The Official Voice of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. ®
An organization chartered by the U.S. Congress
March/April 2004
AVVA REPORTSide By Side
BY NANCY SWITZER, AVVA NATIONAL PRESIDENT
It is great to receive articles and letters about AVVA. I decided to print several articles showing how AVVA and VVA work side by side. Please send reports about how AVVA and VVA continue to work side by side to me at nswitzer@avva.org or nswitzer@vva.orgI have a correction to my last column. Our third Biennial Meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 4, and we will have a Fifth Anniversary Luncheon Celebration on Thursday.
AVVA will be joining VVA in the "Vote for America'' campaign. We need to get out and let Americans know that it is time that people got involved in electing their candidates. Our AVVA bylaws clearly state that AVVA cannot endorse candidates. But, as members of AVVA, we need to assist the public with voter registration across the country. Many people do not know how to sign up to vote. Please get involved in your community. Now, more than ever, we need to let politicians know that the sacrifices of our veterans have guaranteed all Americans the right to vote.What follows is the text of a letter to AVVA President Nancy Switzer from Tony Catapano, President of VVA Greenville, North Carolina, Chapter 272.
Dear Nancy,
I feel the need to inform you of Chapter 272’s AVVA and its activities during the last few months. The AVVA members have shown great dedication, loyalty, and support to not only Chapter 272, but to the community as a whole. A few of the activities they have undertaken these last few months include the cleaning of our "Hut’s" kitchen and the cooking and serving of meals at every meeting and special event 272 has. This includes an open house, July 4th party, and the chapter’s Christmas, 17th Birthday, and Thanksgiving parties. They also found time to help put American flags on Veterans graves for Memorial Day.
This year Chapter 272 had a food booth at the Pitt County Fair. For ten days, AVVA members manned the booth and baked and sold more than 144 dozen brownies and cookies. One member cooked 15 gallons of chili for the hot dogs and hamburgers. AVVA manned the booth from breakfast till close every day, standing side by side with the veterans of 272. It was due to their help that the food booth was a huge success.
During the Christmas holidays AVVA took gifts to shut-in veterans in area nursing homes and also provided singing and entertainment. The "Little Green Christmas Elf" was the hit of the party. During Veterans Day, 272 marched and attended ceremonies in both Greenville and Ayden, North Carolina. Standing tall next to every veteran was an AVVA member. This really made the day for the veterans of 272. In November, Norma and Jim Ferris put on the second VVA Golf Tournament. They had more than a hundred teams. Norma is an AVVA member; Jim, a VVA member.
AVVA also prepared brownies, cookies, and gallons and gallons of hot soup for the golfers and VVA workers. During Christmas, the chapter sponsored the Pitt County Family Violence Shelter, and AVVA shopped for gifts for the adults and kids in the shelter, spending almost $1,000.
At the end of 2003 I was asked, as president of the chapter, to choose a Veteran and an Associate of the Year. I could not choose just one Associate, so the veterans of 272 gave plaques to all the AVVA members. With support like this from the AVVA members, it’s no wonder that VVA 272 is gaining public support and a positive image in the community.
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