Veterans Legacy Situation Reports
Quarterly Updates
Written by Dr. John LeBow, Board President, and Dan Buckwald, Executive Director
Written by Dr. John LeBow, Board President, and Dan Buckwald, Executive Director
Veterans Legacy Board of Directors 2021-22
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Transfer of deed to Veterans Legacy Nov. 2018
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Veterans Legacy Situation Report – December 2021
As with many other endeavors in 2021, the Covid pandemic affected many aspects of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma development and activities. That said, there was tremendous progress made in many areas with significant momentum that occurred within the past 5 months.
With the multiple challenges of dealing with Covid-19 in a congregate living situation, VL’s Board of Directors thought it prudent to stand down on moving Veterans to the campus over the initial 6 months. However, this allowed time for further refurbishment of the campus in preparation for intake. A short list of status shows that there are now 16 fully furnished cubicles in the main dorm ready to go. Thanks to a grant from Weyerhaeuser, both of the small dorms now have Daikin ductless HVAC systems in place and finish work can be done very rapidly when the census need dictates. Other campus improvements include major forest mitigation below the Camp along the Siuslaw river, completion of the greenhouses/hoop houses – 2 of each, and major repair of the wells (thanks to the Impact Club for funding for this). Unfortunately, our farmer left because of Covid issues in his family and agricultural output was severely diminished. A bright spot was further development of our bee hives under the close observation of Shelley Corteville who, by the way, was selected into a Veterans bee keeping program that only had 75 slots available nationally. Way to go girl!!! We did have our first honey draw off and I will personally vouch for the excellent quality! Hope for even more next year.
We’ve been blessed with many supportive grants this year including those from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, Northwood Christian Church as major donors with many smaller donors too numerous to mention, but all immensely appreciated. This financial infusion has allowed planning for key hires as we develop our staff. We’re very proud to have Jason Dougherty join our staff as peer mentor/Veteran outreach coordinator. A former combat Marine, Jason brings a host of experience in helping Veterans connect with resources and especially assessing whether Camp Alma would be a viable aid in the recovery process. We are in the process of trying to sequence an Executive Director, Camp Supervisor, cook, and farmer – I’ll keep you posted!
A major collaborative effort was forged in September. Veterans Legacy and Housing Our Veterans have worked closely together over the years, but VL’s Board of Directors and Lorie Perkins CEO of HOV mutually agreed that a more formal relationship would benefit both organizations. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed aligning Veteran treatment goals in a more cohesive and efficient format. The ideal sequence would be for a homeless Veteran to begin the healing journey at Camp Alma with treatment there up to six months as needed. At that time, the Veteran would then transition to stable housing with HOV for up to a year. This will allow for finding employment, continued therapy, and ultimately finding permanent housing. Studies show that if 18 months of consistent treatment can be achieved, the success rate sky rockets for the long term. To our knowledge, this is the only program of its type in the region and possibly on a national scale. Lorie is a seasoned professional in Veteran care and it’s our blessing to have her to work with. We look forward to the evolution of the program!
Also in September, we were able to house a transgender female Veteran for the month while more permanent housing was arranged. In October, we began formal Veteran intake in conjunction with HOV. Three homeless Veterans were referred from St. Vincent de Paul over about 4 weeks. All immediately benefited from stable housing and therapy started as needed. A wonderful Thanksgiving was enjoyed by all at Camp Alma with BODs and their partners providing all the fixin’s. Since Thanksgiving, two of the Veterans have transitioned to HOV and are employed! We’re soooo proud of them.
November 20, 2021, saw a dream come to fruition for yours truly. We had a perfect day to celebrate the dedication of the draft horse team, Penny and Pearl, to the Equine Therapy program. You can see the video of the event on our website. It’s going to be wonderful to see how they evolve as part of the therapeutic program.
For 2022, planning for further administrative team additions is high on the agenda as well as increasing our intake numbers as quickly as is feasible. Further campus development, especially completion of the metal/wood shop addition to the current shop is on the front burner.
I think I can safely say that the Phoenix has risen from the ashes. VL, with the help of so many, has brought the dilapidated campus back to viability and our treatment program is now into gear in a major way! Now we get to proceed with our mission so that “truly, no one is left behind.”
Thank you for your continued support!!
Respectfully submitted,
John LeBow, D.O.
President, Board of Directors, Veterans Legacy
With the multiple challenges of dealing with Covid-19 in a congregate living situation, VL’s Board of Directors thought it prudent to stand down on moving Veterans to the campus over the initial 6 months. However, this allowed time for further refurbishment of the campus in preparation for intake. A short list of status shows that there are now 16 fully furnished cubicles in the main dorm ready to go. Thanks to a grant from Weyerhaeuser, both of the small dorms now have Daikin ductless HVAC systems in place and finish work can be done very rapidly when the census need dictates. Other campus improvements include major forest mitigation below the Camp along the Siuslaw river, completion of the greenhouses/hoop houses – 2 of each, and major repair of the wells (thanks to the Impact Club for funding for this). Unfortunately, our farmer left because of Covid issues in his family and agricultural output was severely diminished. A bright spot was further development of our bee hives under the close observation of Shelley Corteville who, by the way, was selected into a Veterans bee keeping program that only had 75 slots available nationally. Way to go girl!!! We did have our first honey draw off and I will personally vouch for the excellent quality! Hope for even more next year.
We’ve been blessed with many supportive grants this year including those from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, Northwood Christian Church as major donors with many smaller donors too numerous to mention, but all immensely appreciated. This financial infusion has allowed planning for key hires as we develop our staff. We’re very proud to have Jason Dougherty join our staff as peer mentor/Veteran outreach coordinator. A former combat Marine, Jason brings a host of experience in helping Veterans connect with resources and especially assessing whether Camp Alma would be a viable aid in the recovery process. We are in the process of trying to sequence an Executive Director, Camp Supervisor, cook, and farmer – I’ll keep you posted!
A major collaborative effort was forged in September. Veterans Legacy and Housing Our Veterans have worked closely together over the years, but VL’s Board of Directors and Lorie Perkins CEO of HOV mutually agreed that a more formal relationship would benefit both organizations. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed aligning Veteran treatment goals in a more cohesive and efficient format. The ideal sequence would be for a homeless Veteran to begin the healing journey at Camp Alma with treatment there up to six months as needed. At that time, the Veteran would then transition to stable housing with HOV for up to a year. This will allow for finding employment, continued therapy, and ultimately finding permanent housing. Studies show that if 18 months of consistent treatment can be achieved, the success rate sky rockets for the long term. To our knowledge, this is the only program of its type in the region and possibly on a national scale. Lorie is a seasoned professional in Veteran care and it’s our blessing to have her to work with. We look forward to the evolution of the program!
Also in September, we were able to house a transgender female Veteran for the month while more permanent housing was arranged. In October, we began formal Veteran intake in conjunction with HOV. Three homeless Veterans were referred from St. Vincent de Paul over about 4 weeks. All immediately benefited from stable housing and therapy started as needed. A wonderful Thanksgiving was enjoyed by all at Camp Alma with BODs and their partners providing all the fixin’s. Since Thanksgiving, two of the Veterans have transitioned to HOV and are employed! We’re soooo proud of them.
November 20, 2021, saw a dream come to fruition for yours truly. We had a perfect day to celebrate the dedication of the draft horse team, Penny and Pearl, to the Equine Therapy program. You can see the video of the event on our website. It’s going to be wonderful to see how they evolve as part of the therapeutic program.
For 2022, planning for further administrative team additions is high on the agenda as well as increasing our intake numbers as quickly as is feasible. Further campus development, especially completion of the metal/wood shop addition to the current shop is on the front burner.
I think I can safely say that the Phoenix has risen from the ashes. VL, with the help of so many, has brought the dilapidated campus back to viability and our treatment program is now into gear in a major way! Now we get to proceed with our mission so that “truly, no one is left behind.”
Thank you for your continued support!!
Respectfully submitted,
John LeBow, D.O.
President, Board of Directors, Veterans Legacy
Veterans Legacy Situation Report – November 2020
Well, to say the least, I’m embarrassed. It’s been since March since I last produced an update of status at Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. So much for my New Year’s Resolution of quarterly reports! No doubt, 2020 has been unique and that will be my excuse!! The Covid pandemic has changed life in many ways but Camp Alma was blessed with location and easy social distancing with the end result that much was accomplished in the last few months. From the agricultural front, Brandon Huff kept us on track with very successful production of plant starts and hanging flower arrangements. A sale at American Legion Post 83 on May 23, 2020 netted about $2,400 which all considered a major success! However, due to a combination of events secondary to Covid-caused issues, Brandon had to quit at Camp Alma to take care of things at home. This has caused a major replanning of our agriculture strategies. At present, we’re in the process of completing a fourth hoop house, which will finish the greenhouse/hoop house footprint.
As you’ll recall, we had received a grant from Traveler’s insurance for a bee keeping project. We did receive 5 hives and purchased all the necessary equipment. Shelley Corteville, our on site Camp coordinator, has taken on the challenging learning curve, with help from Ken Ograin, master bee keeper, and wife Nancy who’ve generously contributed their knowledge. It looks like she has them set up to weather the winter, which is the biggest hurdle of the first year. Thanks Shelley( “Queen Bee”)!!! Hey, we now have a new tractor and brush mower as well!!! You can see some pics on the website. Contributions to help pay that off ( it cost $25K) would be much appreciated. It was a necessity we could not afford to put off any longer and has already proved to be invaluable.
Our friends at Chamber Construction continue to be a major blessing. During the summer, Mark Harrington and the apprentice crew were able to devote enough time to complete the Conex/Firehouse structure, complete roofing on the education building and laundry, finish all of the siding, install two windows in each of the smaller dorms while refurbishing the bathrooms in both, and lastly getting everything ready to pour the concrete slab for the tiny home production area. Their help has been a God send and we are indebted – plus Mark is a mighty fine master barbecue guru as well judging from the rave reviews at a recent volunteer event. I think back on the first time I stepped on the old Forest Inmate Camp campus and the structural disaster that it was. To see the full renovation that has occurred is awesome and humbling in myriad ways. Thanks to all!!!!
We had the 4 th annual Poker Run and raffle in August. 67 motorcycles were in the run with over 90 riders! It was great weather and a great success. Thanks to John Hampton for his leadership and logistic expertise!
I noted that we had our first Vet on campus in the last Sit-Rep. Since then, there have been 6 others that we’ve helped out, all of whom were homeless. At present, all have reintegrated to Veneta/Eugene. They helped out on the farming and refurbishments in trade for housing which also allowed Camp Alma staff to gain some experience as to defining some of the common needs in this population and better prepare for the future. Our goal now is to definitively outline and staff the initial therapy team before accepting further Resident Veterans. What would a Sit-Rep be without a plea for funds??? This year has been so chaotic with activity at the Camp and Covid impact that we’ve not done a good job in reminding you to “re-up” for an annual contribution to our Patriot Partners program. To be frank, the facility is ready but we can’t afford the staffing to make the whole scenario complete. We’ve found that grants are few and far between when it comes to paying salaries and so this need is almost entirely driven by donor funding. Plus, in this Covid era, granting sources are either dried up or significantly constrained as opposed to prior years.
A big reminder: Even if you take the standard deduction route for your income taxes, the CARES act allows up to a $300 deduction for contributions to nonprofits like Veterans Legacy.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SO THAT, TRULY, NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Respectfully,
Dr. John LeBow
President, Board of Directors
Veterans Legacy
Archive Sit-reps
(click to open)
2017
Jan - Mar
2017 1/1
Lease Agreement with Lane County We have all of the necessary insurance in place and the certificates to prove it. We are back to waiting on the County Administrator’s signature. Policy & Procedure Ad Hoc Committee The Committee met on January 5 at noon and worked on the Client Agreement document. Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma After the repairs of last week, Baxter Plumbing prepared an estimate to replace two hot water heaters. The 100 gallon propane 88,000 btu heater in the Administration Building will cost $5,023.60. The same water heater for the Laundry / Shower building will be more due to the additional plumbing necessary to set it up for a second hot water heater in the future. It’s cost is $5,878.60, for a total of the two at $10,902.20. The additional work necessary in the Laundry / Shower building is $3,503.60. This will extend cold water to the shower area and provide separate hot and cold valves to five of the showers. Work Priorities for the coming week Work with the County Building Department to get a better understanding about what will be required for an occupancy permit and how long that process might take. Work on the Policy & Procedure development. Drafting letters to 2016 donors for tax purposes. Drafting a document(s) to describe our Capital Improvement, Program, Re-Intergration and Agricultural Therapy work with cost estimates to be used in Grant / Gift / Foundation work. Up-coming Events January 11 – Mark will attend a VFW presentation on Moral Injury January 27 – Structural Analysis at Camp Alma April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 1/8
Lease Agreement with Lane County I got a copy of the fully executed lease from Lane County late yesterday. I’ll be meeting with Betty Mishou next Wednesday to complete the transition plan. When we take possession of the property, we will be responsible for utility bills, security, propane refueling, etc. As much as I have been looking forward to acquiring Camp Alma, I’m not looking forward to assuming these costs. I don’t know if the County will be receptive at all to this but I’d like to push to have the transfer date be February 1, or even Sunday the 5 th . This will give us time to transfer the utilities and other service contracts to our name and billing address and give us more time to make plumbing repairs so our security folks camping out there can shower and have flush toilets. Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma I got a call last Saturday from Security at Camp Alma. They let me know that the water had stopped running and the holding tanks were empty. I met Roger from All Service Pumps at the site yesterday (Thursday) to diagnose the problem(s). He determined that the North Well and the West Well do have water in them and that the pumps for both of those wells do work when operated manually. It appears the North Well has not been used in some time. The water we pumped through the hose bib at that well was gross! We will need to disinfect the entire water system before putting it to use but I don’t want that water anywhere near the holding tanks. Roger also said we have a leak in the water system between the pressure pumps in the shop and the other buildings but couldn’t locate it. We’ll have to get a leak detection service out there to find it. Roger believes that electronic water level computer has malfunctioned and is not sending a signal to the wells that the water level in the reservoir is low and to pump water. The system requires a password that nobody seems to know. Betty is looking for manuals for the system that may be of help. Veterans Legacy Expenses Dr. LeBow has given me all of the Veterans Legacy expenses he paid for directly from his own funds to get the nonprofit up and running. With some help from QuickBooks, I now have all of those expenses entered into the accounting system and can now run accurate reports. Rebel Rally Rebel Rally voted last Monday at the Board meeting to cover the costs of the plumbing repairs estimated in the Baxter Plumbing bids to replace two commercial hot water heaters and five of the showers in the laundry / shower building. Jeremy Hunsaker gave me a check in the amount of $14,405.80 Thursday afternoon. A HUGE Thank You to Rebel Rally! I have deposited the check and informed Baxter Plumbing to order the water heaters (estimated two week lead time). Tax Receipts to Donors David Atkin’s office sent me the templates for donor receipts today that contain the proper language per the IRS. They also sent a letter that they want sent to every donor who donated more than $250. The letter describes our legal status as a nonprofit that has not yet received IRS 501c3 certification. Work Priorities for the coming week Continue work with the County Building Department to get a better understanding about what will be required for an occupancy permit and how long that process might take, assuming I can get good building plans from Betty on Wednesday. Work on the Policy & Procedure development. Sending receipts and letters to 2016 donors for tax purposes. Drafting a document(s) to describe our Capital Improvement, Program, Reintegration and Agricultural Therapy work with cost estimates to be used in Grant / Gift / Foundation work. Up-coming Events January 18 – Mark meets with Lane County to work out Camp Alma transition details January 18 – Mark & John meeting with Comfort Flow HVAC shop foreman January 27 – Structural Analysis at Camp Alma February 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 1/15
Veterans Legacy Possession of Camp Alma With the lease fully executed, I met with Betty Mishou on Wednesday. We will officially take possession of the Camp on Monday, February 6. I have started getting the utilities transferred into our name. Lane Electric Coop is complete and CenturyLink has started the process. A form needs to be jointly filled out by Lane County and Veterans Legacy and that has started. Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Baxter Plumbing will be back out at the Camp this coming week to install two hot water heaters and get the showers working in the Laundry Facility. Betty at the County gave me the name of the pump guy she used at the camp, Hendrickson Well Drilling from Cottage Grove. He is apparently very familiar with the well controls. I have a call into him but nothing is set up yet. In addition to getting one or more of the wells operating automatically and getting hot water operational in the Admin and Laundry buildings, we also need to test, and probably treat, the water for safety. HVAC Systems President Lebow has had to reschedule our meeting with Comfort Flow Heating a couple of times now. Darn flu bug! We are now tentatively scheduled to meet next Thursday to discuss their ability to test the HVAC units and let us know what needs to be done to get heat, and cooling, back into the buildings. Occupancy Permit I spoke with Eric Walter from the Building Department this week. He said they really need a set of building plans to review before they can answer any of my questions. I hounded Betty again about the plans and she emailed back the next day that they have found a set and are making copies for me. I’ll get the plans to Eric when they’re ready. I’m scheduled to meet a structural engineer at the camp on Friday. He’ll inspect and assess the Administration Building and the Laundry facility and will contribute to the occupancy permit process should it become necessary. He has agreed to do this work probono. Special Use Permit I’ve started putting together a document to submit to Lane County Planning which lays out our argument for not allowing the Special Use Permit to expire March 19, 2017, even though we are not operational. I know there is an inner-office memo in their department about this contingency. I believe they will be impressed with all we’ve accomplished in less than 12 months in terms of the formation of Veterans Legacy, Lease negotiations, Insurance, water system improvements, and program and policy development. It’s my intent to have a draft of this document ready for your review at the next Board Meeting. Project List Document John and I have been working on a project list. It’s more than a list as it has details and associated dollars for each project. The intent of this document is twofold. The first is to be able to present detailed project descriptions to local folks who might be interested in sponsoring one of the projects. The second intent is for grant writing purposes. We’ve organized the list into programs such as Capital Improvements Program, Facility Operations & Maintenance Program, Farm Management Program, Reintegration Training Program, and Case Management Program. We hope to have it far enough along for your review at the next Board Meeting, February 2. Insurance Philadelphia Insurance Companies who insures the facilities at Camp Alma, our Liabilities and Mental Health package has started billing us. Unfortunately, they didn’t get us into their system to bill for December so I got December’s and January’s bills combined. Ouch! That has been paid but I had to transfer some funds from savings to cover the bill. It will be $1,226 each month moving forward. One of their employees is coming into town on February 1. I’ll be taking out to the Camp so he can get photos for their file. Facebook On Thursday (yesterday), Sarah posted an update on Facebook regarding our taking over possession of the Camp. Please share the post so our distribution explodes! There will also be a post tomorrow thanking Rebel Rally for the generous support funding the hot water heater replacements at the camp. Please share this post as well. Grants I submitted a grant request to Glory Bee Foods this week. I’m not holding out a lot of hope as they say they require 501c3 certifications. I did have an email exchange with them earlier, explaining the “Surrogate” process. They didn’t make a decision as to whether they would accept the surrogate process or not but did invite me to apply anyways. Their application is very specific to what they want so I was limited as to what I could tell them about us. I let them know about using agricultural therapy to treat veterans with PTSD and how an organic farm is a big part of that. Instead of cash, I asked them for bees, a hive and all of the tools and personal protective equipment needed to manage the hives. I’m also working on the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund grant application. This one is project oriented and much more involved. After selecting a project, we’ll need to develop goals for the project, strategies to meet the goals and desired outcomes as well as the project budget. This one appears to be geared toward matching funds. Work Priorities for the coming week Plumbing at Camp Alma. Getting building plans to the plans examiner for the camp regarding a possible occupancy permit. Meeting the Structural Engineer at the Camp on Friday. Getting receipts and letters to 2016 donors for tax purposes ready to go. Continue work on the project list document and the Special Use Permit document. Up-coming Events January 23, 24, & 25 - Plumbing work at Camp Alma January 26 – Mark & John meeting with Comfort Flow HVAC shop foreman January 27 – Structural Analysis at Camp Alma February 1 – Philadelphia Insurance photo shoot of Camp Alma February 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall February 6 – Veterans Legacy Assumes control of Camp Alma March 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 1/22
