Southwest Oklahoma MOAA - Presidents-Message

Presidents Message

August 2026

Greetings fellow SWOK MOAA members!
I hope everyone is surviving this heat wave. Please take care of yourselves – remember to stay inside and keep hydrated!

Thanks to everyone who attended our Annual Recognition dinner in May. The meal and the fellowship were fantastic! We had a great evening recognizing our six $1000 high school senior and our $1000 Cameron MS III Cadet Scholarship winners. Our guest speaker was Oklahoma State Representative Daniel Pae. He brought us up to date on happenings in the State House. We also remembered those we lost in the past year, and we recognized Ray Friedl for his dedicated service to the SWOK MOAA Chapter.

For those of you who don’t know, your Chapter earned the Five Stars Levels of Excellence Award and the Five Stars Harris Communications Award again. We have won these awards every year that we have competed! This is a testament to your hard work in support of this chapter’s goals and objectives. Thank you!

In Chapter business, the general membership voted to open an Endowed Fund with the Lawton Community Foundation (LCF). The goal is for our SWOK MOAA Endowed Scholarship Fund to raise enough money to perpetuate our scholarship awards. The goal is that by the end of 2027, we will have at least $35000 in the fund. When we do that, the LCF will match $5000 to bring the total to $40000. Please think about making a tax-deductible donation to our Endowed Scholarship Fund before the end of the year. For those of you that are eligible, you can make a Qualified Charitable Deduction from your IRA.

Please mark your calendar for our Annual Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser from 12 pm to 4 pm on 19 September 2026 at VFW Post #5263. Tickets are $12.00. Contact Dennis Clippinger or Bill Whisenant for tickets. We need volunteers to prepare, serve and clean up. We also need donations for the food we prepare and for flatware, paper plates, etc. Sign-up sheets went out by email on 6 August 26. Last year we raised over $1900 that helped finance our chapter operations in support of veterans’ programs. I hope to see you there.

Our next General Membership Meeting will be at 1130 on 9 September 2026 in the Great Plains Coliseum South Annex Building (Not the Prairie Building), Comanche County Fairgrounds. It will be an Octoberfest Meal. The invitations will go out in late August. Please let Dennis Clippinger know if you plan to attend no later than 4 September 2026. His contact information is: Tel: (580) 585-0251 or email: dennis.clippinger@sbcglobal.net.

Again, thanks for all you do to support our veterans! If you haven’t’ already done so, please go to our website (swokmoaa.org) and weigh-in on MOAA’s legislative priorities by clicking on the “Take Action” Button. I hope you have a great end to the summer.

Don DuRant
SWOK MOAA
Chapter President

dcdurant1952@gmail.com

Southwest Oklahoma MOAA

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Southwest Oklahoma MOAA