to be. Therefore, my advice to you all is if you here a
rumor, attempt to locate the originator of the rumor and determine the truth of the
message, trust me it will not be the same as you were told via the rumor mill. Terry King, FRG President
New BVA Field Service Program
(FSP) Officer: Douglas Brooks, who has
been the FSP Officer at the Atlanta VA Regional Office in recent years, has retired. BVA FSP Director Ed eckroth has recommended, and
the BVA Board of Directors has approved, Joseph A. Axt
as the new FSP Officer in Atlanta. He will
take up his duties to serve Blinded Veterans in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South
Carolina in June. Joe Axt entered the Marine Corps in 1979. During most of his career in the USMC, he served as
an armorer. To prepare for his later duties,
he completed several USMC and Navy counseling programs.
Then, he served as a reenlistment counselor for several years. In 1993, He was separated from the USMC, at the
rank of E 6, Staff Sergeant. Following
discharge from the USMC, he secured employment as a supervisor in a manufacturing plant
where he worked from 1994 to 2000, when his vision deteriorated to the point he was no
longer able to perform those duties. As are
all BVA FSP Officers, he is a Blinded Veteran. From
2000 to 2002, he attended Tri-County Community College in North Carolina where he
completed an Information Technology Program. From
2002 to 2008, he managed a cafeteria in North Carolina under the Randolph-Sheppard
Program. Subsequently, he used his computer
skills to teach computer access to Blinded Veterans in North Carolina. In 2011, he entered Georgia Glynette College where
he completed a program in systems information and security.
Presently, he is completing the National Veterans Legal Service course to be
certified as a National Service Officer. He
plans to take up his duties in mid June.
US Legislative Up-Date: For
several years, the BVA and PVA have worked to have Congress pass legislation to provide
Beneficiary Travel to all BV's and SCI Vets to Blind Rehab Centers (BRD) and Spinal Cord
Injury Centers (SCIC) for specialized rehab training.
Presently BV's and SCI vets whose income is above the income threshold may not be
provided travel for this specialized training. In
the last Congress, legislation was introduced to address this deficiency. Since it was not passed, we will have to start over
in this session. Senator Tester has introduced
S 633 and Representative Brownley has introduced HR 1284 which will authorize the VA to
provide this travel. The Senate Veterans
Affairs Committee held a hearing on S 633 on May 9th. The BVA and PVA testified and were supported by the
other Veterans Service Organizations. The
Veterans Health Administration also supports S 633. It
appears that S 633 has a good chance but HR 1284 will be more difficult. Representative Jeff Miller from Pensacola, Chairman
of the House Veterans Affairs Committee does not plan a hearing on HR 1284. No Representative from Florida has signed as a
co-sponsor of HR 1284. We urge all FRG BV's to
contact their US Representatives and urge them to join as a co-signer on HR 1284.
FRG Scholarship Program: The FRG
Scholarship Program for the 2013-2014 academic year was announced in the December 2012 FRG
Newsletter. The program offered two $1000
Scholarships. In January 2013, a Scholarship
Program letter was sent to all members of the FRG. The
Scholarship letter contained the guidelines for the Scholarship Program and the method for
securing the application packet. Six
individuals requested application packets. The
cut off date for the receipt of completed application packets was April 15, 2013. Two Scholarship candidates sent completed
application packets. Consequently, they will
be receiving $1000 Scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year. The successful candidates are Deborah Gaskin from
Ocala who is attending the University of Florida and the other is Arial Taylor who lives
in Fleming Island and is attending Florida State College in Jacksonville. MS Gaskin is pursuing a pre-med program and MS
Taylor is working on a Physical Therapy - Occupational Therapy Technician certification
program. In July, a check, for tuition, books,
and academic fees, in the amount of $500 will be sent in their name to the respective
schools for the fall term and another check in the amount of $500 will be sent in December
for the winter 2014 term. The FRG
congratulates these two successful Scholarship Candidates and wish them good luck.
FRG State Convention Business Meeting Minutes:
The meeting was called to order at 9:02 AM on May 4th by FRG President
Darryl Goldsmith. Following the invocation by
Charles Brooks and the pledge to the flag led by Darryl goldsmith, a roll call of those
registered for the Convention was held. A
motion was passed to waive the reading of the May 5, 2012 Annual Business Meeting Minutes
and to accept them as published in the June 2012 FRG Newsletter. The Treasurer reported an opening balance of
$49180.27 in the FRG checking account in April 2012. During
the year, income totaling $20511.91 was received, making a total of $69692.18 available in
the checking account for FRG use. Expenditures
during the year totaled $25277.25, leaving a balance in
the checking account, prior to the 2013 Convention, of $44414.93. The only fund raising project was conducted in the
Southwest District to raise funds for transportation to the FRG State Convention. Bob Walczak, Southwest District Director and Vice
President Terry King led a White Cane Walk-A-Thon in Ft. Myers raising $1000. The value of the CD's in the general fund, in April
2012 was $99282.90 Interest on all General Fund CD's was $600.67. The total funds in General account CD's as of April
2013 was $99883.57. The
FRG Scholarships Fund CD, a restricted account, was valued at $11465.67. During the year $76.51 was received in Interest,
leaving a balance of $11542.18 available for future FRG Scholarships. The total Certificates of Deposit, including the
Scholarship fund were $111425.75 Total cash assets including the checking account and all
certificates of deposit in April 2013 were $155840.67.