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Baxter Plumbing has the two new hot water heaters installed. The one in the Laundry Building is fully operational. The one in the Administration Building requires an adaptor to connect the flue, which has been ordered. They found an additional leak above the shower area and fixed it. I have two calls into Hendrickson Well Drilling who the County has used in the past to resolve problems with the water level controls at the reservoir. I have not heard back from them yet. I took a water sample from the West well this morning and have dropped it off at Analytical Laboratory for analysis. We should get the results back next week. Baxter Plumbing will be back out at the Camp next week to finish the one hot water heater installation and to finish the new shower installations. An extension was needed for the handles. When I left the camp Wednesday afternoon, the water level in the reservoir was over 30% full. It was empty Friday morning. That’s approximately 10,000 gallons of water that disappeared in a day and a half. We need to find that leak. HVAC Systems President Lebow and I met with Comfort Flow Heating folks on Thursday. The shop foreman sounds very willing to help us out. He was a little less sure the about how much help the company owner was going to be. He offered that if Comfort Flow couldn’t help, he and some of his buddies in the shop will investigate the units on their own time. He’s a marine and the buddies he refers to are all vets. Valley Restaurant Equipment I met with JJ Schill from Valley Restaurant Equipment at the camp on Wednesday and walked him through the kitchen. His business specializes in used commercial kitchen equipment. He had several money saving suggestions such as refurbishing the four-burner stove. He said the only apparent rusted out portion of the stove is in the bottom pan storage area. The burner area looks good. He as a refurbishment guy he recommends. He also suggested we think about a side-by-side refrigerator freezer instead of firing up the large walk-in refrigerator and walk-in freezer for the few people we’ll be hosting at the camp. The walk-ins can be refurbished at a later date. He said if wanted a commercial dishwasher there are two ways we could go. The easiest and least up-front cost is to lease the dishwasher. Typically you pay an installation fee, maybe around $600 and sign a 5-year contract to buy all of our dish detergent needs from them. He laughed and said we’d pay about 4 times too much for the detergent but that’s probably less that buying a dishwasher. If we get grant or foundation money to cover a dishwasher, buying it outright might be the way to go. He also said that while our vet numbers are low, dishes could be washed by hand and delay this expense. I asked him about plates, bowls, cups, silverware, etc. He calls those “smalls” and they come through his shop all the time. If we bought a few “bigs” from him he’d make us a smoke’n deal on the smalls. I plan to meet him at his shop next week to check out his current inventory of “bigs” and “smalls”. Occupancy Permit Adam from Pioneer Engineering LLC met me at the camp this morning and inspected the buildings for a structural analysis if that is required by the Lane County Building Dept. He noted dry rot in numerous locations on the Administration Building, the North Modular Dorm and the Laundry facility. Most of it seemed superficial but we won’t know for sure until we dig into it. The only place it appeared structural was on every one of the 4x4 posts supporting the covered patio on the east side of the Laundry building. Special Use Permit As I mentioned last week, I’m writing a document to submit to Lane County putting forth the case that they should grant the continuation of the Special Use Permit due to the efforts we’ve made to get the camp operational. I got a little more added to this draft document this week but not as much as I wanted to due to spending so much time at the camp this week. Facebook Veterans Legacy paid for a webinar Sarah viewed regarding how to make the most of your Facebook presence for your nonprofit. It was in entry level class so there were several tips she already knew about but she says there were several great ideas. One of those ideas would be to do a live session like we did with Rick Dancer but where Sarah would moderate Doc and me answering questions people send to us live about Veterans Legacy. We’d advertise heavy ahead of time to help ensure as many viewers as possible. The webinar said this type of live interaction is very helpful in getting people excited about our mission. Tax Receipts for Donors I got receipts out to all 2016 donors this week. It has spurred at least one donor from last year to pay her membership for 2017. PayPal I received an email from PayPal yesterday informing me we had reached our withdrawal limit for January and they will be holding all of the funds above this threshold for 21 days. The email went on to say that, “By delaying the availability of the money we can reduce the number of potentially negative buyer experiences and increase their confidence to shop with you.” They have set our limit at $6,000. So this means that the first $6,000 donated in the month can be immediately accessed. Funds donated above that amount will be held for 21 days. They also listed steps you can take to request a change in the limit amount. I tried those steps and failed. The mushroom cloud you may have seen over the Pleasant Hill area was just me. I went to the “Contact” part of their website and sent an email that this “one-size-fits-all” solution to their imaginary problem lacked integrity. I explained that we were not a business but were in fact a Public Benefit Non-Profit organization and our donors used PayPal to make donations not purchases. Work Priorities for the coming week Plumbing at Camp Alma. Getting scanned building plans to the Structural Engineer. Meeting the Philadelphia Insurance guy at the camp to take file photos. Prepare for the Board meeting. Continue work on the project list document and the Special Use Permit document. Up-coming Events February 1 – Philadelphia Insurance photo shoot of Camp Alma February 1 – Baxter Plumbing to finish contracted repairs. February 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall February 6 – Veterans Legacy Assumes control of Camp Alma March 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 1/29
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Baxter Plumbing has the two new hot water heaters operational except for the fact that we don’t have running water to the buildings yet. They found another leak in the Administration building and have scheduled to return to the Camp on Tuesday. I still have not heard back from Hendrickson Well Drilling who the County has used in the past to resolve problems with the water level controls at the reservoir. The water samples I took to Analytical Laboratory for analysis showed Total Coliform Bacteria in the west well. We will need to sanitize the system. I contacted Accurate Leak Detection regarding the major leak in the water system we can’t find. The earliest they can get to the camp is February 14. Transfer of Camp Alma Postponed Talking with Betty Mishou at the County about the continuing issues with the water system, she offered to push back the date of the camp transfer a couple of weeks. Our tentative date now is February 20. Philadelphia Insurance photo shoot I met with the Insurance underwriter’s representative at Camp Alma Wednesday morning. He took many photos of both inside and outside of every building. We then set down with me and conducted a risk assessment of the facilities and our proposed operations. I received an email this morning confirming that there were no recommendations coming out of that assessment. This means they are comfortable that the facilities and the programs we’ll be operating are within risk management tolerances. Valley Restaurant Equipment JJ Schill from Valley Restaurant Equipment had a lot going on this week so we didn’t meet up. We’ve agreed to contact each other on Monday to schedule a visit to his warehouse to start selecting equipment. VL Work Session Participants at the Board Meeting last night have schedule a work session on Saturday, February 18. The purpose of the work session is to advance program and policy development work as well as marketing. Special Use Permit I shared the document that I had attached to the Board Meeting Minutes with Deanna Wright in the County’s Planning Department. She says we’re on the right track with that document and sent me an application form to fill out. I don’t think I mentioned this in the meeting last night but there is a $780 fee associated with this “Verification of Conditions” application. I will need to get receipts or other proof of expenditure to submit with the application and memo. Oil Lamp Donation Sarah Swindling, our Social Media manager, had pledged 5% of her teams’ essential oils business proceeds for the month of January. She has let me know she will be writing us a check for $200. Omlid & Sweeney Fire Suppression System Inspection Jeremy from Omlid & Sweeney inspected all of the buildings at Camp Alma that are sprinkled except the Administration building. There was no water in the system, or to the building, to allow for a pressure test. They are waiting on a call from me that there is water to the building. Work Priorities for the coming week Plumbing at Camp Alma. Continue work on the project list document and the Special Use Permit documentation. Up-coming Events February 20 – Veterans Legacy Assumes control of Camp Alma February 18 – Veterans Legacy Work Session March 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 2/5
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Baxter Plumbing did repair the one leak in the Administration Building on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday we started sanitizing the west well and the holding tanks by pouring chlorine bleach into each. I was back out at the Camp today to pump water from the west well into the holding tanks. They are now at 70% full. I intend to go back out on Monday to continue filling the tanks. The tanks total 30,000 gallons so this process takes a while. We discovered that the floats in the reservoir that told the well pumps to turn on when the tanks got low and to turn off again when the tanks were full had been removed. This explains why the well pumps were not keeping the tanks full. I got a verbal bid from our pump guy to install a much simplified version of the float system that had been in place. The bid was $250 and I’ve authorized them to proceed. They are looking at doing this work on the 14 th . Accurate Leak Detection will also be at the Camp on the 14 th to locate the “big” leak. Baxter Plumbing is tentatively scheduled to fix whatever leak is found on Friday the 17 th . This is tentative because we don’t know the nature of the leak yet Valley Restaurant Equipment I spent some time with JJ Schill from Valley Restaurant Equipment at his store on Maxwell Road. I have selected many items to start filling the kitchen area at Camp Alma. Items include a refrigerator, microwave oven, coffee makers, a rolling 4-shelf wire rack for storing pots, pans, plates, etc., 5 round dining tables, 40 chairs, the afore mentioned pots, pans, plates, also salt & pepper shakers, coffee mugs………. The items I’ve selected added up to a little over $1,900. This represents a significant savings over the cost of new items and also substantial savings from the price tags JJ had on the items. For example, the refrigerator had a price tag of $1250. My invoice says $750. The dining chairs were $20 each. JJ wrote $600 on the invoice and threw the 5 tables in for free. Granted, the tables aren’t in the best shape but I think we can make them work. JJ offered to haul the items out to the Camp. JJ also gave me the contact information for an equipment restoration guy who will be going through the 4-burner stove and the convection ovens already at the Camp. Preliminary Kitchen Inspection I was speaking to an acquaintance of mine last summer at an Em’s game about Veterans Legacy and our efforts to acquire and restore Camp Alma. He is a Health Inspector for Lane County and routinely inspects commercial kitchens for compliance with health codes. He offered to come out to the Camp before we started restoration of the kitchen to walk me through a complimentary inspection so I’d know what they will be looking for during the formal inspection. I gave him a call recently to set up the initial inspection and he will be meeting me there on the 14 th . There’s a lot happening at the Camp on the 14 th . Special Use Permit I shared in last week’s report that the County fee for the “Verification of Conditions” application was $780. Thanks to Dr. LeBow questioning this, I requested the County waive this fee as they are the owner of the property and the primary beneficiary of our efforts to preserve the Special Use Permit. I got word today that the County will waive the fee. HVAC Inspection and Analysis Comfort Flow employees, veterans working on their own time, have scheduled Saturday, February 18 to begin their work on the HVAC systems. Unfortunately, we will be in our Work Session at that time but we will try to make other arrangements to have someone greet them at the Camp. Sutherlin High School Shop Class Dr. LeBow and I will be traveling to Sutherlin High School on Wednesday, February 15, to meet the wood shop and metal shop teachers. You may recall me mentioning that they have sophisticated equipment and are always looking for projects to teach the kids vocational skills. They may be able to make the Camp Alma sign and other items for the Camp. Work Priorities for the coming week Plumbing at Camp Alma. Continue work on the project list document and the Special Use Permit documentation. Up-coming Events February 14 – More plumbing work at Camp Alma February 14 – Preliminary Camp Alma Kitchen Inspection by County Health February 18 – Veterans Legacy Work Session February 20 – Veterans Legacy Assumes control of Camp Alma March 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 2/12
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Rick from Accurate Leak Detection LLC came out to the Camp on Tuesday, the 14 th . He located what sounded like a significant leak east of the Administration Building. Rick marked the spot by spray painting a blue “X” on the ground over the leak. The cost of this service was $450 which may sound expensive but it saved us a lot of time and money digging holes without guidance. All Service Pumps was also on site Tuesday, installing a float in the west reservoir which tells the west well pump when to turn on and off. Unfortunately, at the time of the installation, the reservoirs were almost empty. They reasoned that there was an overflow on the reservoir but one was not apparent. They set the height of the float knowing they may have to adjust it. Baxter Plumbing came out on Friday to excavate and repair the leak. Unfortunately, a previous job when long and they weren’t able to start this work until almost noon. They did discover the leak pretty much exactly where Rick said it would be. When Rick called me Saturday afternoon to see how the repair when, I couldn’t help myself. I teased him that his paint mark was waaaaaaay off. We had to move the center of our excavation almost 3 inches to find the leak. We had a good laugh. I was impressed that he cared enough about our project to make the follow up call. Also on Friday, I noticed the reservoir read out was steady at 106.3% and the pump was running. It appears the overflow is at that level. I called Roger at All Service Pump and he said he’d get out there on Saturday to adjust the float. Baxter Plumbing made the repair on the leak Friday afternoon. He didn’t know what it was going to take to fix the leak until he uncovered it. He then had to send one of his employees back into town to buy the right parts. He did get it repaired by about 4:00 Friday afternoon but it need to sit for a while before he could put the glued joints under pressure to verify the leak was fixed. He decided to call it a day, let the repair sit overnight and return on Saturday to test and backfill the pit. I’ll call him on Monday to verify all went well. Valley Restaurant Equipment Thanks to the generous donation by Pam and Dan Buckwald of $2,000, I stopped by Valley Restaurant Equipment on Tuesday to pay for the kitchen equipment and to schedule delivery. JJ and one of his employees delivered the equipment Friday morning. It pretty well filled a panel truck. They also hauled the 4-burner stove back to Mueller Commercial Appliance who will be refurbishing the stove. American Legion Post 83 I’d like to extend a big thank you to Dave Scriven of American Legion Post 83. Dave asked to meet with me late last year to find out more about Veterans Legacy. He was instrumental in the Post’s decision to donate $600 to Veterans Legacy. Preliminary Kitchen Inspection The preliminary kitchen inspection was rescheduled from Tuesday to Friday. The inspectors toured the kitchen area, commented favorably about the size and layout. They noted that there was a separate area for food handlers to wash their hands and the presence of a three-basin sink (wash, rinse, sanitize). They said if we didn’t want to use the large 3-basin sinks we could accomplish the same thing by using the 2- basin sink and placing a plastic tub on the counter next to it for the sanitization. These guys were very easy going and expressed a great deal of interest in what Veterans Legacy will be doing on the site. I ended up giving them a complete tour of the entire facility. HVAC Inspection and Analysis Seven Comfort Flow employees, veterans working on their own time, came out to the Camp on Saturday, February 18 and spent 4 hours working on the HVAC systems. I have not yet heard what they found and whether or not the systems are operational or not. Sutherlin High School Shop Class Dr. LeBow and I will be traveled to Sutherlin High School on Wednesday, February 15, to meet the wood shop and metal shop teachers. We spent the majority of our time in the woodshop. The program the teacher, Josh Gary has working there is nothing short of amazing. After a tour which included their portable sawmill, the milled lumber dryer (that the class built), and a couple of different laser machines, we started to explain to Mr. Gary what we had in mind. Within a short time he had a rough sketch and started working out the material requirements for the bed frames and storage units. He’ll be getting a cost to us but he thought it would be in the $600 to $700 range for each of the six initial units. Veterans Legacy Work Session A large group of us met on Saturday morning for three hours to advance work on Marketing and Policy issues. After a brief update and an explanation of how the work session was structured, we broke into two groups, one for Marketing and one for Policy. After two hours we came back together again and each subgroup reported out to the whole group the ideas that were discussed and the issues wrestled with. There was so much that I’m not going to try to get into all of it here. I came away from the work session with a renewed appreciation for something I’ve known for a while, Veterans Legacy has an amazing group of volunteers. Thank you all! Work Priorities for the coming week Assuming the plumbing at Camp Alma is repaired to the Administration Building and the Laundry / Shower facility, I will sanitize the system this week and get fresh samples tested to verify the water is now safe. I also intend to finish the Special Use Permit documentation and submit the application for Verification of Conditions. Up-coming Events February 20 – Veterans Legacy Assumes control of Camp Alma Dan will be removing Inmate files from the camp. Mark will begin sanitizing the water system. February 25 – Dan & Mark will be touring the Camp with Paul who ran the camp at its inception. March 1 – John & Mark will be meeting with Seneca Sawmill people about a possible donation to the camp. March 2 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 2/19
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma I put 4 gallons of chlorine bleach into the reservoirs on Monday, ran water into every sink and shower until I smelt chlorine. The bleach sat in the pipes until Wednesday when I returned to the camp and flushed the lines. I collected samples and delivered them to Analytical Laboratories. We are now waiting on the results of the test. If we pass, the water system is functional and safe and we can get our on-site security moved to Camp Alma. HVAC Inspection and Analysis The Comfort Flow volunteers have many parts within the HVAC units that need to be replaced. They are working with their part suppliers to see how many of the parts will be donated. Security at Camp Alma George Lund and a few of his buddies are taking turns to be at the camp for now. We replaced the lock on the gate and will be distributing keys to necessary personnel. The issued key sets will include the gate key and a key to the front door on the Administration building. The other keys for other buildings will be stored inside. Special Use Permit I completed the documentation to demonstrate to the County that we are establishing use of the Camp. The application and supporting documents were submitted on Tuesday. I was issued a File Number for tracking the progress. Occupancy Permit I have a meeting set up with several County personnel next Thursday, March 2 to discuss what is necessary to obtain the occupancy permit. They have already indicated to me the process will be easy and straight forward if I can show them that we will be using each room within the buildings the same way the Sheriff’s Department used each room. Otherwise, we are changing uses and that creates wrinkles in the process. Unfortunately, the County did not house any inmates in the Administration building and the cost and time necessary to rehabilitate any of the dorms is too great right now. So the question is how significant of a change in use is it to turn a classroom in the Administration Building into a bedroom. Questions of egress and fire safety will need to be addressed at a minimum. Eugene Downtown Rotary Grant I was contacted yesterday by the Eugene Downtown Rotary Club and informed that my grant application was not successful. At the time the decision was made, they had two concerns. First that we had not yet received the IRS Determination Letter and 2, we had no track record. The person I was speaking with knew we recently received the IRS letter because he’s been following us on Facebook. Despite the denial of the grant, they are very interested in Veterans Legacy’s mission and offered to host a fund raiser at a local restaurant in March. The way this will work is they’ll select a restaurant, last month it was BJ’s at Valley River Center, they and the restaurant will select a day. Anyone eating at the restaurant and producing an event coupon will have a percentage of their meal cost donated to Veterans Legacy. When the details have been worked out, I will send a coupon via email to our Interested Parties list which includes the Board, Core Team and Members of Veterans Legacy. Sarah will post a downloadable coupon on Facebook. We’ll get as many people as we can to eat at that certain restaurant on that certain day. Glory Bee Foods Grant I had previously submitted a grant application online to Glory Bee Foods, or so I thought. Part of the application process required uploading a copy of our IRS Determination Letter. In leiu of this because we didn’t have it yet, I upload the procedure for using St. Vincent DePaul as our surrogate charity. Late last week I sent via email a copy of the IRS letter to Glory Bee Foods. This triggered a response earlier this week from Glory Bee that they had not received the original grant application from me. I have resubmitted and they have confirmed receipt of the application. Work Priorities for the coming week Assuming the plumbing at Camp Alma is repaired to the Administration Building and the Laundry / Shower facility, I will sanitize the system this week and get fresh samples tested to verify the water is now safe. I also intend to finish the Special Use Permit documentation and submit the application for Verification of Conditions. Up-coming Events February 25 – Dan & Mark will be touring the Camp with Paul who ran the camp at its inception. March 1 – John & Mark will be meeting with Seneca Sawmill people about a possible donation to the camp. March 2 – Mark will be meeting with County regarding Occupancy Permit. March 2 - Veterans Legacy Board Meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall March 3 – Breakfast meeting with VA personnel (John, Dan, Mark) April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 2/26
