Christmas Fair
in Northwood this Saturday
Please
come to the “Christmas By Design” fair at Northwood Congregational
Church, 881 First NH Tnpk., next to Coe Brown Academy, this
Saturday, Dec.7, 9:00am-1:00p.m. Breakfast and lunch
delights with coffee always being “free”. The “greens” table will
offer lovely swags, wreathes, and berry bowls. There will be
crafts, maple syrup, jellies and jams, home made cards, activities
for the kids, and more. Please join us for holiday cheer and
fellowship.
REMINDER
Northwood PTA
Holly
Fair
Saturday December 7th
9AM -
2PM
Northwood School
Cafeteria
PIE
SALE
AND
SOUP LUNCH
Once
again the ladies mission group would like to interest you in buying
your holiday pies at their Pie Sale on December 14, Saturday, 9 a.m.
to 1 p.m. at the Northwood Advent Christian Church (Route 107) 113
School Street, in the Narrows. They will also be selling a nice
homemade soup and cornbread lunch at 11:30. It will be a good
opportunity for some friendly conversation. Can’t wait to see you.
The
Veterans Corner
Submitted By Richard Doucet
Holiday
Help For Disabled Vets, Do You Have Time?
The
holiday season is again upon us with Thanksgiving last month and the
upcoming Christmas and New Years days. It is a time when we can do
just a bit more for our friends and neighbors that have become
disabled in some way due to military related injuries or illness and
there are a number of organizations that could use our help. One of
those agencies that help in our communities is the Disabled American
Veterans, the DAV. There are seven chapters here in New Hampshire
with the nearest one to our area being in Concord.
The DAV
was born on September 25, 1920. It was the culmination of work by
WWI Captain, Robert S. Marx. He saw how our nation was ill prepared
to assist retuning veterans from the Great War. There was no
Department of Veterans Affairs and any assistance to the veteran who
was disabled came from various organizations, some actually working
counter to each other. And then there was the huge wall of red tape
and paperwork that made it difficult for veterans to even seek
assistance.
CPT
Marx, now Judge Marx, spearheaded the formation of the forerunner to
the DAV the Disabled American Veterans of the Word War (DAVWW) now
known as the DAV. Membership in the DAV is made up exclusively of
disabled veterans…who better to know what a disabled vet needs than
another disabled vet? Judge Marx became known as the Farther of the
DAV.
After
decades of hard work on behalf of veterans the DAV’s integrity in
fund raising was honored in 2003 by the Better Business Bureau’s
Wise Giving Alliance Charity Accountability Standards designation.
This means that the DAV meets very high standards for the
accountability of funds it receives from donors.
Like
other veteran’s organizations, the DAV has as its mission that of
out-reach to veterans with military related disabilities; to inform
them of benefits they are entitled to and to guide and assist them
in applying for those well earned benefits.
This is
especially true for the growing number of women veterans who are now
disabled with everything from missing limbs to Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD).
Our
nation is not one that has had a history of using women in combat.
In our past wars there was a “rear” area in which combat was
unlikely and the deployment of women as military police, pilots,
medics, nurses, clerks and drivers was usually a “non-combat”
assignment. With the advent asymmetrical warfare…terrorism as the
principle “weapon”… there is no “rear” area and more and more female
soldiers, Marines, sailors and airwomen find themselves, as we used
to say: “fighting as infantry” far too often.
For
those veterans living in rural areas just getting to the VA in
Manchester can be a trial in itself, especially for older vets from
WWII, Korea, and even Vietnam. Some can no longer drive, live
alone, or are in rural areas with little or no public
transportation.
This is
where the DAV steps in. The DAV buys and upgrades vehicles that
are purchased with donations made to the DAV for this purpose along
with money from various fund raising activities at the National,
State and chapter levels. The VA then takes over the vehicles and
maintains them. The VA also oversees their use and arranges to
transport veterans, with no other means of transportation, to the
VA in Manchester to get to their medical appointments.
However, a whole motor pool of vehicles serves no purpose if there
are no drivers to use them. The DAV depends on volunteer drivers
who pick up the vehicles at the VA and then drive those in need from
their homes to the VA in Manchester for appointments and then back
home. Drivers for the vehicles are as important to the DAV effort
as are donations.
I
interviewed Mr. Benjamin F. Saxon, the State Commander of the NH
DAV, about this program while we were at the Veterans’ Day
ceremonies at the Veterans’ cemetery in Boscawen NH.
According to Mr. Saxon, it’s pretty simple. Veterans who have
morning appointments in Manchester call the VA Transport Officer,
“Mike”, at 603-624-4366 ext 6427 to get signed up. Those vets who
have no other way to get to the VA and have morning appointments
must call at least two weeks in advance to arrange for a pick up.
The day before the appointment the office will call the vet to
confirm that the ride is still needed. According to VA
Transportation Office records the DAV has 6 clients in Center
Barnstead, 27 in Epsom, 3 in Gilmanton and 44 in Pittsfield.
“We can
always use drivers, and of course donations, to keep the Flee tup
and running” Mr. Saxon also told me.
“You do
not have to be a vet or disabled to be a driver, all you need is to
want to help. Drivers only operate Monday through Friday, no
weekends. Anyone interested in being a driver can call the VA at
603-624-4366 ext 6419 to find out more about the program or how to
volunteer.” Mr. Saxon added.
“For
anyone wanting to make a donation or join the DAV,” Mr. Saxon told
me, “I can be contacted at 603-927-4231, or by mail at: Commander
DAV Chap 19 P.O. box 4198, Concord NH 03302.”
During
this time of giving consider not only the DAV but any verified
veterans’ organization, of which there are many. To insure that you
are not donating to frauds contact the organization directly to make
a donation. Do not respond to door-to-door or phone solicitations.
Does
your veterans’ organization have an event coming up in 2014? In my
January article I hope to publish a list of all the veterans’
organizations in our readership area that will be holding special
events of some type, not including regular or staff meetings, for
the January’s Veterans’ Corner. If you would like your event(s)
listed please contact me at
[email protected]. The information must come from an officer of
the organization and include; full designation of the organization,
purpose of the event, date and time and location, and a name of an
officer and telephone number I can reach him/her at to verify
information or clear up questions. The information must reach me
not later than Jan 02, 2014.
In
closing my family and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a
Peaceful New Year.
Letter
To The Editor
To the
Editor,
Job
descriptions and realizing the importance of them are very important
to the well being and success of any endeavor, business or
government. Not knowing or simply ignoring this has put many
businesses in the trash can. It is what is ruining our country and
very may well do us in.
Our
Constitution clearly delineates job descriptions. There are three
branches of the Federal Government, very defined, that gives us a
check and balance level of protection that no one else in the world
has. They are the Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches. They
were meant to be very separate, each with their own jobs to do. Our
Constitution gives simple job descriptions as to what the Federal
Government can do, and what is the right of each individual State to
do.
As a
trouble shooter for a large Corporation for a good part of my retail
career I was put into many, many messes with the expectation of
figuring out the problem and setting it straight quickly. In all but
one of those it really and simply came down to people not doing
their jobs, often because they had taken over others. Clear job
description, everybody doing theirs, equals a very good chance of a
smooth running business.
I know
I’m simple but in my opinion that is what is wrong with our country.
The Federal Government, particularly the Executive Branch, has
usurped so many jobs that are not theirs that they now cannot do
their own correctly. Education of our children, now health care and
so, so much more are good examples of powers not theirs to take but
they have. Yet they cannot protect our borders or have a coherent
foreign policy. We allow this.
Tim
Jandebeur
Northwood
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