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erans returning from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Students who use the fund sign a promissory note and indicate why they need the money and how they intend to use it. “One student was having trouble
concentrating because he needed a root canal,” says Matlock. “He didn’t have any insurance, so he received a loan. Other students use the money to buy groceries, pay a utility bill, or fix a problem with their car.” According to Col. John Woolley,
USA-Ret., Mountain Empire Chap- ter president, members’ donations fuel the fund, which continues to grow and now has a balance of more than $2,700. Several staff members at the college, including Matlock, also contribute to the fund through payroll deductions. “This MOAA chapter is making a
difference in the lives of these vet- erans forever,” says Matlock. “What they’re doing is important and mat- ters, and the staff here at the college is so appreciative.”
Meeting veterans’ needs MOAA chapters help the association achieve its mission at the local level by continually identifying and meet- ing the needs of veterans and their families. Not only has the 80-mem- ber Mountain Empire Chapter es- tablished the Veterans’ Emergency Assistance Fund, it also supports future military officers by presenting a $500 scholarship each year to an outstanding cadet at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. Members of the Western Colo-
rado Chapter also have established a scholarship fund, which has pro- vided $17,600 in scholarships to vet- erans’ children or grandchildren at
Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction during the past six years. But when the 93-member chapter learned about the good work being done by the National Disabled Vet- erans Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colo., it decided to expand its support. During the same six- year period, members also donated $14,900 to the clinic. The money is used to cover wounded war- riors’ travel expenses to the clinic, which is sponsored by the VA and the DAV.
During the annual
event, veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, neuro- logical challenges, and visual im- pairments learn adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing. Wounded warriors also are introduced to other adap- tive sports such as fly-fishing, snow- boarding, and rock climbing. “What these veterans learn at the
clinic provides them with quite an education and allows them to look at their injuries and what they can accomplish in a different way,” says Maj. Jim Peterson, USAF-Ret., past president of the Western Colorado Chapter, who volunteers at the clin- ic every year with his wife, Chrispy.
Creating an endowment Capt. Bob Frankel, USPHS-Ret., saw veterans and veterans’ family mem- bers who were struggling financially while working as a professor at Pas- co-Hernando Community College in New Port Richey, Fla. When Frankel brought the problem to the atten- tion of the Suncoast (Fla.) Chapter,
Chapter members support a clinic that teaches adaptive skiing to wounded veterans.
they responded by establishing an endowment through the college’s foundation, which will provide scholarships to Pasco County veter- ans and their children in perpetuity. The Suncoast Chapter has a long history of helping students. In the 1980s, the late Col. George P. Kinney, USAF, donated $32,000 to start an ROTC scholar- ship fund. But the fund was not self- sustaining, and by 2000, only $3,000 remained. That money, along with $3,000 contrib- uted by individual chapter members,
was used to establish the endowment, which is administered by the college. Members continue to grow the
endowment, which received a partial funding match from the state until re- cently. Earlier this year, the 70-mem- ber chapter contributed another $2,000, bringing the total amount in the endowment to $23,000. According to Frankel, recipients often write thank-you letters to the chapter. Members also attend an an- nual donor appreciation luncheon hosted by the college and promote the chapter by bringing an MOAA sign to the event. “The college appreciates what
we’re doing, and it’s a good way to have the name Suncoast Chapter MOAA out before the community in a good way,” says Frankel, who serves as the chapter’s scholarship chair. “But the main thing is the endowment benefits veterans and their families.”
NOVEMBER 2011 MILITARY OFFICER 43
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