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma The test results from Analytical Laboratories were successful. The only category outside of normal limits was “Iron”. I shared the report with Sarah Puls, Lane County Health, and she said the County doesn’t worry about iron. Security at Camp Alma I have drafted a “Security Services Agreement” contract for the Camp Hosts. It is being reviewed by an attorney for completeness. Once this is done, we can get the Camp Hosts moved on to the site. Occupancy Permit I met with a County Plans Examiner and a County Building Official on Thursday. The next steps towards an occupancy permit is to mark up a full-size set of drawings showing every proposed repair and change in use. Based on discussion during the meeting, using the former classroom in the Administration Building as sleeping quarters will constitute a change in use and require a permitting process. With this in mind, we will take a closer look at rehabbing the north modular dormitory. Permits will be needed to replace some rotted siding and roofing on this modular but these are relatively simple and inexpensive permits. Eugene Downtown Rotary Grant I reported last week about the Eugene Downtown Rotary Grant. This was a misstatement. It was actually the Lions Club. Lions Club / BJ’s Restaurant Fundraiser The date has been set for this fundraiser, Wednesday, March 22 from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. I’ve attached the flyer to this report. Please share this with everyone you can. Paper copies of the flyer need to be handed to your server at the restaurant on the day of the event in order for Veterans Legacy to get 20% of the meal proceeds. Work Priorities for the coming week Obtaining full-size floor plans of the Administration Building and north Modular Building and marking the plans up with all future repairs and changes. Create a list of tasks for future volunteer work parties at the Camp. Up-coming Events April 6, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation Mark
2017 3/5
Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma Now that we will be using the north modular dormitory for our first veterans, I took a look at the plumbing fixtures. The hot and cold supply lines to two bathroom sinks need to be, at a minimum, reconnected or possibly replaced. The supply lines are dangling from the sinks and there a bare copper pipes sticking out of the wall. Security at Camp Alma I have drafted a “Security Services Agreement” contract for the Camp Hosts. I made contact with the attorney who is reviewing it for us and will be meeting with him Monday at 1:00 to discuss his edits. Camp Work Parties We will be hosting work parties at Camp Alma. Please mark your calendars on the 1 st and 3 rd Saturdays of each month. Except not April 15, Easter Weekend. We also have the Rebel Rally Check Presentation that day. The hours of each event will be 10:00 to 2:00. While at the Camp this week I made a lengthy list of tasks, mostly in the Administration Building, that will keep us busy for a while. I haven’t typed it up yet but will send it out to the Core Team so you’ll have an idea of the kind of tasks. I have a conflict on April 1 and will not be there. I’ll need a Board/Core Team member to take charge that day. Ideally, we’ll have a Core Team Member in charge of each work area because there will be a lot of questions as we start getting into it. Areas of focus are the front office area, Dining Hall and Rec Room, Kitchen Area and the North Modular Building. Lions Club / BJ’s Restaurant Fundraiser Please distribute the flyers as much as possible. The date has been set for this fundraiser, Wednesday, March 22 from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. Paper copies of the flyer need to be handed to your server at the restaurant on the day of the event in order for Veterans Legacy to get 20% of the meal proceeds. Home Depot Grant Process I reconnected this week with Home Depot now that we have our 501c3 and lead Porter and Jason out to the Camp on Wednesday. I gave them a complete tour of the facilities. It is so much fun to see people catch fire with our vision! These guys are so excited they told me they want to partner with their sister store in order to justify a larger grant. They also talked about a Home Depot Employee work party. In fact, when I pointed out the rotted siding on the north modular, they were quick to say, “Our Team can fix that!” We still need to go through the official grant process but it’s nice to know they are already very excited about working with us. While driving into town last night to attend a K of C meeting, Porter called me to say he had a carpet return and if we wanted it to re-carpet the front lobby area of the Administration building, he’d give it to us, no charge. I went to the Store today to take a look at it, and unfortunately, I don’t think it will work for us. It’s a residential grade and two different colors, one light tan and the other light beige. I don’t think it will hold up very well in that high-traffic area. While in the store, I noticed a hardwood looking laminate that would hold up well…… Phones / Internet access at the Camp I learned this week that Lane County is paying $275 per month to CenturyLink for a dedicated phone line between a County Facility downtown and the Camp. They want to disconnect the line to get out from under that financial burden. I met Robert Hamburg from LCOG at the Camp yesterday. He inspected the telecom equipment. There are so many phone lines there, it’s really hard to tell what is active, what could be made active and what is just residual/nonfunctional from the old system. There may be another phone line to the camp from CenturyLink that would not require the same dedicated line service charge. One of our volunteers, George Lund has a telecommunications background. He is exploring options for phones and internet access for us. Above All Sanitation I have cancelled the porta-potty contract with Above All Sanitation. I met them at the Camp Thursday so they could retrieve their equipment. Contact with the Camp Neighbors While at the Camp Thursday to meet the Telecom guy and the Above All Sanitation guy, a neighbor saw my truck and the open gate and stopped in to say hi. His name is Jerry Lewis. I had the opportunity to tell him about Veterans Legacy and our plans for the camp. He seemed please that it was going to be occupied again and specifically asked if we would be having security at the Camp line the County did. I explained the Camp Host concept and that appeared to satisfy his concern. This morning I had a text exchange via Facebook with a neighbor in the Loraine area. He also was very pleased that we will be treating veterans at the site and asked about a good time to stop in and say hello. I let him know about our upcoming work parties on the 1 st and 3 rd Saturdays from 10 to 2. I’m thinking it would also be a very good idea to host another open house, specifically for the neighbors. Potential Lithia Nissan Fundraiser While speaking with Richard Mast this week, he mentioned he’s getting closer to having a fundraiser in April for us. He considering donating $100 for each new car sold during the entire month of April. Thank you so much Richard! Website Updates I went through every page and subpage of the website this week. I updated the mission and vision and other areas to reflect we have the Camp and the 501c3 designation. I also updated the FAC and Contact Us pages and there were a lot of additions to the Sponsors Page. My Son-in-Law, acting as our Web Master, made my edits a reality. Thanks Alec!! Work Priorities for the coming week Obtaining full-size floor plans of the Administration Building and north Modular Building and marking the plans up with all future repairs and changes. Create a list of tasks for future volunteer work parties at the Camp. Up-coming Events March 18, 2017 – Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. March 22, 2017 - BJ’s / Lions Club Fundraiser April 1, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. April 6, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation April 15, 2017 – Check presentation from Rebel Rally at Lithia Nissan, Eugene May 6, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. May 20, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Mark
2017 3/12
Lane County Planning – Special Use Permit The Special Use Permit that was set to expire Sunday, March 19, 2017 has been preserved! We submitted a Verification of Conditions application along with supporting documentation in an attempt to demonstrate that we have “established use” of the Camp. I got word late Friday afternoon that the County has determined that our efforts have been sufficient. We will continue to make improvements to the Camp and raise funds to support our Veteran programs. The Special Use Permit is now in place until such time as we cease operation for a period of 12 months. Congratulations everyone! Plumbing Repairs at Camp Alma I’d like to thank Larry Thomas who replaced the flush valves in three toilets in the Administration Building as part of Saturday’s Work Party. I’d also like to thank Jimmy Davis (I hope I have his name correct) and John Hampton who worked on the plumbing issues in the north Modular building. They were able to gain access to the two electric hot water heaters which were sealed inside a wall cavity with no access. They also attached the supply lines to two sinks and noted what part was needed to replace the supply line to one of the toilets. John will be back next week to trace down the drain leak under one of the sinks. Security at Camp Alma We now have a “Security Services Agreement” contract for the Camp Hosts. I sent it to the Navy vet that has expressed interest in providing these services. I’m waiting to hear back from him and I am a bit concerned. He has raised a couple of issues. One is his wife is working in town and the other is he’s looking for a guaranteed length of stay to make his move out there worthwhile. Camp Work Party The Work Party held Saturday at Camp Alma was a major success by any measure. There were 25 of us that worked four hours. That 100 hours of volunteer time resulted in a significantly cleaner lobby, offices, breakroom, medical exam room, bathrooms, dining hall and kitchen. Admittedly, the one dorm room in the large dormitory where all of the trash is being stored until arrangements can be made for a dumpster is worse off but that’s just temporary. Light fixtures got re-lamped and cleaned. Plywood panels were removed from the windows in the dining hall and the kitchen is closer to its final layout. Metal bunks and lockers got moved from the north modular dorm to the big dorm to make room for repairs. The plumbing repairs noted above were also made. Camp tours were conducted so more people understand our Vision and Mission and how the Camp will play a major role in the treatment of veterans. Lions Club / BJ’s Restaurant Fundraiser (no change from last week) Please distribute the flyers as much as possible. The date has been set for this fundraiser, Wednesday, March 22 from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. Paper copies of the flyer need to be handed to your server at the restaurant on the day of the event in order for Veterans Legacy to get 20% of the meal proceeds. Please take a copy of the flyer with you and I look forward to a very successful fundraiser. Phones / Internet access at the Camp I learned Saturday that we lost phone service at the Camp. I assumed it was because Lane County had disconnected their end of the dedicated line from LCOG’s RIS center in town. However, I called CenturyLink today (Monday) and found out that they believe there is a dig in on the cable somewhere along the route and they are currently working to restore the phone service. Lithia Nissan Fundraiser You probably noticed that Richard Mast, General Manager at Lithia Nissan confirmed that he will be holding a fundraiser for the month of April. $100 per vehicle sold will go to Veterans Legacy. I expect each of you to buy at least two cars! Ha Ha. Lane County Building Division I have an appointment Tuesday, March 21, with Eric Walter of Lane County’s Building Program. We will be going over full-size drawings of the Administration Building and North Modular Dorm building that I’ve redlined with remodel notes. In the Administration Building all I’m proposing is to cut a door into the wall between Holding Cell 2 and the Medical Exam Room. This will expand the functionality of the medical exam room. On the North Modular Dorm Building I’m proposing to replace the roofing, enlarge the window opening to let more natural light in and to replace the rotted siding where necessary. The outcomes I’m looking for in this meeting is to determine which of this work will require building permits and what is necessary to obtain an occupancy permit. Work Priorities for the coming week Meet with the County Building Department to review plans. Follow up on getting phone service restored to the Camp. Pay the Insurance Bill. Attend the Fundraiser at BJ’s. Dump the three smaller dumpsters I took home from the Camp at one of the County’s transfer sites. Up-coming Events March 22, 2017 - BJ’s / Lions Club Fundraiser April 1, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. April 6, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation April 15, 2017 – Check presentation from Rebel Rally at Lithia Nissan, Eugene May 6, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 20, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Mark
2017 3/19
Security at Camp Alma Matthew, the Navy Vet who had expressed interest in providing a security presence at the Camp has decided not to take the appointment. John and I met with a homeless vet this week who does want to be at the Camp. He expects to get his pickup running Tuesday and will move out to the Camp after that. I’m also working with a second vet who has expressed interest in living at the Camp. I want two or three people providing the security presence so one can run to town if they want, one can be the primary and the other can be the backup. Camp Work Party We have another work party scheduled for April 1, next Saturday. I have a conflict as does Karen. We need someone to step up and take care of the lunch and sign-in sheets. I’ll update the work tasks and have the replacement ballasts and other materials at the Camp. Lions Club / BJ’s Restaurant Fundraiser My wife and I ate both Lunch and Dinner at BJ’s on Wednesday for the fundraiser. At lunch we counted 14 people who we knew were there for the Veterans Legacy. At Dinner we counted 28. John Hampton reported he was there with about 10 people. A lady from the Lions Club noticed the stack of Veteran Legacy Brochures on my table and stopped to introduce herself. She said there were many Lions Club members there as well. Since I wasn’t there the entire time and wouldn’t have known everybody there for the fundraiser anyways, I can’t say for sure how successful we were. Based on the people I did know and one waiter saying he picked up 8 flyers from his tables, I’d say it was a good turnout. I’ll let everyone know what the total is once I have that information. Phones / Internet access at the Camp - Update I learned Saturday, March 18, that we lost phone service at the Camp. I assumed it was because Lane County had disconnected their end of the dedicated line from LCOG’s RIS center in town. However, I called CenturyLink today (Monday) and found out that they believe there is a dig in on the cable somewhere along the route and they are currently working to restore the phone service. The phone service is still not restored. I called again Friday and have an appointment with a service person on Wednesday, March 29. I believe we lost service when LCOG disconnect their end of the dedicated line in town. I have mentioned this both times I’ve called in the CenturyLink but the people in the call centers (not located in the State of Oregon) don’t seem to think that’s the problem. Hopefully, when I meet with a local service person we can get it resolved. Lithia Nissan Fundraiser I ran into Richard Mast at the BJ’s fundraiser. Not only did he have a table full of folks, he also confirmed that everything is in place for the April fundraiser. Thanks Richard!! Lane County Building Division My appointment with Eric Walters of the Lane County Building Department on Tuesday went well. I had full-size drawings of the Administration Building and North Modular Building red-lined with the work we want to do. The bad news is we do need to get permits, one for each building, for this work. The good news is that these are minor permits and not very expensive (hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars). The great news is that because we are proposing no changes in use, we’ll be using each room exactly as the County had, there is no “Change In Use” which means we don’t need an Occupancy Permit. That is a significant savings in time and money. Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Fundraiser Similar to the BJ’s fundraisers, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt will be giving 20% of sales to Veterans Legacy on Wednesday, April 5. You need to download the flyer and present it when you purchase. The event runs from Noon to 10:00pm. Emergence I had a very nice meeting on Thursday with Michael Bean, Executive Director of Emergence. We met primarily so he could learn more about our proposed programs and the Veterans Legacy structure to see how we might be mutually beneficial to each other. For those of you who don’t know, Emergence is an Addiction and Mental Health Treatment nonprofit. I’ve been trying to get a better handle on future operation costs for budgeting and grant application purposes. Michael was very helpful in this regard. We looked at the cost of 5 paid employees, 1 Executive Director and 4 Managers (Camp, Kitchen, Farm, and Case) as well as utilities, insurance and food. We could easily be in the $25,000 to $30,000 per month range. This would mean a slot rate of about $600 per vet per month. Given the current “Housing First” drive in government, we may be able to find housing program money to help with these costs. Additionally, many of the vets that will be staying and receiving treatment at the camp may have disability payments that could be used to offset some or most of these expenses. Website Updates. I learned how to put events on the Website Calendar this week. My first attempt failed because I didn’t realize the Veterans Legacy Google account had more than just the Veterans Legacy calendar. Because I also have a Google account it shows up as the default calendar. I now designate which calendar I’m adding to. I’m still having a problem looking ahead on the calendar to future months but I’m working with 9 Planets and I’m sure this will be resolved soon. Work Priorities for the coming week Meet CenturyLink Servicer Person at the Camp. Deliver some materials to the Camp at the same time. Update the Task List for Saturday’s Work Party. Work on the Home Depot Grant. Build the Treasurer’s report and meeting Agenda for the next Board Meeting. Up-coming Events March 29, 2017 – CenturyLink Phone Repair Appointment April 1, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. April 5, 2017 – Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Fundraiser, Noon to 10:00 pm. April 6, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation April 15, 2017 – Check presentation from Rebel Rally at Lithia Nissan, Eugene May 6, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 20, 2017 - Work Party at Camp Alma, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Mark
2017 3/26
Security at Camp Alma We are still looking for a Camp Host to live at Camp Alma and provide a presence. Another vet I was working with to move to the Camp is not going to work out. I still have one guy in play but would like two more. Camp Work Party Saturday’s work party went very well. We had 18 volunteers continuing the cleanup work. A special Thank You to Lane County Solid Waste Management for providing the dumpster and the hazardous waste removal. All of the leftover pesticides, paints, burnt out fluorescent lights bulbs and several tires were removed. So much cleaning work has been done, I’m not sure we need to host the May 6 work party. I also want to thank Art Noxon for getting the washers, dryers and hot water heater running in the laundry facility. He tells me a little more work in needed but great progress has been made. Thank you as well to John Hampton and Jimmy Davis for working on the plumbing leaks in the north modular building. Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Fundraiser Please remember to visit Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt at Gateway Mall this Wednesday. 20% of all sales will go to support Veterans Legacy. Phones at the Camp - Update The phone in the office is working once again. Rhody Festival at Three Rivers Casino I have us registered for a vendor booth at the Three Rivers Casino during the Rhody Festival. We will be handing out information about Veterans Legacy and selling Tee Shirts, Hoodies and Decals. I need volunteers to work the booth Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20. Lithia Nissan Fundraiser If you’re looking to purchase a new car, please consider buying from Lithia Nissan. Lithia is donating $100 for each car sold in the month of April to Veterans Legacy. Please support them supporting us. HVAC Repairs at Camp Alma Comfort Flow Heating has been working with their vendors in an effort to obtain free parts necessary to get the HVAC units fully operational. Laura reports that one of their vendors has agreed to donate about $2,500 worth of parts. Home Depot Community Impact Foundation Grant I have submitted a grant application to Home Depot, asking for a $5,000 gift card to purchase materials to rehab the North Modular Dormitory. I will also work the Home Depot Employee volunteers who will be providing the labor to change out the windows, replace the rotten siding and reroof that building. We’ll also look to replace the vinyl flooring as well. Keller Williams Volunteer Day The realitor / brokers at Keller Williams have volunteered to spend a day at Camp Alma to do landscape improvements. They are anticipating maybe as many as 80 volunteers to work the Camp on May 11. I’ll be contacting local landscape product vendors for donations of bark and organic lawn-starter soil. I’m also hoping to get a local restaurant to cater lunch for this work crew. It would be nice to get some media coverage as well. Work Priorities for the coming week Develop the Agenda for the next Board Meeting. Contact vendors to support the Keller Williams Volunteer Day. Up-coming Events April 5, 2017 – Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Fundraiser, Noon to 10:00 pm. April 5, 2017 – Vice President Buckwald will be speaking to the Rubicon Group about Veterans Legacy. Noon. April 6, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board Meeting. 6:00 pm April 7, 2017 – Thank you presentation at Comfort Flow Heating, 7:15 am. April 8, 2017 – DAR Presentation April 15, 2017 – Check presentation from Rebel Rally at Lithia Nissan, Eugene May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino Mark
