Presidents Update, June 2024

Well, summer is upon us!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring and is ready for Oklahoma’s hot season.   Please stay hydrated and remain inside in the air conditioning as much as possible. 

The SWOK Chapter continues to achieve and maintain excellence in its activities. The National MOAA Office has once again presented to YOUR chapter the 5-star Levels of Excellence (LOE) Award and the 5-star Marvin Harris Communications Award.  These are the most prestigious awards that National can bestow upon a local chapter.  A heartfelt thanks goes out to those members who made this possible – especially to Sam Coffman for the LOE submission and to Charlie Hutchinson for the Harris submission.   

In February, our chapter hosted Bingo at the Lawton Veterans Home. We provided the $200.00 in prize money.  Thanks to those chapter members who participated in this fun event.  The veterans really appreciated this effort (especially since each veteran was a winner!). 

In April, we presented a MOAA Certificate and Medal to one deserving JROTC cadet each at Eisenhower, Lawton and MacArthur High Schools.  The chapter also provided Second Lieutenant Bars to each SROTC cadet commissioned at Cameron University.

We had another great General Membership Meeting in May. This was our annual Recognition Dinner.  The dinner was excellent, and the fellowship was fantastic!  We took a moment of silence for those members who had passed this past year. We then recognized our six local high school $1000.00 scholarship recipients and the recipient of the $1000.00 SWOK Chapter Leadership Award from Cameron University. We also recognized a few of our own. I presented Ed Petersen and Sam Coffman with the MOAA National Leadership Award Certificates and Pins for their longtime service of excellence to the chapter. I also presented the SWOK Chapter Certificate of Appreciation to Sue Kremmer for her superb service as Chapter Treasurer. We then recognized MacArthur High School’s excellent JROTC program with a $500.00 donation from the chapter.

Our chapter members once again answered the call of duty in May by planting flowers and emplacing/recovering flags at the National Cemetery in Elgin.  Thanks to all those who participated.

The chapter also continues to operate the Military Welcome Center at Lawton Airport.  The volunteers who make this operation possible deserve our greatest appreciation. The MWC always needs volunteers. If you have the time, please consider volunteering there.

We were able to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Normandy.  We visited Utah Beach, Saint-Mere Eglise, Pointe-du-Hoc, and the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  We were able to shake the hands of several of the WWII veterans present and to thank them personally for their service and sacrifice in the liberation of Fortress Europe. We also had a great time meeting the other MOAA members on the cruise and making new friends.  

Soon, you should be receiving a Chapter Survey.  Please take the time to complete and return the questionnaire. The primary objectives of this survey are as follows:

1.  Confirm Executive Board actions, decisions, and activities are consistent with member expectations. 

2.  Identify and eliminate activities and actions that are not value added and consistent with member desires and wants.

3.  Identify enablers and inhibitors to Chapter membership growth and focus efforts, when possible, to increase membership in our Chapter.    

Our next General Membership Meeting will be 11 September 2024. Please be on the lookout for the invitation in late August.

Again, thanks for all you do to support our veterans!

Never Stop Serving!