The membership at the Convention voted to accept the Treasurer's report.
The District Directors provided information about activities in their Districts. The Membership Committee reported the Florida
Regional Group had a total of 1259 Members and Associate Members as of April 2013. This is a decrease of 185 Members and Associate
Members since the time of the 2012 FRG State Convention.
The FRG membership is composed of 34% WW II, 23% Korean, and 29% Vietnam BV's. Only 14% are peace time, Desert Storm, and Iraq and
Afghanistan BV's. The aging process is taking
a toll on our membership. The FRG continues to
have the largest membership of any Regional Group in the BVA. In addition to those Blinded Veterans who actively
support the BVA, there are a total of 900 BV's on the FRG - BVA mailing list who have not
paid their dues for 2013. In November 2012,
the FRG mailing list contains a total of 2042. The
FRG is working with the VIST Coordinators to send letters to BV's in their area to
increase our contact with BV's. Since November
2012, two VIST Coordinators have completed this process and two more have started sending
letters. Since November 2012, we have gained
117 on the mailing list and 67 of those new BV's have joined the BVA-FRG for the first
time. Since April 2012, even with the
additional 117 new names, the FRG has had a reduction in its mailing list by 189,
primarily due to the death of WW II and Korean BV's. We
need to contact our fellow BV's and try to get our membership list increased.
The Legislative Committee presented information regarding National legislation of
interest to Blinded Veterans. All Blinded
Veterans in attendance were encouraged to become actively involved in writing to their
Senators and Representatives regarding legislation. All
BV's with computer access were encouraged to add their name to the BVA-FRG List Serve so
they can received information on legislation as it is being considered by Congress.
Paul
Kaminsky reported on his representation of the FRG on the Florida Dept of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Council (FDVA), the Florida Div of Blind Services (DBS) Rehab Council, and the
Vision Caucus. The
FDVA Council is composed of representatives from the various Veterans Service
Organization. Among other things it monitors
veteran's legislation before the Florida Legislature.
The DBS Rehab Council monitors the services the DBS provides to Florida citizens. The Vision caucus gives the Florida
Association of Agencies Serving the Blind (FAASB) and other organizations the opportunity
to meet, once a year, with members of the Florida Legislature.
Old
business: The format of the FRG Newsletter was
reviewed. There were no recommendations
regarding changes in the Newsletter. The FRG
District meetings were discussed. The
remaining activities at the 2012 FRG State Convention were reviewed.
The floor was opened for New Business with the election of Officers and District
Directors as the first item of business. The
following BV's were elected as Officers and District Directors: President - Terry King from Punta Gorda; Vice President - Mike Taylor from Fleming Island; Secretary-Treasurer - George Stocking from Miami;
Central West District - Earl Bessent from Tampa; Central East District - David Kinney from
Deland; Southwest District - Bob Walczak from Port Charlotte; and Southeast District -
James McCoy from Sunrise. An election was held
to select the Florida Regional Group Delegation to the BVA 68th National Convention , as
follows: Delegate - Dr. George Stocking; Alternate Delegates:
1. Terry King, 2. Israel Chance, 3. Darryl Goldsmith, 4. James Duda. Terry King was elected as FRG Representative on the
By-Laws and Resolutions Committee, with the Delegate and/or Alternate Delegates, in the
order listed above, as Alternate Representatives on that Committee. The Delegation was instructed to vote against any
amendment to the BVA By-Laws to establish a Low Vision Veteran category of membership. The Delegation was instructed to vote for Darryl
Goldsmith for BVA National Treasurer. With the
exception of the instructions above, a motion was passed to send the Delegation
uninstructed on other items to be considered at the BVA Convention.
After the election, the floor was
open to other New Business. A Resolution was
passed to maintain, on an on going basis, the FRG funds in the First National Bank of
South Miami and to have the President and Secretary-Treasurer as co-signers on all
accounts. Further, the Resolution, gave the
President and Secretary-Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Directors, the
responsibility to move the funds to another bank if more advantageous interest rates can
be obtained.
The 2014 FRG State Convention was discussed. When
the Convention Chairman George Stocking, met with the hotel management the hotel offered
to maintain the same contract as in 2013. The
membership voted to accept the Plaza Ocean Club Hotel contract for the 2014 FRG State
Convention.
The FRG Newsletter was discussed and will continue as in its present format. The recorded version was discussed and the $1500
donation to the Talking Book Library, as approved on an on-going basis, will be sent. The 7 District Meetings were reviewed and will
continue as in 2012. The FRG will purchase a
$100 full page ad in the BVA National Convention Program, as previously authorized.
A Resolution was circulated to all in attendance at the Convention regarding the
vacant VIST Coordinator position at the Tampa VAMC. The
Resolution is directed to Kathleen Fogerty Tampa VAMC Director and the VISN 8 Acting
Director Thomas Wisnieski, urging that the vacant VIST Coordinator position be filled as
soon as possible. Further, it urged the
Director to hire an additional VIST Coordinator to service the outlying Clinics. Other VAMC in VISN 8 have at least 2 VIST
Coordinators to serve the Medical Center and large Outpatient Clinics. It was passed unanimously. The meeting wa s adjourned at 11:52 AM. Respectfully submitted, George E. Stocking, Secretary