Apr - Jun
2017 4/2
Security at Camp Alma Our Camp Host is John “Jack” Hilsendager. He is a Navy vet. He started living at the Camp this week. He has a background in organic farming and as a millwright. Hi Lab-mix dog “Wilber” lives at the camp with him and offers a very friendly greeting to all visitors. Jack was able to avoid the KVAL camera but Wilber seemed to enjoy the spotlight! Follow up on the Lions Club / BJ’s Fundraiser I heard from my contact in the Lions Club this last week. He let me know that the BJ’s fundraiser raised $424.85. Apparently this is significantly more than they usually raise with this type of fundraiser. If that wasn’t good enough news, the Lions Club has decided to match the amount and will be writing Veterans Legacy a check for $850. They will present the check to me at their April 19 meeting. Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Fundraiser I have not yet heard how this fundraiser went. Rhody Festival at Three Rivers Casino I have us registered for a vendor booth at the Three Rivers Casino during the Rhody Festival. We will be handing out information about Veterans Legacy and selling Tee Shirts, Hoodies and Decals. I need volunteers to work the booth Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20. Shifts can be any length you want but I’m hoping for half-day shifts, i.e Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Lithia Nissan Fundraiser (Repeat from last week) If you’re looking to purchase a new car, please consider buying from Lithia Nissan. Lithia is donating $100 for each car sold in the month of April to Veterans Legacy. Please support them supporting us. HVAC Repairs at Camp Alma Dr. LeBow and I presented Tee-Shirts to the Comfort Flow employees who worked on the HVAC systems at their quarterly meeting last Friday. Keller Williams Volunteer Day The realitor / brokers at Keller Williams have volunteered to spend a day at Camp Alma to do landscape improvements. They are anticipating maybe as many as 80 volunteers to work the Camp on May 11. I have made the initial contact with Lane Forest Products with an online donation application as well as a hand-delivered letter with supporting documentation. I’ve also hand-delivered a similar letter and supporting documentation to Hole In The Wall BBQ and followed up with a phone message. Tom Adams of KVAL and Dylan Darling of the Register Guard have also been made aware of this event. I have no confirmations from anyone yet but it is still early in the process. Outreach Dr. Lebow gave a presentation on Saturday to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Dan Buckwald gave a presentation on Thursday to the Rubicon Society. Both were well received. Camp Alma Bi-line At Thursday’s Board meeting the Board of Directors approved a Bi-Line for the Camp Alma sign. The sign will read, “Camp Alma – The Veteran Wellness Center”. The Board also approved a paint color scheme which will be employed on future camp painting projects. Work Priorities for the coming week Meeting the County Building inspector to sign off on the Hot Water Heater installations as well as meeting the Dumpster driver to pick up the full dumpster on Wednesday. Up-coming Events April 15, 2017 – Check presentation from Rebel Rally, location to be determined. Lithia Nissan? Latus Motors? April 19, 2017 – Check presentation from the Lions Club, Hilton Hotel. May 4, 2017 – Board of Directors meeting. 6:00pm at the Union Hall May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino Mark
2017 4/9
Rhody Festival at Three Rivers Casino (Still looking for volunteers to work the booth) I have us registered for a vendor booth at the Three Rivers Casino during the Rhody Festival. We will be handing out information about Veterans Legacy and selling Tee Shirts, Hoodies and Decals. I need volunteers to work the booth Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20. Shifts can be any length you want but I’m hoping for half-day shifts, i.e Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Lithia Nissan Fundraiser (Repeat from last week) If you’re looking to purchase a new car, please consider buying from Lithia Nissan. Lithia is donating $100 for each car sold in the month of April to Veterans Legacy. Please support them supporting us. HVAC Repairs at Camp Alma Laura has obtained approximately $2500 worth of HVAC parts free of charge from one of their venders. We’re now looking forward to when the Comfort Flow employees can get them installed. Keller Williams Volunteer Day (Repeat from last week) The realtor / brokers at Keller Williams have volunteered to spend a day at Camp Alma to do landscape improvements. They are anticipating maybe as many as 80 volunteers to work the Camp on May 11. I have made the initial contact with Lane Forest Products with an online donation application as well as a hand-delivered letter with supporting documentation. I’ve also hand-delivered a similar letter and supporting documentation to Hole In The Wall BBQ and followed up with a phone message. Tom Adams of KVAL and Dylan Darling of the Register Guard have also been made aware of this event. I have no confirmations from anyone yet but it is still early in the process. Outreach I’ve been contacted by Willamette Oaks Retirement Center. I will be giving a presentation on June 1. Hot Water Heater Inspections. I met the County Inspector last Wednesday at Camp Alma. The only issue she raised with the two new hot water heaters is that the one in the Administration Building mechanical room needed a couple of working vents in the room. The vents were actually there but had been blocked to keep cold air out. After she left, I was able to unblock the vents, take pictures of the working vents. I’ve emailed the pics to the County. I expect that the permit/inspection will now be approved. Possible Propane Leak. Ferrell Gas came out to the Camp on Wednesday because I was concerned about a possible leak. They did find two small leaks but they were so small they probably don’t account for the large propane bill. We may just be using that much! After the HVAC work is complete, we’ll have Ferrell Gas preform a pressure test to see if we can detect any other leaks. Work Party Dumpster. The County has picked up the dumpster we filled at the last work party. Thank you Dan for arranging the pick up. Work Priorities for the coming week Meeting the County Building inspector to sign off on the Hot Water Heater installations as well as meeting the Dumpster driver to pick up the full dumpster on Wednesday. Up-coming Events April 19, 2017 – Check presentation from the Lions Club, Hilton Hotel. May 4, 2017 – Board of Directors meeting. 6:00pm at the Union Hall May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino June 1, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 4/16
Lithia Nissan Fundraiser (Repeat from last week) If you’re looking to purchase a new car, please consider buying from Lithia Nissan. Lithia is donating $100 for each car sold in the month of April to Veterans Legacy. Please support them supporting us. Keller Williams Volunteer Day May 11 The realtor / brokers at Keller Williams have volunteered to spend a day at Camp Alma to do landscape improvements. I asked Lane Forest Products to donate the bark mulch and deliver it to the Camp. I received a short letter denying my request signed by their President. I sent an email to the president acknowledging the denial and acknowledging that I had a pretty big “ask”. As an alternative I asked if she would be willing to donate the bark if I got someone else to haul it out to the Camp. She had one of her staff call me and offer a $250 gift card for the bark. Now I just need someone to haul it out to the Camp and someone to feed the volunteers. I’ll be contacting a couple of companies that I know have dump trucks to ask for their help. Outreach The presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center has been moved to Monday, May 22. President John LeBow and Vice President Dan Buckwald have been busy inviting dignitaries to Camp Alma on Friday, May 12. Senator James Manning, Lane County Commissioner President Patrick Farr and others will be present. Register Guard Article We received a lot of attention from the Register Guard Article. Many calls and emails were received offering volunteer help at the camp. We have more groups wanting to help that projects ready for them to work on. We also had several donations due to the article. Eugene Downtown Lions Club Wednesday I attended a meeting of the Eugene Downtown Lions Club. They presented me a check in the amount of $849.64 from their treasury and the BJ’s fundraiser. Work Priorities for the coming week I’ll be working on the drawings that need to be submitted to the County for the building permits for the repairs on the North Modular Building and the Administration Building. Up-coming Events May 4, 2017 – Board of Directors meeting. 6:00pm at the Union Hall May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 12, 2017 – Dignitary Day at Camp Alma May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 22, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 4/23
Keller Williams Volunteer Day May 11 The preparations for this event are going fairly well. As stated last week, Lane Forest Products has donated $250 worth of bark mulch for the project. Lane Electric Coop has now agreed to transport the bark from Lane Forest Products to Camp Alma. They are giving us the use of a truck driver and a 5-yard dump truck for a day. They have also agreed to auger the holes for the new Camp Alma sign. I had hoped to feed the realtors lunch but there are just too many of them so I’ve asked them to bring their own sack lunch and we’ll provide them beverages and snacks like cookies. Camp Alma Sign Signworks has created an image of the new sign for Camp Alma. I’ve asked them to prepare a bid for making the letters and logo out of ¼ inch aluminum, prime and paint them. I’m waiting on that bid. I’ve also asked Mark Stringfield of Gene Stringfield Lumber to donate the 4 x pressure treated timbers for the wood part of the sign. He seemed very receptive to my pitch and will let me know soon. Camp Alma Open House President John LeBow and Vice President Dan Buckwald have been busy inviting dignitaries to Camp Alma on Friday, May 12. Senator James Manning, Lane County Commissioner President Patrick Farr and others will be present. We’d like volunteers to be on-hand to lead tours, greet, serve treats, etc. Saint Vincent De Paul John LeBow and I met with Tim Angle from St. Vinnies Supportive Services for Veterans Families, SSVF program. After a quick tour of their facilities on Chad Drive, we had a very interesting discussion of how the two programs might best work together. Tim also sent me copies of their policies and procedures to review. I prefer to adapt existing proven polices to work for us rather than trying to reinvent something from scratch. Camp Security Just wanted to report that Jack is working out very well at the camp. He continues to weed, clean, and sort his way through the camp, as well as providing the presence we were looking for. I think he’s been a great addition and he claims to be very happy living at the Camp. His dog “Wilber” has become a mascot for the camp and is quite the greeter! Donations The KVAL and Register Guard news articles served us well in spreading our message. I noticed a nice bump in donations and offers of help. Our paid memberships are at 84 for 2017. If we count the people who donated in 2016 and who have not hit their one-year anniversary yet, the membership count is well over 100. Website Update Alec has updated the Sponsors Page of our website to reflect the recent donors. Many new names were added and a few people who had donated previously, donated again and achieved a higher “Rank”. Please continue to encourage all of your family, friends and acquaintances to join Veterans Legacy. IRS Filing I filled out and submitted our IRS 990-N ePostcard this week. It is a very simple form. It actually took significantly longer to establish the account than to fill out and submit the form. Unfortunately, the account will be short-lived as our 2017 revenues will propel us out of the 990-N and into the 990-EZ. Actually, it’s not unfortunate because it means we’re growing in revenue. Work Priorities for the coming week I’ll be working on the drawings that need to be submitted to the County for the building permits for the repairs on the North Modular Building and the Administration Building. Up-coming Events May 4, 2017 – Board of Directors meeting. 6:00pm at the Union Hall May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 12, 2017 – Dignitary Day (Open House) at Camp Alma May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 22, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 4/30
Camp Alma Sign I’m still waiting on the bid from Signworks. I contacted him today and he’s working on it. He’ll need a high resolution image of our logo and I’ve asked Sterling Graphics to create or simply send an existing one to Signworks. Mark Stringfield of Gene Stringfield Lumber has agreed to donate the 4 x pressure treated timbers for the wood part of the sign. I picked up the lumber today and it is now at the camp. Camp Alma Open House President John LeBow and Vice President Dan Buckwald have been busy inviting dignitaries to Camp Alma on Friday, May 12. Senator James Manning, Lane County Commissioner President Patrick Farr and others will be present. We’d like volunteers to be on-hand to lead tours, greet, serve treats, etc. Work Priorities for the coming week I’ll be prepping the projects for Thursday’s Keller Williams Red Day work party. Not a lot to report this week as I was on vacation. Up-coming Events May 11, 2017 – Keller Williams Red Day of Volunteering May 12, 2017 – Dignitary Day (Open House) at Camp Alma May 19 & 20 – Rhode Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 22, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 5/7
Keller Williams Red Day Approximately 40 Keller Williams employees came out to the Camp on Thursday. The wet weather did not seems to dampen the enthusiasm of their hard work. They weeded, moved rocks, dismantled greenhouse hoops and relocated them. They spread bark mulch and rejuvenated gravel paths in the courtyard and power-washed the front walkway and the path to the flag pole area. They even donated and constructed a teakwood bench which we’ll install by the flag pole area. To help with the project, Lane Forest Products donated $250 worth of bark mulch and Lane Electric Coop hauled it out to the Camp for us. With the mowing done earlier in the week, the courtyard and front landscaping are looking great thanks to Keller Williams, Lane Forest Products and Lane Electric Coop. Also a big “Thank You” to John LeBow, Kevin Bourgault, and Jack Hilsendager for all of their hard work that day. Camp Alma Open House “Dignitary Day” We had several VIP’s at the Camp Friday afternoon. Senator James Manning and his wife; Jeff Gowings, Mayor of Cottage Grove; Beverly Potter Executive Director of Food for Lane County; and several folks for various veteran support groups. The weather could have been a little nicer but the tours lead by Dr. LeBow, Dan Buckwald and Mark Oberle shared our mission and how the Camp is an integral part of the mission. The folks that had not been to the camp before seemed very impressed with our opportunity to really do something great for veterans that no one else is doing. Our care taker Jack was able to send several of the folks home with farm fresh eggs from his chickens as the Camp. Work Priorities for the coming week Prepping for the Rhodie Festival. Working on the remodel plans for submission for the Lane County Building permits on the Administration Building and the North Modular Building. Working on financial statements for grant writing applications. Up-coming Events May 19 & 20 – Rhodie Festival, Three Rivers Casino May 22, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 5/14
“Let It Ride” Rhodie Festival Veterans Legacy purchased a booth space at Three Rivers Casino as part of the “Let It Ride” event by Rebel Rally at this year’s Rhodie Festival in Florence. Thank you to John Hampton who worked with me to set up our booth and staff it on Friday afternoon / evening. Thank you to John LeBow and Dan Buckwald for staffing the booth all day Saturday and for taking it down at the end of the day. The objective of the booth was to spread the word about Veterans Legacy, encourage new membership and to sell t-shirts, hoodies and decals. Many conversations were shared with attendees and a little over $300 in merchandise was sold. Dr. LeBow accepted a ceremonial check on Saturday from Rebel Rally President Jeremy Hunsaker for $14,405.80. The actual check was given to us back in January and covered one of the invoices from Baxter Plumbing. Doc also accepted a check from Richard Mast, Lithia Nissan of Eugene General Manager for their April Fundraiser for Veterans Legacy. Lithia sold 32 cars which netted Veterans Legacy $3,200. Richard then applied $1,800 from their marketing account and present Doc with a check for $5,000. Thank you so much to Rebel Rally and Lithia Nissan of Eugene!! Grant Writing Billie Fisher-Fowler has been working hard researching and putting together material for particular grants. Recent effort has been applied to a Lane Electric Coop grant among others. Work Priorities for the coming week Working on the remodel plans for submission for the Lane County Building permits on the Administration Building and the North Modular Building. Working on financial statements for grant writing applications. Up-coming Events May 22, 2017 – Presentation to Willamette Oaks Retirement Center June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 5/21
Administrative Tasks As I’ve stated previously, April, May, and June are very busy months for me and I’m only able to give a small amount of time to Veterans Legacy. I was able to redeposit the change money I had withdrawn from our credit union account to make change for product sales at the Rhodie Fest. I also deposited the money from the product sales and a couple of donation checks. I also returned the products (T-Shirts, Hoodies and Decals) to storage in the office. Thanks to Dan for bringing the product back from Florence. Jerry’s Home Improvement Center Kevin spoke with Jerry’s Home Improvement Center and got them to agree to giving us their Veteran Discount on our account. Thanks Kevin. Willamette Oaks Retirement Center Presentation On Monday I spoke to a small but supportive crown at Willamette Oaks. My talk is called “Veterans Legacy – Spreading the Word”. The presentation went well and the group was very impressed with our Mission and Vision. The retirement center made a small donation to us for the talk. Work Priorities for the coming week Working on the remodel plans for submission for the Lane County Building permits on the Administration Building and the North Modular Building. Working on financial statements for grant writing applications. Up-coming Events June 1, 2017 – EWEB Finance Group Work Party at Camp Alma - Painting June 1, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall Mark
2017 5/28
Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride Planning is underway for Veterans Legacy’s own Poker Ride. The date is set for August 12. John Hampton has been hard at work establishing the route and recruiting vendors. Pete Ellingson has agreed to be the point person on the Board and Mark Oberle is working on the graphics for the flyers and tee-shirts. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Membership Drive Potential grants aside, we’re still looking at memberships to be our main source of funding. In the second half of 2016 we sold 76 memberships. We’re up to 109 so far in 2017. This is far short of the thousands we’re counting on. With Independence Day just around the corner, I’m setting July as our Membership Drive month. When I look at the ratio of Non-Veterans to Veterans of our current membership, it would appear that Non-Veterans care more about Veterans than Veterans do. I don’t think that’s true but it does set up an interesting competition for a Membership Drive. Let’s all do what we can to encourage membership. Remember, Board Members and I are available to speak at organizations. Rebel Rally Rodeo We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Power outage at Camp Alma We lost power late last night at Camp Alma. The good news is the generator came on line as designed. Work Priorities for the coming week Working on the remodel plans for submission for the Lane County Building permits on the Administration Building and the North Modular Building. Working on financial statements for grant writing applications. Up-coming Events June 14, 2017 – Military Officers (MOAA) speaking engagement – Vets Club on Willamette June 16, 2017 – EWEB Finance Group Work Party at Camp Alma - Painting June 29, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo Mark
2017 6/4
Camp Alma Garden Update Jack has been hard at work in the gardens. The garden area has been mowed and he as several beds started. Corn, potatoes, and squash are just some of the things he has growing. I brought him out a yard of mint compost and a yard of Natures Best, two of Lane Forest Products most popular items. He also has a large compost pile started. The new chicks are doing well. EWEB Work Party We’re ready for the EWEB painting party for this Friday. The picnic tables and sign timbers have been power washed in anticipation of being painted. The weather forecast is for rain so this event may have to be rescheduled. Camp Alma Sign Sutherlin High School CTE program has built and donated a sign for Camp Alma. The sign is approximately five feet wide and three feet high for the logo portion and has a separate board for the words “Camp Alma, The Veteran Wellness Center”. I’m now working on the frame and hardware for installing the sign near the current Lane County sign at the top of the driveway. Once the frame is installed we’ll either have an unveiling or sign-hanging ceremony. A picture of the sign and Wade Wells, the man who coordinated the project at Sutherlin High School, will be posted on Facebook soon. (I’m the short guy on the other end of the sign) Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride John Hampton is doing a great job of pushing this project forward. He met Saturday with American Legion Post folks and worked out details such as the Post will be opening early the day of the ride and the Post will be fronting the food cost so Veterans Legacy doesn’t have to. I’ve been working with a graphic artist at McKenzie Sew On for the Tee-Shirt design which will also be the flyer design. John will be getting the sponsor’s names and logos to me this week which is all that is left to complete the design. The Tees will be a little more expensive because we’re going with a three color design; red, white and blue on a black tee. The big graphic will be on the back of the shirt with our logo over the left breast. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Work Priorities for the coming week Weed-whacking by the Lane County Sign for the utility locates for the Camp Alma sign installation and assembling the sign frame. Preparing for my talk at MOAA on Wednesday. Working on the Bob Woodruff Foundation Grant. Working on the remodel plans for submission for the Lane County Building permits on the Administration Building and the North Modular Building. Working on financial statements for grant writing applications. Up-coming Events June 14, 2017 – Military Officers (MOAA) speaking engagement – Vets Club on Willamette June 16, 2017 – EWEB Finance Group Work Party at Camp Alma - Painting June 29, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo Mark
2017 6/11
MOAA Speaking Engagement The MOAA speaking engagement went well. There were approximately 50 people present. Based on the questions asked, I would say they were very interested and supportive of Veterans Legacy. EWEB Work Party The weather did not cooperate but we were able to paint under the Laundry building carport. Two picnic tables and the four treated timbers for the sign frame were painted. I gave a tour of the facilities while we waited for the first coat of paint to dry. When we were done painting, Jack gave them a tour of the garden area and sent them all home with fresh eggs. Five EWEB employees and an adult son of one of them joined the paint party. Camp Alma Garden Update Jack has many plants started and needs good soil and compost to transplant them into the garden. I have arranged for Lane Forest Products to deliver a unit of Natures Best planting mix and a unit of Blended Mint Compost to be delivered to the Camp on Tuesday. Jack will be there to received and instruct the driver where to dump the loads. Camp Alma Sign Lane Electric Coop has agreed to auger the holes for the sign posts. I weed whacked the project area on Monday and staked and marked the area for locates. I’m currently installing hardware to the two parts of the sign to connect them together and then to connect the sign to the posts and frame. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride John Hampton got the logos from the American Legion Riders and the three motorcycles business sponsors to me and I’ve forwarded them to McKenzie Sew On’s graphic artist. I’ve also asked McKenzie Sew On and QSL printers to sponsor the ride by discounting their service/product or making a donation. Bob Woodruff Foundation Grant Dr. Lebow discovered this grant opportunity. He wrote the two short essay portions and I put together the rest of our preliminary round application. The process consists of this preliminary round where you briefly describe your program and explain how it fits into one of their three categories. In my opinion, we fit all three and fit two of them extremely well. I had a little trouble with the first attempt to submit the application because they wanted a copy of our 990n IRS report and I couldn’t find where to attach it. Their question asked if we were “prepared to provide a copy of our 990n” and I marked “yes” and since there did not appear to be a place to upload or attach the file I assumed we would have to provide it if we survived the preliminary round. The next day I received an email saying our application could not advance until they received the 990n. I attached the file to my email response and received a confirmation email so I think we’re now good to go. They will let us know in October if we’re invited to the next round. I’ve asked for $120,000 based on a projected operating cost of 10 vets x $2000 per vet per month x 12 months. I’m very optimistic because this grant appears to be taylor-made for Veterans Legacy. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Work Priorities for the coming week I’m on vacation this week and next, hosting many out-of-state family members. Up-coming Events June 29, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo Mark
2017 6/18
Camp Alma Sign I’ve been on vacation so not a lot to report. I did take the visiting family out to the Camp on Thursday and put them to work helping me on the frame for the sign. In the picture on Facebook, that is my 90 year old father pushing the broom. Hard to keep a good man down. While we were there, utility locates started to get marked at the sign location. Lane Electric Coop will probably auger the holes for the sign posts this week. Donation Tax Receipts My sister, visiting from Idaho, asked if there was something she could do to help Veterans Legacy. I set her up on my laptop creating the tax receipts. I didn’t realize I was that far behind. She created all of the tax receipts for donations from mid-March to current. I will review them and get them sent out this week. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) John Hampton got the logos from the American Legion Riders and the three motorcycles business sponsors to me and I’ve forwarded them to McKenzie Sew On’s graphic artist. I’ve also asked McKenzie Sew On and QSL printers to sponsor the ride by discounting their service/product or making a donation. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Work Priorities for the coming week I’m on vacation this week, hosting many out-of-state family members. Up-coming Events June 29, 2017 – Board of Directors Meeting, 6:00 pm at the Union Hall July 8, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Core Team work session at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo Mark
2017 6/25
Camp Alma Sign The frame for the sign is “mostly” installed. Lane Electric Coop augered the post holes on Wednesday and a friend and I installed the posts and cross members on Friday. We still need to bolt the cross members and add a second coat of paint to the frame. We can now plan the “reveal”. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride We need volunteers to work this event. Several of the regulars are not available to work this event. I’d like six (6) volunteers to lead tours at Camp Alma and will train them. Please email me at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org if you would like to help out Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Up-coming Events July 6, 2017 – LeBow & Oberle will meet with VA July 8, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Core Team work session at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo Mark
July - Sept
2017 9/27
Ruralite Magazine The article has been written and will be in the November edition. The reporter offered me the opportunity to read his final draft before it was submitted to his editor. It contained quotes from three different Board members and the Executive Director as well as from Matt Michel from Lane Electric Coop. I believe it will generate positive responses from the readership. Arbor South Architect Support Steve Clay of Arbor South Architect has created the drawings for the remodel work. He is now waiting for Eric Walter from the Building Department to return from vacation to discuss the drawings before the permits are submitted. Potential Purchase of Camp Alma I met on Thursday with Betty Mishou and Michael Johns of Lane County to discuss the potential of Veterans Legacy purchasing Camp Alma. The purchase has been recommended by Felts Consulting because the lease is a barrier to foundations making a large donation. Betty and Michael will be meeting on Monday, October 2 with a larger Facilities Planning group to present the idea. At their request, I wrote an update memo on our efforts at Camp Alma since taking possession back in February. It also contains an explanation for our request to purchase the Camp. I’ve attached the memo to this report. You might enjoy the recap of all we’ve accomplished in a mere 7 months. Up-coming Events October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall October 7, 2017 – Comfort Flow HVAC work at Camp Alma October 14, 2017 – Meeting with Felts Consulting November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 10, 2017 – Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Mark
2017 9/17
Ruralite Magazine On Wednesday, September 20, I met with Craig Reed who is a freelance reporter for The Ruralite Magazine. Ruralite is a trade magazine published for the customer/members of Electric Cooperatives in the Northwest, in our case, Lane Electric Coop. Matt Michel and Julie Stephens of Lane Electric Coop were also there and participated in the interview. The interview and tour took two hours. It’s really fun seeing people get excited when they see the Camp and learn about our vision. Craig may be contacting Board members to get their input for the article. The article will be coming out in November. Initially, the article will only go to Lane Electric customers but Matt Michel will be talking to other electric coops to see if they’re interested in running the article in their versions of the magazine. The distribution could end up being very widespread. I’d like to thank Matt specifically and Lane Electric in general, for their work in spreading the word about Veterans Legacy. They have become true partners. Arbor South Architect Support Also on Wednesday I met with Steve Clay of Arbor South Architect. We spent over an hour inspecting the proposed work on the Administration Building and the North Modular Dorm, as well as a general tour of the other buildings and grounds. Steve got the information he needed to start work on the permit drawings. Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers A majority of the Board and I had a very interesting day at Ruby & Ambers. You might recall that Ruby & Ambers is an organic farm east of Cottage Grove that use draft horses for much of the farm work. They also hold training sessions for people wanting to learn how to manage a horse team. Many times throughout the day, the horses proved to be smarter than the students. Fortunately, the horses were very patient and we all learned the basics of handling a team. In addition to being very interesting, it was a lot of fun. I have always believed we had a good board that worked well together but that really proved out on Saturday. Walt Bernard, owner / operator of the farm, commented about how impressed he was with our group relative to most other groups he’s had at the farm. Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner Lane Electric will be hosting a dinner for veterans who are also their customer / members on Friday, November 10. This is another way they wish to thank and honor veterans for their service. They have asked Veterans Legacy to speak at the event. The event will be held in the Lane Electric Board Room. Comfort Flow Heating Comfort Flow has let us know that they will be back at the Camp on Saturday, October 7 to install the repair parts into the various HVAC systems. They may be a very good time for us to do various “winterization” tasks around the Camp. Up-coming Events October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall October 7, 2017 – Comfort Flow HVAC work at Camp Alma November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 10, 2017 – Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Mark
2017 9/10
Twin Rivers Charter School The school’s week at the Camp has been postponed to allow for Background Checks to be completed for any adult who could come in contact with the children at the Camp. Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser The fundraiser has been scheduled for Monday & Tuesday, November 13 & 14, 2017. These dates were selected because they are the closest Monday & Tuesday to Veterans Day, November 11, 2017. We will be circulating a flyer/coupon closer to the date of the event. Arbor South Architect Support Steve Clay of Arbor South has confirmed that his architectural firm will draw up the plans necessary for the building permits at Camp Alma pro-bono. Oberle will be meeting with Steve at Camp Alma next Wednesday, September 20 to view the anticipated work. Ruralite Magazine The Ruralite Magazine is a trade magazine published for the customer/members of Electric Cooperatives in the Northwest, in our case, Lane Electric Coop. I have been contacted by a freelance reporter for the magazine to do an article about Veterans Legacy / Camp Alma. We are meeting at Camp Alma on Wednesday at 1:00 for the interview. Any Board Member who would like to participate is welcome / encouraged to attend. The reporter was referred to us by Matt Michel, General Manager of Lane Electric Coop who will also be at the Camp to participate in the interview. At this point I don’t know what the focus of the article will be about but the reporter told me he enjoys writing positive articles about the good things people are doing in their communities. I also don’t know what the circulation of the article might be. It may go out to just Lane Electric members or it could also be included Ruralites to other electric cooperative members in the northwest. Other local electric coops are Blachley Lane and Douglas Electric. Up-coming Events September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Mark
2017 9/3
Excerpts from the Board Meeting. Jay Breslow. Kevin introduced Mr. Breslow. He is the principle at Twin Rivers Charter School on August Street is south Eugene. This is also the Northwest Youth Corp. They are interested in spending five days at the Camp working on clearing vegetation. The proposed dates are September 18 to 22. It was suggested they could clear a trail to the river, remove the snow damaged pines near the flag pole area and possibly clear the tall grass from the over-grown ball field. The approximate 10 youths and 2 to 3 adults can pitch their tents in the courtyard and setup the outdoor kitchen under the covered walkway behind the Administration Building. Mike McFadden. Kevin introduced Mike McFadden. Mike is a supervisor at Down 2 Earth and oversees the garden sales area. He stated that he is an employee of Down 2 Earth and does not speak for them. However, he is excited about the Veterans Legacy vision and sees great potential for a symbiotic relationship between VLO and Down 2 Earth. He also offered to volunteer in the garden at the Camp. Draft Integrated Pest Management Policy. Kevin has been working on an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Policy. He is borrowing heavily from a similar Lane County policy and revising it to better meet our needs. He is about 80% done with the first draft. When completed he will present it to the Board for their review. “Veterans Preference” Hiring policy. Kevin sent the draft policy out to the Board prior to the meeting. No additional revisions were suggest during the Board meeting. A vote on this policy will be held during the October Board meeting. Board Member Qualification Bylaw Amendment. The current wording in the Bylaws can be made more specific and a brief description of a peer review process for proposed additions to the Board could be added. Phil will review Bylaws from other organizations he belongs to and will forward appropriate verbiage to Kevin. Board Member Attendance Bylaw Amendment. It was suggested that more specific language regarding a Board Members “repeated failures to attend Board Meetings” would provide better guidance. Phil will research this as well. Veteran Focus Group At Camp Alma. John and Kevin are working on a focus group exercise at the Camp for a Veterans Therapy group for some time in mid to late October. Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Oberle will work with Texas Roadhouse Restaurant at Valley River Center on a fundraiser for November 6 and 7. The 6 th is Veterans Day. Up-coming Events September 18 – 22, Northwest Youth Corp at Camp Alma September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall Mark
2017 8/27
Update on Remodel Efforts at Camp Alma Steve Clay at Arbor South Architects has agreed to prepare the remodel / repair drawings for the permit applications to Lane County for the work on the North Modular Dorm and the Administration buildings at Camp Alma. I’ll be meeting with him this Wednesday to go over the plan notes I have already assembled. I emailed him PDF’s of the existing building plans as a starting point. These PDF’s are design drawings and not as-builts so part of our discussion on Wednesday will be the physical differences between the plans and the actual buildings. He estimates it will be 2 to 3 weeks before he can get started on the new drawings. Foundation Planning & Development We now have a signed contract with Felts Consulting. The contract was signed late last week and the initial payment of $5,000 was made. Additional payments will be driven by deliverables. We expect the bulk of the work to be done by the end of October. First Annual VLO Poker Ride update With the tee-shirts sold at the event and afterwards, the First Annual VLO Poker Ride has broken even financially. There are additional tee-shirts from the event to sell. We ordered many more than we needed. We’ll know better for next year. We also have green Veterans Legacy Logo tee- shirts and black Veterans Legacy Logo hoodies for sale. Up-coming Events September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall Mark
2017 8/20
Thank You Presentations to Supporters. Last week I mentioned that I had framed three photo’s from the sign unveiling last week and added thank you messages to Sutherlin High School CTE Program, Gene Stringfield Lumber and Lane Electric Coop and had delivered two of the three. This week I was able to present the third framed “Thank You” photo to Wade Wells of the Sutherlin High School CTE program. Rebel Rally Rodeo Several Board Members and other volunteers worked the Veterans Legacy booth at the Rebel Rally Rodeo. Dr. LeBow addressed the crowd atop Duke, his horse, and said thank you to Rebel Rally for their support. This was another opportunity to spread the word and sell tee-shirts, hoodie and decals. We still have quite a lot of product left for sale so please let us know if you would like to purchase any. Most sizes are still available. Staffing Changes LaDonna Hale and her daughter Mariah, have agreed to take over the social media outreach. A big “Thank You” to Sarah Swindling for all the work she has done to this point in setting up the Facebook page and promoting our events. Sarah finds being a new mom, working, and running her own side business does not leave her much time for the social media outreach. Thank you LaDonna and Mariah for stepping up! Update on Remodel Efforts at Camp Alma I met with a retired contractor at Camp Alma this last week. We toured the Administration Building and North Modular Building. We noted repairs that need to take place. The retired contractor has put me in touch with a friend of his who may be able to get plans drawn up so we can submit for the building permits. I’m now waiting to hear back from the architech. Up-coming Events September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall Mark.
2017 8/13
Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Run. I still don’t have a complete pictures of the financial of this event. However, 51 riders bought packets and some raffle tickets were sold. John Hampton has debriefed with a few people and there are several learnings that will make this event even better next year. We won’t order so many tee-shirts, we’ll have 2-piece raffle tickets to speed up and simplify the raffle and because we’re setting the date earlier, we’ll have more time to recruit sponsors and vendors and riders. Next year’s date for the Second Annual Veterans Legacy Poker Ride is Saturday, August 11, 2018. Combat Veterans Poker Run. John Hampton and I worked this event this Saturday. We only sold 1 sweatshirt and one tee-shirt. A lady, after hearing our pitch for Veterans Legacy & Camp Alma gave us a $20 donation so I gave her a decal. We dropped the price of the tee’s to $15 and the sweatshirts to $25 and offered a package deal of one Tee, one Hoodie and one Decal for $45. No takers. What made the event worthwhile was a couple of conversations with event attendees. One young couple, he is a combat vet, were visiting from Coos Bay. He is seeing a private practice counsellor who works with many vets in the Coos Bay area. He will be passing our brochure to his counsellor. She may be another source for referrals when we’re up and running at Camp Alma. The other conversation was with a fella who seemed intrigued by our mission and promised to read the brochure and get back to me with any questions. And then he did. Towards the end of the event he came back to our booth, wanted to know more about what the buildings needed to have done to get them ready for veterans. I gave him a quick run-down of the planned remodel/repairs. He said that sounds doable and that he was a retired contractor and wanted to help. I let him know the next step was to get the plans for the permit drawn up and he offered that he may know a professional plans drawer who may be willing help with that. He took my phone number and promised to get back to me. Thank You Presentations to Supporters. I framed three photo’s from the sign unveiling last week and added thank you messages to Sutherlin High School CTE Program, Gene Stringfield Lumber and Lane Electric Coop. All three donated material and effort to build and install the new Camp Alma sign. I was able to make personal presentations Thursday afternoon to both Mark Stringfield and General Manager Matt Michel of Lane Electric Coop. Pictures of the presentation should be on Facebook soon. Matt had told be ahead of time that if I came to their offices around 4:15 I’d be able to talk directly to the crew that had augured the holes for the sign posts. As it turned out, about 40 employees showed up and I ended up giving a full-blown speech about Veterans Legacy. They are so taken with what we’re trying to do that I feel we have a corporate sponsor now. McDougal Bros Investments Introduction Letter. I wrote a letter this week to McDougal Bros Investments. They own the small parcel on the east side of Camp Alma. I let them know who we are in addition to being their neighbor and a little bit about our plans for the Camp. I invited them to get back to us to learn more and to tour the camp. Up-coming Events August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers October 5, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall Mark.
2017 8/6
Camp Work Party. We had a good work party Sunday afternoon. A big “Thank You!” to Dee Boshaw, Kevin Bourgault, Dan Buckwald, Phil Groshong, John Hampton, and John LeBow. A lot of mowing, power-washing, grading and carpet cleaning was done to make the camp as presentable as possible. I’m biased as I was part of the work party, but I thought the Camp looked great when we left Sunday evening. Donors & Dignitary Open House. I don’t have an accurate count of the number of people attending this event. Notable attendees were new County Commissioner Gary Williams, Commissioner Jay Bozevich, State Senator James Manning and his lovely wife Lawanda, 5 folks from Lane Electric Coop including their General Manager Matt Michel. The sign that was built and donated by Sutherlin High School CTE program was revealed, “Thank You’s” were expressed and many tours were given. It’s exciting for me to see the excitement in others build as we explain our mission while touring the Camp. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Run. I was not able to attend this event as I was out of town with family. However, based on preliminary reports, the event was a success. Many riders attended (I will try to get a count for next week’s Sit Rep) and participated in tours of the Camp. I saw a couple of photos showing many motorcycles in the front parking lot of the Camp. The t-shirts we had printed for the event have an error, wrong date, but are very good-looking t-shirts. They are black (very slimming) with the Veterans Legacy logo on the left chest and the event logo on the back. They are available for sale. See the paragraph below. Combat Veterans Poker Run. John Hampton and I will be working this event this Saturday from 10 to 5. It will be another good opportunity to check out some really cool bikes. Consider attending and stopping by our booth. We need a pop-up tent/canopy if someone can loan us one. I wonder what it would cost to have one printed up with the Veterans Legacy Logo displayed boldly on it???? John and I will be handing out brochures and selling tee-shirts and sweatshirts and decals. T’s are $20, Sweatshirts are $30 and Decals are $10. We have a lot of merchandise to move so please talk this up with your friends, family and co-workers. Up-coming Events August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark.
2017 7/30
Veterans Legacy Board Meeting. We had a productive Board meeting Thursday evening. The venue was changed to the Northwest Community Credit Union’s board room. Items of discussion included Foundation Planning & Development, Member Benefits, the Poker Run and Rebel Rally Rodeo. Donors & Dignitary Open House. The sign that was built and donated by Sutherlin High School CTE program is fully installed and ready to be revealed. See attached photo. The reveal will occur Wednesday, August 9 at 4:00 pm. Gates will open at 3:30 on Wednesday, with recognition of donors and dignitaries when the sign is revealed at 4:00. We’ll hold tours of the camp until 5:00 (later if there is a large turnout). Camp Work Party To make the camp as presentable as possible, we will host a work party Sunday, August 6 from 2:00 until 5:00. An announcement has been posted on Facebook. Mowing, weeding, and power washing will be the focus. I’ll bring my power washer but we could use another one with hoses to reach the courtyard from the faucet east of the drying room. I’d also like to spruce of the gravel areas with a small towable grader. Up-coming Events August 6, 2017 – Camp Alma Work Party, 2:00 to 5:00 August 9, 2017 – Donors & Dignitaries Open House / Sign Reveal at Camp Alma, 4:00 August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark
2017 7/23
Camp Alma Sign Installed. The sign that was built and donated by Sutherlin High School CTE program is fully installed and ready to be revealed. See attached photo. The reveal will occur Wednesday, August 9 at 4:00 pm. I know many work at that day/time but we want it revealed prior to the Poker Run on the 12. Gates will open at 3:30 on Wednesday, with recognition of donors and dignitaries when the sign is revealed at 4:00. We’ll hold tours of the camp until 5:00 (later if there is a large turnout). Camp Work Party To make the camp as presentable as possible, we will host a work party Sunday, August 6 from 2:00 until 5:00. An announcement has been posted on Facebook. Mowing, weeding, and power washing will be the focus. I’ll bring my power washer but we could use another one with hoses to reach the courtyard from the faucet east of the drying room. I’d also like to spruce of the gravel areas with a small towable grader. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride The Flyers for this event have been printed and the tee-shirts have been ordered. I have four of the six volunteers I’d like to have out at Camp Alma. I’m looking for 2 more. We need volunteers to work this event. Several of the regulars are not available to work this event Please email me at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org if you would like to help out. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Up-coming Events August 3, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall August 6, 2017 – Camp Alma Work Party, 2:00 to 5:00 August 9, 2017 – Donors & Dignitaries Open House / Sign Reveal at Camp Alma, 4:00 August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark
2017 7/16
Surplus Items Donated A local government agency has donated three nice oak tables to Camp Alma. Several volunteers, including John LeBow, Kevin Bourgault, Max Boshaw, Brian Boshaw (both from Nashville, TN visiting John) and Jack Hilsendager hauled the tables out to the Camp and placed them in the dining hall. Look for photos to be posted soon on Facebook. We also were contacted by a local Vietnam Veteran who is donating a rototiller and a lawnmower to the Camp. We now have enough for a work party of just tilling or mowing. Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers (Repeat from Last Week) PLEASE LET JOHN LEBOW KNOW IF YOU WILL BE ATTENDING. 541-357-2557. If you were at the Board meeting on June 29, you will recall that Dr. LeBow proposed a Team Building Day at the organic Draft Horse farm near Cottage Grove called Ruby & Ambers. The proposed day is Saturday, September 23. We need to RSVP as soon as possible. Board Members, please call, email or text Dr. LeBow ASAP as to your requested attendance on Saturday, September 23. It will be an all-day event with much fun and learning. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride The Flyers for this event have been printed. John Hampton will be distributing this week. The tee- shirts are not far behind. I have four of the six volunteers I’d like to have out at Camp Alma. I’m looking for 2 more. We need volunteers to work this event. Several of the regulars are not available to work this event. I’d like six (6) volunteers to lead tours at Camp Alma and will train them. Please email me at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org if you would like to help out. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Up-coming Events August 3, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark
2017 7/9
Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers ONLY ONE BOARD MEMBER HAS RESPONDED. PLEASE LET JOHN LEBOW KNOW IF YOU WILL BE ATTENDING. 541-357-2557. If you were at the Board meeting on June 29, you will recall that Dr. LeBow proposed a Team Building Day at the organic Draft Horse farm near Cottage Grove called Ruby & Ambers. The proposed day is Saturday, September 23. We need to RSVP as soon as possible. Board Members, please call, email or text Dr. LeBow ASAP as to your requested attendance on Saturday, September 23. It will be an all-day event with much fun and learning. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride I have two of the six volunteers I’d like to have out at Camp Alma. I’m looking for 4 more. We need volunteers to work this event. Several of the regulars are not available to work this event. I’d like six (6) volunteers to lead tours at Camp Alma and will train them. Please email me at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org if you would like to help out. John Hampton is meeting with the organizing committee on Saturday, July 22 to confirm all of the details. I’m wrapping up the tee-shirt order and flyers this week. Beyond the Formation I met last week with Anne Harper, Ph.D., Executive Director of Beyond the Formation. Her nonprofit works with Vets to build projects that teach vets vocational skills and helps out other vets. Their current project is building a motorcycle that will be donated to a vet. We started to explore ways our two programs could help each other out. Some of our future clients may want to feed into their program when they’re finished at Camp Alma. Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Up-coming Events August 3, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark
2017 7/2
VA Clinic Meeting/Tour Dr. LeBow and I met with a couple of VA Mental Health folks on Thursday, July 6 and received a nice tour of their fantastic new facility on Chad Drive. The intent of the meeting was to learn more about the VA’s programs to help inform our decisions regarding the development of our own program(s). We learned that the VA has many programs and explicit rules. We’re not sure how we can integrate at this point or what the advantage might be if we could. Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers If you were at the Board meeting on June 29, you will recall that Dr. LeBow proposed a Team Building Day at the organic Draft Horse farm near Cottage Grove called Ruby & Ambers. The proposed day is Saturday, September 23. We need to RSVP as soon as possible. Board Members, please call, email or text Dr. LeBow ASAP as to your requested attendance on Saturday, September 23. It will be an all-day event with much fun and learning. The Warriors Way Board Member, Kevin Bourgault invited George Amiotte to tour Camp Alma. Mr. Amiotte is U.S. Marine Corps 3 rd Recon Association Echo Company President. Mr. Amiotte assists veteran support groups to develop ways to provide meaningful services to veterans. He focus’ on alternative ways that promote balance and living in harmony with our environment, which he calls “The Warriors Way”. Mr. Amiotte also joined us for the first portion of the planning session to share his thoughts about Camp Alma and what opportunities he sees for us in the Camp and in our programs. It was a very interesting discussion. Successful Board Work Planning Session Members of the Board met Saturday to organize our thoughts around Mission, Needs, and Priorities. All Board and Core Team members received surveys regarding these issues and other things. If you haven’t already done so, please complete the form and return it to Kevin ASAP so he can include your thoughts and ideas in this work effort. I thought it was a great session and in the information developed from the forms and out of the work session will be instrumental in moving forward with funding opportunities. Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We need volunteers to work this event. Several of the regulars are not available to work this event. I’d like six (6) volunteers to lead tours at Camp Alma and will train them. Please email me at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org if you would like to help out Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride (Repeat from last Week) We are now registered for the CVMA poker ride on August 19. We’ve purchased a vendor table at the start of the ride, Latus Motors. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Rebel Rally Rodeo (Repeat from last week) We are registered for a booth at this event as well. We are looking for volunteers to work the booth, spreading the word about Veterans Legacy and selling tee-shirts, hoodies, and decals. If you would like to help, please email Mark at moberle@veteranslegacyoregon.org. Please specify which event you’re volunteering for. Up-coming Events August 3, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall August 12, 2017 - Veterans Legacy First Annual Poker Ride August 19, 2017 – Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association 29-2 Poker Ride August 25-27, 2017 – Rebel Rally Rodeo September 7, 2017 - Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall September 23, 2017 – Board Team Building Day at Ruby & Ambers Mark
Oct - Dec
2017 11/27
It’s been a busy 3 weeks and with Mark out of town I’ll try my hand at an update Sit Rep! Veteran’s Day Week: On November 10 th – 1. Mark Oberle addressed the Veteran’s Day luncheon put on by Lane Electric Coop (our Camp electric providers and staunch supporters of VL) for company employees and Vets. 2. John LeBow addressed the City Club of Eugene along with Joby Reilly, Lane County veteran Services Officer. This speech was rebroadcast on KLCC the following Monday. 3. Kevin Bourgault attended the dedication of the Women’s Veteran memorial in Springfield with many pictures of the event posted on our Facebook page. He was also interviewed by U of O student media. On November 11 th 1. John LeBow and Kevin Bourgault hosted a Mental Health Summit at the Business office. This was well attended by a number of mental health/substance abuse providers to begin to produce a paradigm for treatment concepts at Camp Alma 2. A meet and greet at Sam Bond’s on 8 th street was held in the evening. November 13 th /14 th was fundraising events at the Texas Road House – about $450 raised and we thank them for the opportunity. Fund Raising Rachel Brown has been hired to help pursue the recently posted VA Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) for Grant Per Diem beds. In essence, if we can procure accreditation, these would be revenue producing beds for Vets that need housing and will meet a goal of working with homeless Vets while providing needed treatment. Welcome Aboard Rachel! Camp Alma Happenings Mark Oberle has procured an estimate for winterization fixes for materials – slightly in excess of $10K. We think we can whittle this down by eliminating a couple of buildings. We’re still waiting on the labor estimate. Del Hardin, an active member of the core group, will be moving onsite to start providing Camp Host services. Del is a multi-talented Vietnam Vet who we believe will team up with Jack Hilsendager in a complimentary fashion to provide oversite at the Camp. Dan Buckwald and Kevin Bourgault have been busy at the Camp. In addition to giving numerous tours to various groups, including Mayor Sandra Larson of Veneta and her husband Larry, they transported the monster bench created and donated by Chuck Foster to the Camp. Best of all these two stealth Christmas Elves (that’s a concept!!!) set up all the stored away decorations and Camp Alma is ready for the Holidays!!! Great pics posted on Facebook! Thanks Guys!!!! A catch up welcome to our newest Board Member Richard Mast, general manager at Lithia Nissan and Army Veteran. Richard has been a big Veteran legacy supporter as is the dealership. A big thanks goes to him for joining the Board and providing his leadership and expertise. The donation of horse drawn equipment and horses fell through because of IRS issues. Upcoming Dates 12/7 Board of Directors 1800 at the Business Office 12/8 Michael Felts 1830 at the Business Office 12/9 Michael Felts 0830 at the Business Office
2017 10/22
Volunteers Needed. A major donation of equipment, harness, and an experienced team of Belgian draft horses has been made by Ian Gallacher of Scio. We are in need of some major volunteer help to assist with loading and transport of the items as it's a big list!!! John LeBow has several trucks/trailers lined up and we're planning on Saturday November 18th to get as much done as possible. Let us know your availability! Program Development. Board Secretary, Kevin Bourgault, is leading the effort on program development and has been very busy. This is a partial list of the things he’s been working on. - Conference call with Dan, Sen. Manning, and the Director of Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs - Drone footage of the camp - Amazon Smile Account - Facebook and website tinkering - Article for submission in Springfield "Free for all" monthly paper - A revisit of Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Fear. - Pending visit to US Rep Bonamici to discuss veterans education and integration. - Pending interview for Presidential Leadership Fellowship Program. - Submission to Higher Grounds Veteran Congressional Advocacy Program. - Tent/shelter pickup and delivery to camp with Dan. Camp Alma Doors & Door Hardware. We’ve received a bid for the doors and door hardware necessary to weatherize the egress points on the Camp Alma buildings. The $10,835 bid only includes materials. We will receive the labor portion from a contractor that specializes in commercial door/hardware installations. Given the size of the bid, we will most like only do some of the work, focusing on the Administration Building and the North Modular building. Because E&S Hardware supports Veterans Legacy and our Mission, they have agreed to sell the materials to us at their cost, which saves us a significant amount of money. They have also requested the contractor, who they work with a lot, grant us a special deal. Reworking Donor Page of Website. We have completed the work on the Donor Page. We’ve separated donors by year with the current year on top. The previous year is below and can be scrolled to. This solution should address the concern that a previous donor looking at the old screen can’t tell if they donated in the current year or not. We’ll only show two years so when 2018 arrives, we’ll drop 2016. Up-coming Events November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 10, 2017 – President LeBow’s speech to Eugene City Club November 10, 2017 – Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser November 18 – Draft Horse / Equipment Transfer – Volunteers needed. Mark
2017 10/08
McKenzie Roofing. On Wednesday I went out to the Camp Steve of McKenzie Roofing. We focused on the big dorm as it has the worst leaks. Steve’s evaluation of the roofing material is that it’s not in bad shape and could last for several more years. His biggest concern regarding leaks is the flashing around vents and HVAC units. Because the pitch is so shallow, extra care should have been taken with the flashing when originally installed. Most of it will have to be redone. The other issues he noticed is that some of the courses got offset incorrectly in that the butt joint of one row of shingles is too close to the keyway of the lower course. Given the shallow pitch, this allows rain to wick up under a row of shingles and find a butt joint to penetrate the roofing. This may or may not be contributing to the leaks. Steve is recommending we redo the flashing first, then see if there are any other leaks. The solution to the offset courses in re-roofing and we want to avoid that if possible. Steve is putting a bid together and contacting suppliers for donated materials. Reworking Donor Page of Website. We are working on a modification to the Donor Page. We will be separating donors by year with the current year on top. The previous year will be below and can be scrolled to. This solution should address the concern that a previous donor looking at the current screen can’t tell if they donated in the current year or not. If we only showed the current year, donors at the beginning of the year will get the impression that no one is donating to Veterans Legacy and this could discourage their donation. We’ll only show two years so when 2018 arrives, we’ll drop 2016. Up-coming Events October 25-27, 2017 – Meeting with Felts Consulting November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 10, 2017 – Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Mark
2017 10/01
Board of Directors Meeting. Veterans Legacy’s Board of Directors held their monthly Board Meeting on Thursday evening. Among other business, Board Member Kevin Bourgault was elected to fill the Board Secretary position and a Veterans Preference hiring policy was approved. Some other topics of discussion include Bylaws amendments and an IPM policy. Draft Board Minutes are attached for more information regarding the Board Meeting. E&S Hardware. Tony Westover of E&S Hardware visited Camp Alma on Thursday to inspect all of the doors, including thresholds and weather stripping. He will make recommendations on what is necessary to make the buildings more weather tight and less prone to rodent invasion. Comfort Flow Work Party. On Saturday about a dozen Comfort Flow Heating employees volunteered their time to install necessary parts into the HVAC systems for each building. After the new parts were installed, they tested each unit and set thermostats. Additional problems with the unit over the kitchen was discovered and they will be trying to secure a donation of the necessary parts to get that unit up and running. On behalf of the Board, I’d like to extend a HUGE “Thank you” to these amazing volunteers. Up-coming Events October 14, 2017 – Meeting with Felts Consulting November 2, 2017 – Veterans Legacy Board meeting, 6:00 at the Union Hall November 10, 2017 – Lane Electric Coop Veterans Dinner November 11, 2017 – Veterans Day November 13 & 14 – Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Mark
2018
Jan - Mar
No Sit-rep
Apr - Jun
2018 4/22
Building the relationships that are the so necessary in order to have the Veteran/community support that Veterans Legacy requires is an ongoing endeavor. Two recent meetings this past week are an example. Vice-President Capt. Dan Buckwald met with the VFW Post 3232 members in Florence last Monday, 4/16/18. By all accounts it was a very productive meeting as Dan explained our mission and the needs of Camp Alma. Veterans Legacy has always wanted to identify a focal point on the Coast to reach out to Veterans in this area and it appears that goal is completed. In addition, the members decided to “pass the hat” and just a little over $700 was raised!!! Thanks to all the VFW 3232 Vets – we look forward to getting y’all out to Camp Alma soon! Dan Buckwald and John LeBow hosted a tour of Camp Alma on 4/21/18 for representatives from VFW Post in Creswell. After the tour, there was an in depth question and answer period covering a wide range of topics while sitting on the picnic tables in the courtyard on a gorgeous, warm, sunny day. A new goal that was identified is to get representation on the speaker’s agenda at the upcoming State VFW meeting in June. All visitors got a dozen fresh free-range chicken eggs as a thank you! President LeBow was notified this past week that Veterans Legacy was selected for grant funding of $1500 from the Community 101 class at North Douglas High School. This program is a project of the Meyer Memorial Trust. In essence, the Community 101 class is allotted $5000 to distribute through a grant application process after the students have extensively investigated each applicant and decided on their preferences. VL’s grant intent was to help continue the greenhouse rehabilitation. Dr. LeBow will be accepting the funds at an awards presentation in May. Thank you Community 101!!! The Board of Directors has been intensively working on upgrading a number of needs as Veterans Legacy moves forward. All new business cards, letterhead, and brochures are being designed to better serve our administrative needs. The website is scheduled to be redesigned. Additionally, the process of generating a 3-D architectural rendering of the development sequence of new buildings that would come on line in the future is progressing. Given the weather break, a Call to Action Work Day for April 28, 2018 is planned!!!! Three primary goals: A.) Greenhouse/general clean up B.) Kitchen clean up C.) Large Dorm clean up. Bring your gloves, hats, etc. and we’ll continue the rehab process to get Camp Alma to functional status. Upcoming Dates of Note: Call to Action Work Day – April 28, 2018 May 18th/19th – Veterans Legacy will have a booth at the Rebel Rally Poker run at 3 Rivers Casino August 4th – 2nd annual Veterans Legacy Poker Run
2018 5/23
The activity for Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma over the last few weeks has been extraordinary. As this momentum is broad ranging, a few highlights in each will give you an idea of the good things happening!! Construction/Refurbishment Shout Outs Dave Mork and Jeff Hill from Local 271 of the Carpenters union completely rebuilt the headers/frame of the large window in the dining room – a major project that required 2 weekends and about 20 hours of volunteer time between them! Cam Wells spent a Saturday in the greenhouse getting the electricity re-established Phil DeVore, John Hampton and crew continue to upgrade the greenhouse frame in preparation for “skinning”, which should be in the near future. Large dormitory refitting continues. A big thank you to Discount Windows for donating #9 5’x3’ windows to replace the slit windows that are left over from Forest Inmate Camp days. Major cleanup in the Administration Building – break room, heads, and kitchen continues. Thanks to Dee Boshaw for her efforts and coordination of volunteers to get the sanitation moving towards hospital standards. Donors Several donations have come in of note. Remember, all donations are doubled in value thanks to the matching grant program from the Marlene Johnson Trust. VFW Auxiliary Post 3473 - $2,000 Rebel Rally Motorcycle Association - $5,000 Community 101 Grant – North Douglas High School - $1,500 Communications Upgrade Thanks to BOD member Clarence Williams for ramrodding upgrades on business cards, letterhead stationary and soon-to-come website reconfiguration. This certainly allows all VL representatives to put our best before the public! Relationship Building The more working relationships we can develop the better Veterans Legacy can provide support for our Vets. Numerous contacts have occurred recently: Dan Buckwald/John LeBow/Bud Fitzgerald meeting with Veterans Court Judge Rooke-Ley and her assistant Danielle Hanson regarding helping Vets in the Court system and referrals to Camp Alma Dan Buckwald/John LeBow with meeting with FUSE(Frequent User System Engagement) members trying to identify coordinating resources for homeless/frequent incarceration/hospitalization Vets who might be candidates for Camp Alma John LeBow meeting with Susan Dey/Jon Smith from Willamette Family treatment Center to possibly coordinate referrals, especially from Buckley House detox. Center. Dan Buckwald with meet and greet with Bring Recycling (we now have $3000 of store credit for construction supplies!), Habitat for Humanity, etc. John LeBow/Dan Buckwald meeting with Michael Johnson establishing coordination with the Umpqua Valley Chapter 805 of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Upcoming Dates: August 4, 2018 – 2nd Annual Veterans Legacy Poker Ride
July - Sept
2018 7/4
Time has gotten away from me since the last Sit Rep in April – my apologies! The only excuse I have is a good one – Veterans Legacy has been very busy and there is very good news to report on multiple fronts! A major development occurred June 15 with Vice-President Dan Buckwald’s retirement after 29 years with the Lane County Sheriff’s Department. All of us at Veterans Legacy congratulate him on a sterling career in law enforcement and a job well done!! That’s great news but the better news is he is now devoting himself full time to working for Veterans Legacy. His many connections in the community at a variety of levels have already resulted in new relationships, e.g. Home Depot, Bring Recycling, etc., that benefit VL. Thanks Dan – we look forward to your leadership expertise on a daily basis! Speaking of connections, Dan, Clarence Williams, and I met with Michael Thomas in early June. Michael is the University of Oregon Coordinator for Student Veterans. This is a link that we’ve tried for a long time to open up in some fashion and he represents the connection. There are about 400 student Vets at U of O and with the fall semester we will be meeting to put out the word to this group of Vets. Board Member Clarence Williams arranged for local architect Doug Murkley to meet with the BOD. This was a very lively discussion looking at future development of the Camp Alma property, i.e. putting dreams to paper. Although seeming premature when we’re not even in operation yet, it’s always possible that a donor may want to support a specific project/need and if options are not clearly identified and drawn up we might miss a major opportunity to advance Camp Alma development. Thanks to Doug for getting the ball rolling! A wonderful synchrony in the architecture category. A friend of Dan’s suggested putting a notice on the University of Oregon student chat room bulletin board. I submitted a request for volunteers for landscape architecture as there are numerous needs in this area. Rebecca Cruze, a 3rd year landscape architecture student answered the call and has thoroughly embraced the VL vision and is enthralled with the property potentials. In fact, she already has clearance to use her development of the Camp Alma property as her thesis for graduation. Her first task is developing what we call the Ceremonial Plaza in front of the Administration Building. This will be formal area for all forms of awards and ceremonies along with flag presentation. She has already met with Doug and by all reports they have coordinated their endeavors very quickly! Thanks for believing in us Rebecca! Dan Buckwald, Clarence Williams and myself met with Alison Perry, CEO of Central Oregon Veterans Ranch located in Redmond. Their goal is different than ours, specifically end of life care for Veterans in an agricultural setting. There is community farming with Vets coming to the ranch from the surrounding area. Good discussion and we’ll keep the communication going. The U of O connection has another twist as well. Through our Camp Host Del Hardin, I was introduced to Tim Carroll, a facilities management supervisor. Long story short the topic came up of our need for captain beds for our Vets. He helped me get all of the proper documentation of 501C3 status to the appropriate personnel, which was approved very quickly. Suffice it to say, we now have an option on all the beds we need for a full census of 50 and more if we need them. This is a huge savings to VL. I’ve helped move one to the Camp and they are beautiful maple beds – amazingly heavy. We’ll be planning a Move the Beds from the Dorm Day in July and will need lots of strong individuals to expedite this – dates will be posted as soon as they are available. We are also looking at other donations from U of O – this is a wonderful synergy! Continued clean up at the Camp has been ongoing but this culminated on 6/23 when we had about 30 volunteers show up and ultimately we logged over 125 hours of volunteer time getting everything mowed, weeded, etc. in preparation for Dignitaries Day. It was extremely successful and allowed us to put our best foot forward on Dignitary Day, 6/28. Thanks to Clarence Williams for providing the barbecue expertise although Dan will be quick to point out it was his barbecue and perhaps that should be taken into account – LOL! The BOD had planned a Dignitary Day to try and collect many stakeholders in the community together for a tour and meeting at Camp Alma. We were quite fortunate to have Senator James Manning, Sheriff Byron Trapp, Commissioners Pat Farr and Jay Bozeivich, along with representatives from Trillium, Parole and Probation, etc. all in attendance. It was a marvelous morning for a tour, a continental breakfast and table decorations arranged by Dee Boshaw with Jonni Gratton providing logistics support, followed by presentations from members of the BOD with discussion. All agreed a very productive endeavor and opened many possibilities for funding and relationships with other area entities dealing with homeless Vets. Amber Wilmarth with KEZI did a wonderful job of documenting the occasion which was on the news that night! Tom Adams with KVAL visited Camp Alma for an update since he last saw this a year ago and, as always, did a great job – his segment aired 6/21. Both of these are available on the FB page. All for now! Respectfully submitted, John LeBow, President Board of Directors Veterans Legacy
2018 8/15
July was another remarkable month for Veterans Legacy! Many events occurred that continue to create momentum for VL. Let’s get to the list! Dr. John LeBow, President of the BOD, was asked by Trillium (handles the Medicaid program in Lane County) to speak at an outreach event for Oregon Governor Kate Brown on July 10th, 2018. He did complete that task but be assured her Chief of Staff was given a detailed description of the Veterans Legacy Project and he was able to convey further information while participating in a hand shake – photos to be posted soon. Suffice it to say, she’s now heard of us!!!! Vice-President Dan Buckwald has procured many more needed items for Camp Alma – the most recent were a flag pole (check out FB), an 8 burner stove top and a used commercial dish washer amongst others! The kitchen is now looking like it could take on an army in the near future! Can’t wait to get the flag pole installed – we need our flag flying proudly!!! I mentioned in the last SitRep that University of Oregon had given us captain’s beds (bed with 3 drawers underneath). As always, you have to be careful what you ask for – LOL. Anyway, it was a logistical challenge to move 55 beds from Barnhart Hall on Patterson to the Camp. On Sunday, 7/22, the project began early in the morning. Thanks to some unbelievable feats of strength and stamina, they were moved from the dorm to the staging area. They were then loaded on to a semi with flatbed trailer (thanks to Mark Meyer of Meyer Cattle Company for the rig) by Dan Schmunk (Schmunk’s Tire Center in Springfield) operating the fork lift. Thanks to Dan as well. Amazingly, it all came together and the load was then transported to Camp Alma and unloaded on the sidewalks. Then last weekend all beds were stowed in a modular until needed as we build up the census over time. Special thanks to Renard Wiseman, Mackie Knight, John Talley, and T.J. Talley who were definitely the workhorses. Melissa Wiseman kept them all organized and thanks to her for a great breakfast last weekend! The work weekend last weekend also continued to restore the #1 greenhouse and all that’s left is to “skin” it! Need the right temperature combination to do this effectively but very soon we’ll complete this project! We have added two new BOD members. Jane Hart, recently retired from the Oregon State Developmental Disabilities office and Bud Fitzgerald, retired federal prosecuting attorney and West Point graduate and Army veteran. Thanks to you both for lending your enthusiasm and expertise! On July 21st, Dr. LeBow attended a PTSD symposium put on by the Sticka Foundation. Many excellent lectures presented. Dr. LeBow and Jason Coutts of Service Support Dogs – he will provide our Vets with the opportunity to train their own service dog at Camp Alma- presented on using horses and dogs in therapy. The second annual Veterans Legacy Poker Run was held on August 4th. Great day for a ride – there were about 50 bikes and 80 participants. Great food at the American Legion Post 83 on River Road. A monster thank you to John Hampton for ramrodding this event – it’s getting bigger and better every year!!! All for Now!! Keep spreading the word about Veterans Legacy – seems like for all the media attention good old word of mouth is the best! Respectfully Submitted, John LeBow, President Board of Directors Veterans Legacy Upcoming Dates: November 9, 2018 – Formal Camp Alma Dedication
Oct - Dec
No Sit-rep
2019
Jan - Mar
Even though it’s been a short while since the New Year’s Sit-Rep, many things are happening and I didn’t want to get too far behind! There are some major strategic changes I’m very excited to inform you about so let’s get after it! If you haven’t checked lately, we have a new website format up and running that I think you’ll find a major upgrade over the previous version. We hope it will increase the amount of information available and in a much more engaging and colorful fashion! There is still more “building” to do so check it out periodically! A major blessing has come our way! Rick Summers (and wife Linda), contacted us to see what VL was all about. Rick is a former Navy Seal with multiple deployments in Vietnam. Other life endeavors include law enforcement, a Masters degree in Mental Health Treatment, and best of all he is a licensed contractor with a wealth of experience in construction. Suffice it to say, the BOD was quick to see the advantages of having him as the Camp Alma host. He, Linda, and dogs Snoopy and Toby are now onsite and there is a whole lot of projects getting started. We thank them for their willingness to come and be a part of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. There have been some big changes generated at the BOD level that will have positive, direct, implications on an immediate basis for VL. The practical logistical changes that occurred at the Board were two fold. The Board voted to hire Dr. Kevin Bourgault as Development Director. Some of you may remember that Kevin was previously on the BOD. By accepting the Development Director position, he becomes Veterans Legacy’s first paid employee – a milestone of note. His duties will primarily involve fund raising via grant applications as well as assessing other potential funding streams. Organizing the volunteer effort will be high on his list of goals as well. He’s already in high gear on multiple fronts. Welcome back Kevin! With a lot of discussion, the BOD decided, and with his acquiescence, that Dan Buckwald should step down from the Board to become Executive Director. We believe that this will allow him more flexibility in pursuing the relationships that are so important to build in the community while still having major input on policy and procedures at the Board level. Thanks Dan for your continued commitment! A truly remarkable event happened at the Veteran’s Memorial on Friday February 15, 2019. Kevin Bourgault arranged for Veterans Legacy to host a “Living with PTSD” symposium that featured four very courageous women – Cheryl Bourgault, Annie Foster, Liz Sharpe, and Stacey Vasquez. They each told the audience how their husband’s PTSD affected them and their families, a decidedly different viewpoint from what the public is usually exposed to. It was an emotional and learning evening for all who attended. Veterans Legacy is so grateful for their participation and word is we may do this again in the future. Lastly, an epiphany occurred. At a day-long meeting at Camp Alma on January 12, 2019, the BOD was struggling with designing the therapeutic curriculum and most of all financing the necessary personnel needed while still remaining sustainable. Dr. Bourgault, who was leading the retreat, asked if perhaps the Board was letting the Perfect get in the way of the Good. The crux of the matter is that at present there is somewhere between 200-300 homeless Vets in Lane County. Wouldn’t it be better to start by housing 4-5 guys that need a hand up rather than waiting to have all the therapeutic pieces perfectly aligned? The answer was a resounding YES! Our goal is to get organized, identify 4-5 individuals and assess their potential to live at the Camp with minimal oversite, with a start date in April. The positives are numerous but the best is that we can start taking care of Vets even at this basic level!! It’s difficult to describe the excitement and energy this change of tack has generated, but I can tell you personally I’m thrilled to shift gears! It’s what we’re here for and finally we can start!!! Stay tuned!! John LeBow, President – Board of Directors of Veterans Legacy
Apr - Jun
The spring has been very busy since the last Sit-Rep in February. Program development and continued campus refurbishment are the main activity centers. Executive Director Dan Buckwald and Development Director Kevin Bourgault have been synchronously moving Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma forward toward preparedness to accept our first contingent of Vets. Speaking of Dan’s activity, he’s been giving numerous tours of the Camp to various groups all coming away with a better understanding of the mission and needs. Best of all, they all are impressed and enthusiastic in supporting the effort in a variety of ways. Loew’s, Home Depot, Wildish Construction just to name a few of our in kind donors. We want to recognize other financial support from Emerald Square Dance, Impact Club of Eugene, and Eugene Downtown Lions Club. A special contribution came from Parole and Probation Class #79 donations which purchased 5 goats graciously provided by Marta Prato and Randy Myer. They are a fun and practical addition to our agricultural endeavors and are blackberry eradicators supreme! Two other agricultural pluses. We were able to purchase a much needed tractor which will become even more versatile when the front end loader becomes available. Kevin has already used the tractor in full battle with the Scotch Broom and has won the first few skirmishes!! There had been a lot of talk regarding building a chicken tractor (mobile chicken coop with nesting boxes allowing free range feeding in a protected scenario – great for the land and great for the chickens) – Dan, along with Rick Summers and assorted volunteers constructed a gorgeous unit on the hay wagon chassis that was available. Pictures of John Deere and Chicken tractor coming soon!! Borrowing Dan Swanson’s big tractor and rotary hoe, Dan got everything in the garden and beds tilled up and ready to plant. Kevin has pruned all the fruit trees as well. We have moved enough beds/wardrobe closets, donated by the University of Oregon, into the large dorm to outfit one room. It looked great. Then we pressured up the water system and met with disaster as there were several leaks which did some damage to the ceiling - We all learned something from Rick Summers Navy vocabulary @#$%!!– LOL! Better now than when the carpeting, etc. is in place. A big shout out to Clay DeForge (Navy) for keeping our piano tuned!! Terry Riley and Dee Boshaw have the medical room organized and supplies stored. John Leaton, who previously worked for Lane County at the Camp, has gotten the dish washer and both clothes washers functioning and within one part of having the dryers going as well. Thank you John!! A big work weekend on May 4th! Roofing crews got all of the roof removed on the west side of the big dorm and ready to paper then roll out roofing. The large HVAC shrouds are in place, custom made by Johnson Air Products out of Portland and ready for HVAC installation which Comfort Flow will be lending their expertise. Thanks to both of these companies for their generous in kind donations!!! A major metal clean up at numerous sites has noticeably tidied up the place – thanks to Kevin Bourgault for leading that effort. Lastly, the chicken tractor got completely primed and ready for finish paint job. Pam Buckwald, Jane Hart, her grandson, and many others all contributed. At present, it’s battleship gray but soon it will be barn red according to Dan Buckwald’s color scheme. There’s many other items too numerous to mention that keep the momentum going forward. I do want to mention two dates to keep in mind. On Thursday August 29, 2019 it will be Veterans Legacy Night at the Eugene Emeralds. We’ve reserved the third base picnic grounds and can squeeze 130-160 in. $40/ticket gets you dinner, 2 drinks, Veterans Legacy T-Shirt, and admission to the game. More information will be coming on Facebook/website – would really like to have this sold out and get VL some recognition at a different venue!! By the way, Military night at the Emeralds is August 16th, VL will the calendar. November 9, 2019 at the Wheeler Pavilion -Lane Events Center, Veterans Legacy will be presenting “Juke Box Memories”. Bring your dancin’ shoes/boots as Jivin’ Johnny Etheredge from KRVM will bring back the music of the honky tonks of the ‘40’s, 50’s, and 60’s for your listening and dancing pleasure. There will be food, adult beverages, silent auction, and more to raise the funds to make the dream come true!!! More info coming soon!! All for Now!! John LeBow President, Board of Directors Veterans Legacy
July - Sept
I thought I’d get a mid-summer Sit-Rep out. As usual, there are many things that have happened at Camp Alma that will be of interest. The needed items to be completed to get ready for housing Veterans continues to get shorter. A shout out to many of our supporters – Home Depot has been a major contributor of building supplies that we are able to utilize under the guidance of Rick Summers. Through some large tile donations, we have been able to transform some derelict areas into sparkling clean refurbishments. If you’ll delve into FaceBook/VL website, you’ll see the transition of the two rotted out walk in freezers that are now a beautiful tiled area with the floor to follow in short order. We can now put our walk in freezer/refrigerator here and free up more space in the kitchen. Thanks to Dan Buckwald, Rick Summers, Max Boshaw, and Brandon Furlong for all of their help in changing this in to an amazing space. Further tile work will be coming in the laundry building as time permits. As planned, the west side of the Big Dorm had initial roofing applied. A large donation of roofing from the Union in Portland was made and apprentice roofers will roof the entire building in the near future. We are sequenced to have Johnson Air Products of Portland provide the HVAC units we’ve needed to make the Big Dorm functional in concert with Comfort Flow to install the units to hopefully occur in mid-August. We can’t thank these companies enough for their kind support which amounts to many thousands of dollars of time and equipment. With the Big Dorm entirely functional and cubicles assembled we calculate that we can ultimately house 20-23 Veterans! The other big news at the Big Dorm is that Dan, Rick, and various volunteers have replaced all of the correctional windows with donated 4x6 sliding glass units. As expected, the increased light is simply amazing and a major improvement in livability as well as therapeutically! We were disappointed that major funding from Trillium Innovation Fund grant did not materialize. That said, Pape’ foundation awarded VL a $10,000 grant – giving us enough funding to replace the fire suppression hood in the kitchen – thank you to Harvey and Price for working with us on the installation costs! The remainder of the funding was utilized in the refurbishment of the freezer noted above. Remax Foundation awarded us $7,500 which will be used to finish up Big Dorm projects, e.g. new water heaters, etc. There have been many other gifts/donations too numerous to mention! Thank you all!!! On Saturday August 3, 2019 the Third Annual Veterans Legacy Poker Ride was enjoyed by about 50 riders. We even had visitors from Vancouver, WA and San Francisco. Great day for the event. Major shout out to John Hampton who was in charge of the event and also congratulations to him on becoming Commander of Post 83 American Legion. Thanks to our sponsors – Willamette Valley Harley Davidson and West 11th Motorcycle! A FAQ - when will we actually begin housing homeless Vets? The simple answer is that until we can complete refurbishments to the degree that credentials from the County Health Dept., State Fire Marshall, Dept. of Environmental Quality, etc. can be obtained we cannot legally house anyone. The good news is that we’ve progressed enough that we’re currently assembling a final punch list of those items that are mandatory to get ready for inspections. Of course, over and above the certifications, we still need to assure enough financial support to open with good confidence that we can sustain our initial group of 5 homeless Veterans for several months. Fund raising never ceases! A few dates coming up that are of interest: Veterans Legacy night at the Ems is scheduled for 8/29/2019. We’ve got the 3rd base picnic area! For $40 a ticket you get a VL T-shirt, 2 drinks, dinner and the ball game. Starts at 5:30 with game time of 7:10. VL sponsored a Kids Sports baseball team this year – they came in 2nd in their league!! A great group of 10 year olds. Even if you can’t come to the game if you can buy a ticket or two to help bring them to the ball game it would be much appreciated. We’ll need about 15 for the team and coaches. We’re planning a tractor rodeo probably the weekend of 9/28 – Oregon has a bye that weekend. What this would entail is if you own a tractor and brush hog mower and can transport it to Camp Alma we would assemble that Saturday morning and start mowing. Would like to have at least 6-8 tractors going. We’d plan on cooking out and staying the night if we don’t get done and finish on Sunday. Camp Alma hasn’t been completely mowed for years. Lastly, the “Jukebox Memories” event tentatively scheduled for November 9, 2019 has been cancelled and pushed back to March of next year – needed more time for planning but it’s gonna be a fun time!!! Respectfully, John LeBow President, Board of Directors Veterans Legacy
Oct - Dec
Pondering the progress made in 2018 for Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma is indeed amazing and humbling. In essence, this Sit-Rep is a compilation of highlight accomplishments and admittedly reviewing these is a task that is gratifying! The matching grant from the estate of Marlene Johnsen, under the auspices of Patricia Taylor, executor, was a God send. This allowed the refurbishment of Camp Alma to shift into high gear. Coupled with many other donations too numerous to list, we currently are on the cusp of an acceptable living space for our Vets and staff when the gates open. All major kitchen appliances are in place, fire extinguishers all replaced along with sprinkler system reactivated, all buildings are cleaned up to functional status, the flag circle was completed at the entrance, mowing of fields completed. Roof renovation on the administration building was completed, but getting the other buildings up to par didn’t happen as planned – it’s on the agenda. The first rehabbed green house was completed. Major equipment acquisitions including a 14 passenger van, etc. occurred. We had unbelievable donations of furniture from University of Oregon (dorm room furniture/piano) and partitions for the cubicles from Symantec/Bring Recycling. The large dorm was the focus of a major makeover. As the only stick-built building on the campus, rehabilitation efforts were aimed at getting this to fully functional status. The short list would include complete replacement of all water damaged ceilings and cross members, removal/replacement of drywall to allow extensive upgrade of electric outlets/fluorescent light replacement, all rooms painted, textured, cleaned to be ready for bunk/cubicle assembly in the near future. Two major events were held at the Camp. A Dignitary Day in June invited many stakeholders at the State, County, and city levels including law enforcement representatives, insurance personnel, therapy providers, and social outreach contacts to acquaint them with the Camp Alma campus. Undeniably, the most significant event was the Transfer of Command/Camp Alma Dedication that happened on November 9, 2018. Of course, this celebrated the deed transfer of the Camp Alma property to Veterans Legacy from Lane County – a huge step forward in our evolution. My daughter is an assistant director of a Community Foundation in Charlevoix County in Northern Michigan helping to administer an endowment of $35 million and has been doing this for ten years. When I start whining that we’re still not ready to begin serving our Vets, I get the long drawn out “Well Dad……” response, which means I’m totally out of bounds at some level. In her world, the average nonprofit takes 5 years to get to fruition – we will have had control of Camp Alma for 2 years in February and Veterans Legacy has been in existence 3 years in March. A lot of progress has been made but there’s more heavy lifting ahead and the momentum needs to accelerate!! Average is not acceptable!! In a nut shell, big time fund raising needs to happen to assure implementation and sustainability of the therapeutic treatment paradigm we have planned for our Vets. Grant writing, leveraging funding with community partners, and plain old grass roots membership financial input are the keys to success. Building the relationships that will interact going forward is imperative. The Board of Directors would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our generous supporters a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!! Let’s make this the year the dream becomes reality!!! John LeBow, President Board of Directors – Veterans Legacy
2020
Jan - Mar
Happy New Year going into Spring! My New Year’s resolution was to make sure a Sit-Rep update occurred quarterly so here it goes!! I hope that all of our Veterans Legacy family had rewarding and enjoyable Holidays. The progress at Camp Alma through the Holidays and into the New Year continues to be phenomenal thanks to Executive Director Dan Buckwald’s leadership and efforts.
It’s hard to believe that January of this year marks five years since the wonderful folks at Food for Lane County pointed me toward the decommissioned Forest Inmate Camp that we now call Camp Alma. As is often said, “The rest is history.” Speaking of history, our website coordinator, Jonni Gratton, asked me to put together a story on the timeline of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. This is now included on our totally redesigned website, which is now live as you read our latest report. I think you’ll find this to be a major upgrade and will allow much more opportunity for communication as to the goings on at Camp Alma and Veterans Legacy. A few quick shout outs: Lane Electric Coop for again providing drone footage of the Camp; Lea Jones for his editing of the footage, voice over, and original music; Brent Balloch for web design, and Jonni Gratton for the interviews of important persons and groups that have added so much to the Camp Alma culture.
A huge thank you to Chambers Construction who provided a five-man apprentice construction crew under the guidance of Mark Harrington for almost two weeks in December. All of the rotted siding on the Big Dorm and select areas on other buildings was replaced, the drop ceiling in the refrigerator/freezer space in the kitchen completed, and various other punch list items were knocked out. This put our refurbishment agenda far ahead of anticipated status. To say the least, Dan has been a busy guy! He has managed to ramrod getting the kitchen done and I want to say, this is one classy finished product. I’m sure you’ve seen some pictures on Facebook, but you really need to see this in person. For those of us who saw the disaster that we took over compared to the current status, it’s beyond comprehension. Can’t wait to see lots of folks working together to produce food for the Camp and our community. The other refurbishments include the Big Dorm and Laundry room. All of the floors in the Big Dorm are completely painted, cubicles set up, and mattresses in place ready for our first Vets. The laundry room showers and main room have been completely tiled and new shower spaces are functional. The commercial clothes washer/dryers are now fully functional as well. The other structural change in process is that we’ve moved the Conex storage units that were next to the shop. One is by the garden for storage in that area. The other two have been moved to the southwest part of the parking area to eventually become part of the Camp Alma Fire House for our two fire trucks. Gotta get those babies a home! Keep following us to check on construction.
The blessings continue to flow: ReMax Foundation donated $10,000 in December. Mark Meyer, of Meyer Livestock, donated funding for a computerized weather station for Brandon Huff, our farm manager, to start tracking the weather at Camp Alma. Speaking of Brandon, due to his efforts we now have two more functional hoop houses and he’s got the spring starts going in the greenhouse! The Our Sewing Room ladies not only continue to provide quilts but have now designed shaving kits (and stocked them) for our Vets. Jeff Ware and his family have created a library in the Admin Building using the many books that have been donated. We have been working to establish organized referral sources to Camp Alma. Arrangements are being developed with the Lane County Jail to identify Veterans that are incarcerated who might benefit from intervention at Camp Alma when they are released. Working with Marc Douthit at Buckley House and Jonathan Smith at Willamette Family Treatment Center, Veterans with substance abuse issues that qualify for transfer to Camp Alma can access treatment as well.
Camp Alma is ready for action. To date, we’ve been able to complete the refurbishment with a remarkable combination of financial and in-kind donations coupled with extraordinary volunteer involvement. Going forward, as we provide room, board, clothing, and therapy for our Veterans, while maintaining the progress of the Camp Alma complex, there will be an absolute need for steady financial support to sustain the effort. I urge you to become a Veterans Legacy Patriot Partner on an annual basis and please talk to your family and friends about becoming sustaining Partners as well. Check out the program on the website! With that said, I’m thrilled to tell you we’ve taken in our first Vet! Finally, it’s happened!! His name is Joe Key (Army). He’s been homeless in the Veneta area for about the last seven years. We’ve gotten him bunked in and he’s got his Camp Alma dog tags and he’s very proud of them. Since he’s been there, Jane Hart has helped him get a copy of his birth certificate, Social Security card and signed up for the same with his first check coming next month. He’s also lined up for a dental screening and is on the Oregon Health Plan. Not bad for three weeks! It’s happening friends — let’s keep the momentum rolling.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SO THAT, TRULY, NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Respectfully,
Dr. John LeBow
President, Board of Directors
Veterans Legacy
It’s hard to believe that January of this year marks five years since the wonderful folks at Food for Lane County pointed me toward the decommissioned Forest Inmate Camp that we now call Camp Alma. As is often said, “The rest is history.” Speaking of history, our website coordinator, Jonni Gratton, asked me to put together a story on the timeline of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. This is now included on our totally redesigned website, which is now live as you read our latest report. I think you’ll find this to be a major upgrade and will allow much more opportunity for communication as to the goings on at Camp Alma and Veterans Legacy. A few quick shout outs: Lane Electric Coop for again providing drone footage of the Camp; Lea Jones for his editing of the footage, voice over, and original music; Brent Balloch for web design, and Jonni Gratton for the interviews of important persons and groups that have added so much to the Camp Alma culture.
A huge thank you to Chambers Construction who provided a five-man apprentice construction crew under the guidance of Mark Harrington for almost two weeks in December. All of the rotted siding on the Big Dorm and select areas on other buildings was replaced, the drop ceiling in the refrigerator/freezer space in the kitchen completed, and various other punch list items were knocked out. This put our refurbishment agenda far ahead of anticipated status. To say the least, Dan has been a busy guy! He has managed to ramrod getting the kitchen done and I want to say, this is one classy finished product. I’m sure you’ve seen some pictures on Facebook, but you really need to see this in person. For those of us who saw the disaster that we took over compared to the current status, it’s beyond comprehension. Can’t wait to see lots of folks working together to produce food for the Camp and our community. The other refurbishments include the Big Dorm and Laundry room. All of the floors in the Big Dorm are completely painted, cubicles set up, and mattresses in place ready for our first Vets. The laundry room showers and main room have been completely tiled and new shower spaces are functional. The commercial clothes washer/dryers are now fully functional as well. The other structural change in process is that we’ve moved the Conex storage units that were next to the shop. One is by the garden for storage in that area. The other two have been moved to the southwest part of the parking area to eventually become part of the Camp Alma Fire House for our two fire trucks. Gotta get those babies a home! Keep following us to check on construction.
The blessings continue to flow: ReMax Foundation donated $10,000 in December. Mark Meyer, of Meyer Livestock, donated funding for a computerized weather station for Brandon Huff, our farm manager, to start tracking the weather at Camp Alma. Speaking of Brandon, due to his efforts we now have two more functional hoop houses and he’s got the spring starts going in the greenhouse! The Our Sewing Room ladies not only continue to provide quilts but have now designed shaving kits (and stocked them) for our Vets. Jeff Ware and his family have created a library in the Admin Building using the many books that have been donated. We have been working to establish organized referral sources to Camp Alma. Arrangements are being developed with the Lane County Jail to identify Veterans that are incarcerated who might benefit from intervention at Camp Alma when they are released. Working with Marc Douthit at Buckley House and Jonathan Smith at Willamette Family Treatment Center, Veterans with substance abuse issues that qualify for transfer to Camp Alma can access treatment as well.
Camp Alma is ready for action. To date, we’ve been able to complete the refurbishment with a remarkable combination of financial and in-kind donations coupled with extraordinary volunteer involvement. Going forward, as we provide room, board, clothing, and therapy for our Veterans, while maintaining the progress of the Camp Alma complex, there will be an absolute need for steady financial support to sustain the effort. I urge you to become a Veterans Legacy Patriot Partner on an annual basis and please talk to your family and friends about becoming sustaining Partners as well. Check out the program on the website! With that said, I’m thrilled to tell you we’ve taken in our first Vet! Finally, it’s happened!! His name is Joe Key (Army). He’s been homeless in the Veneta area for about the last seven years. We’ve gotten him bunked in and he’s got his Camp Alma dog tags and he’s very proud of them. Since he’s been there, Jane Hart has helped him get a copy of his birth certificate, Social Security card and signed up for the same with his first check coming next month. He’s also lined up for a dental screening and is on the Oregon Health Plan. Not bad for three weeks! It’s happening friends — let’s keep the momentum rolling.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SO THAT, TRULY, NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Respectfully,
Dr. John LeBow
President, Board of Directors
Veterans Legacy
November
Well, to say the least, I’m embarrassed. It’s been since March since I last produced an update of status at Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. So much for my New Year’s Resolution of quarterly reports! No doubt, 2020 has been unique and that will be my excuse!! The Covid pandemic has changed life in many ways but Camp Alma was blessed with location and easy social distancing with the end result that much was accomplished in the last few months. From the agricultural front, Brandon Huff kept us on track with very successful production of plant starts and hanging flower arrangements. A sale at American Legion Post 83 on May 23, 2020 netted about $2,400 which all considered a major success! However, due to a combination of events secondary to Covid-caused issues, Brandon had to quit at Camp Alma to take care of things at home. This has caused a major replanning of our agriculture strategies. At present, we’re in the process of completing a fourth hoop house, which will finish the greenhouse/hoop house footprint.
As you’ll recall, we had received a grant from Traveler’s insurance for a bee keeping project. We did receive 5 hives and purchased all the necessary equipment. Shelley Corteville, our on site Camp coordinator, has taken on the challenging learning curve, with help from Ken Ograin, master bee keeper, and wife Nancy who’ve generously contributed their knowledge. It looks like she has them set up to weather the winter, which is the biggest hurdle of the first year. Thanks Shelley( “Queen Bee”)!!! Hey, we now have a new tractor and brush mower as well!!! You can see some pics on the website. Contributions to help pay that off ( it cost $25K) would be much appreciated. It was a necessity we could not afford to put off any longer and has already proved to be invaluable.
Our friends at Chamber Construction continue to be a major blessing. During the summer, Mark Harrington and the apprentice crew were able to devote enough time to complete the Conex/Firehouse structure, complete roofing on the education building and laundry, finish all of the siding, install two windows in each of the smaller dorms while refurbishing the bathrooms in both, and lastly getting everything ready to pour the concrete slab for the tiny home production area. Their help has been a God send and we are indebted – plus Mark is a mighty fine master barbecue guru as well judging from the rave reviews at a recent volunteer event. I think back on the first time I stepped on the old Forest Inmate Camp campus and the structural disaster that it was. To see the full renovation that has occurred is awesome and humbling in myriad ways. Thanks to all!!!!
We had the 4 th annual Poker Run and raffle in August. 67 motorcycles were in the run with over 90 riders! It was great weather and a great success. Thanks to John Hampton for his leadership and logistic expertise!
I noted that we had our first Vet on campus in the last Sit-Rep. Since then, there have been 6 others that we’ve helped out, all of whom were homeless. At present, all have reintegrated to Veneta/Eugene. They helped out on the farming and refurbishments in trade for housing which also allowed Camp Alma staff to gain some experience as to defining some of the common needs in this population and better prepare for the future. Our goal now is to definitively outline and staff the initial therapy team before accepting further Resident Veterans. What would a Sit-Rep be without a plea for funds??? This year has been so chaotic with activity at the Camp and Covid impact that we’ve not done a good job in reminding you to “re-up” for an annual contribution to our Patriot Partners program. To be frank, the facility is ready but we can’t afford the staffing to make the whole scenario complete. We’ve found that grants are few and far between when it comes to paying salaries and so this need is almost entirely driven by donor funding. Plus, in this Covid era, granting sources are either dried up or significantly constrained as opposed to prior years.
A big reminder: Even if you take the standard deduction route for your income taxes, the CARES act allows up to a $300 deduction for contributions to nonprofits like Veterans Legacy.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SO THAT, TRULY, NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Respectfully,
Dr. John LeBow
President, Board of Directors
Veterans Legacy
As you’ll recall, we had received a grant from Traveler’s insurance for a bee keeping project. We did receive 5 hives and purchased all the necessary equipment. Shelley Corteville, our on site Camp coordinator, has taken on the challenging learning curve, with help from Ken Ograin, master bee keeper, and wife Nancy who’ve generously contributed their knowledge. It looks like she has them set up to weather the winter, which is the biggest hurdle of the first year. Thanks Shelley( “Queen Bee”)!!! Hey, we now have a new tractor and brush mower as well!!! You can see some pics on the website. Contributions to help pay that off ( it cost $25K) would be much appreciated. It was a necessity we could not afford to put off any longer and has already proved to be invaluable.
Our friends at Chamber Construction continue to be a major blessing. During the summer, Mark Harrington and the apprentice crew were able to devote enough time to complete the Conex/Firehouse structure, complete roofing on the education building and laundry, finish all of the siding, install two windows in each of the smaller dorms while refurbishing the bathrooms in both, and lastly getting everything ready to pour the concrete slab for the tiny home production area. Their help has been a God send and we are indebted – plus Mark is a mighty fine master barbecue guru as well judging from the rave reviews at a recent volunteer event. I think back on the first time I stepped on the old Forest Inmate Camp campus and the structural disaster that it was. To see the full renovation that has occurred is awesome and humbling in myriad ways. Thanks to all!!!!
We had the 4 th annual Poker Run and raffle in August. 67 motorcycles were in the run with over 90 riders! It was great weather and a great success. Thanks to John Hampton for his leadership and logistic expertise!
I noted that we had our first Vet on campus in the last Sit-Rep. Since then, there have been 6 others that we’ve helped out, all of whom were homeless. At present, all have reintegrated to Veneta/Eugene. They helped out on the farming and refurbishments in trade for housing which also allowed Camp Alma staff to gain some experience as to defining some of the common needs in this population and better prepare for the future. Our goal now is to definitively outline and staff the initial therapy team before accepting further Resident Veterans. What would a Sit-Rep be without a plea for funds??? This year has been so chaotic with activity at the Camp and Covid impact that we’ve not done a good job in reminding you to “re-up” for an annual contribution to our Patriot Partners program. To be frank, the facility is ready but we can’t afford the staffing to make the whole scenario complete. We’ve found that grants are few and far between when it comes to paying salaries and so this need is almost entirely driven by donor funding. Plus, in this Covid era, granting sources are either dried up or significantly constrained as opposed to prior years.
A big reminder: Even if you take the standard deduction route for your income taxes, the CARES act allows up to a $300 deduction for contributions to nonprofits like Veterans Legacy.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SO THAT, TRULY, NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Respectfully,
Dr. John LeBow
President, Board of Directors
Veterans Legacy
2021
December
As with many other endeavors in 2021, the Covid pandemic affected many aspects of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma development and activities. That said, there was tremendous progress made in many areas with significant momentum that occurred within the past 5 months.
With the multiple challenges of dealing with Covid-19 in a congregate living situation, VL’s Board of Directors thought it prudent to stand down on moving Veterans to the campus over the initial 6 months. However, this allowed time for further refurbishment of the campus in preparation for intake. A short list of status shows that there are now 16 fully furnished cubicles in the main dorm ready to go. Thanks to a grant from Weyerhaeuser, both of the small dorms now have Daikin ductless HVAC systems in place and finish work can be done very rapidly when the census need dictates. Other campus improvements include major forest mitigation below the Camp along the Siuslaw river, completion of the greenhouses/hoop houses – 2 of each, and major repair of the wells (thanks to the Impact Club for funding for this). Unfortunately, our farmer left because of Covid issues in his family and agricultural output was severely diminished. A bright spot was further development of our bee hives under the close observation of Shelley Corteville who, by the way, was selected into a Veterans bee keeping program that only had 75 slots available nationally. Way to go girl!!! We did have our first honey draw off and I will personally vouch for the excellent quality! Hope for even more next year.
We’ve been blessed with many supportive grants this year including those from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, Northwood Christian Church as major donors with many smaller donors too numerous to mention, but all immensely appreciated. This financial infusion has allowed planning for key hires as we develop our staff. We’re very proud to have Jason Dougherty join our staff as peer mentor/Veteran outreach coordinator. A former combat Marine, Jason brings a host of experience in helping Veterans connect with resources and especially assessing whether Camp Alma would be a viable aid in the recovery process. We are in the process of trying to sequence an Executive Director, Camp Supervisor, cook, and farmer – I’ll keep you posted!
A major collaborative effort was forged in September. Veterans Legacy and Housing Our Veterans have worked closely together over the years, but VL’s Board of Directors and Lorie Perkins CEO of HOV mutually agreed that a more formal relationship would benefit both organizations. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed aligning Veteran treatment goals in a more cohesive and efficient format. The ideal sequence would be for a homeless Veteran to begin the healing journey at Camp Alma with treatment there up to six months as needed. At that time, the Veteran would then transition to stable housing with HOV for up to a year. This will allow for finding employment, continued therapy, and ultimately finding permanent housing. Studies show that if 18 months of consistent treatment can be achieved, the success rate sky rockets for the long term. To our knowledge, this is the only program of its type in the region and possibly on a national scale. Lorie is a seasoned professional in Veteran care and it’s our blessing to have her to work with. We look forward to the evolution of the program!
Also in September, we were able to house a transgender female Veteran for the month while more permanent housing was arranged. In October, we began formal Veteran intake in conjunction with HOV. Three homeless Veterans were referred from St. Vincent de Paul over about 4 weeks. All immediately benefited from stable housing and therapy started as needed. A wonderful Thanksgiving was enjoyed by all at Camp Alma with BODs and their partners providing all the fixin’s. Since Thanksgiving, two of the Veterans have transitioned to HOV and are employed! We’re soooo proud of them.
November 20, 2021, saw a dream come to fruition for yours truly. We had a perfect day to celebrate the dedication of the draft horse team, Penny and Pearl, to the Equine Therapy program. You can see the video of the event on our website. It’s going to be wonderful to see how they evolve as part of the therapeutic program.
For 2022, planning for further administrative team additions is high on the agenda as well as increasing our intake numbers as quickly as is feasible. Further campus development, especially completion of the metal/wood shop addition to the current shop is on the front burner.
I think I can safely say that the Phoenix has risen from the ashes. VL, with the help of so many, has brought the dilapidated campus back to viability and our treatment program is now into gear in a major way! Now we get to proceed with our mission so that “truly, no one is left behind.”
Thank you for your continued support!!
Respectfully submitted,
John LeBow, D.O.
President, Board of Directors, Veterans Legacy
With the multiple challenges of dealing with Covid-19 in a congregate living situation, VL’s Board of Directors thought it prudent to stand down on moving Veterans to the campus over the initial 6 months. However, this allowed time for further refurbishment of the campus in preparation for intake. A short list of status shows that there are now 16 fully furnished cubicles in the main dorm ready to go. Thanks to a grant from Weyerhaeuser, both of the small dorms now have Daikin ductless HVAC systems in place and finish work can be done very rapidly when the census need dictates. Other campus improvements include major forest mitigation below the Camp along the Siuslaw river, completion of the greenhouses/hoop houses – 2 of each, and major repair of the wells (thanks to the Impact Club for funding for this). Unfortunately, our farmer left because of Covid issues in his family and agricultural output was severely diminished. A bright spot was further development of our bee hives under the close observation of Shelley Corteville who, by the way, was selected into a Veterans bee keeping program that only had 75 slots available nationally. Way to go girl!!! We did have our first honey draw off and I will personally vouch for the excellent quality! Hope for even more next year.
We’ve been blessed with many supportive grants this year including those from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, Northwood Christian Church as major donors with many smaller donors too numerous to mention, but all immensely appreciated. This financial infusion has allowed planning for key hires as we develop our staff. We’re very proud to have Jason Dougherty join our staff as peer mentor/Veteran outreach coordinator. A former combat Marine, Jason brings a host of experience in helping Veterans connect with resources and especially assessing whether Camp Alma would be a viable aid in the recovery process. We are in the process of trying to sequence an Executive Director, Camp Supervisor, cook, and farmer – I’ll keep you posted!
A major collaborative effort was forged in September. Veterans Legacy and Housing Our Veterans have worked closely together over the years, but VL’s Board of Directors and Lorie Perkins CEO of HOV mutually agreed that a more formal relationship would benefit both organizations. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed aligning Veteran treatment goals in a more cohesive and efficient format. The ideal sequence would be for a homeless Veteran to begin the healing journey at Camp Alma with treatment there up to six months as needed. At that time, the Veteran would then transition to stable housing with HOV for up to a year. This will allow for finding employment, continued therapy, and ultimately finding permanent housing. Studies show that if 18 months of consistent treatment can be achieved, the success rate sky rockets for the long term. To our knowledge, this is the only program of its type in the region and possibly on a national scale. Lorie is a seasoned professional in Veteran care and it’s our blessing to have her to work with. We look forward to the evolution of the program!
Also in September, we were able to house a transgender female Veteran for the month while more permanent housing was arranged. In October, we began formal Veteran intake in conjunction with HOV. Three homeless Veterans were referred from St. Vincent de Paul over about 4 weeks. All immediately benefited from stable housing and therapy started as needed. A wonderful Thanksgiving was enjoyed by all at Camp Alma with BODs and their partners providing all the fixin’s. Since Thanksgiving, two of the Veterans have transitioned to HOV and are employed! We’re soooo proud of them.
November 20, 2021, saw a dream come to fruition for yours truly. We had a perfect day to celebrate the dedication of the draft horse team, Penny and Pearl, to the Equine Therapy program. You can see the video of the event on our website. It’s going to be wonderful to see how they evolve as part of the therapeutic program.
For 2022, planning for further administrative team additions is high on the agenda as well as increasing our intake numbers as quickly as is feasible. Further campus development, especially completion of the metal/wood shop addition to the current shop is on the front burner.
I think I can safely say that the Phoenix has risen from the ashes. VL, with the help of so many, has brought the dilapidated campus back to viability and our treatment program is now into gear in a major way! Now we get to proceed with our mission so that “truly, no one is left behind.”
Thank you for your continued support!!
Respectfully submitted,
John LeBow, D.O.
President, Board of Directors, Veterans Legacy
