BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Thursday, May 10, 2012

2012 May Commandant's Message


May Commandant’s Message

The New Year for the Detachment is now upon us.  The officers for the next year will be formally elected at the May meeting.

During April, we have attended one funeral and our color guard raised and lowered colors for the Relay for Life at Dixie College field.  The group is part of the American Cancer Society. This is the second year that we participated in their event.

We are now ready to take  over the grave side services for Marines.  It is time that we do our part to help the American Legion that has been providing the service for all military personal for years.  Our chaplain will be notifying all the local funeral homes of this service.  Our M-1 rifles are looking more and more like Marine rifles thanks to Ken Olsen's hard work in refinishing all the stocks.

May will be a busy month with the Cotton Parade in the City of Washington and a memorial service at the Veterans Park at SunRiver on May 28.  Our color guard continues to serve the community.

On April 28, Tim Toumey, who is a former active recon Marine stopped by in St. George.  He is riding a bike from the Cold Weather Training Center in Bridgeport, California to his former unit with the 2nd Mar Div at Camp Lejeune, N.C.  The trip is 3,164 miles.  He is part of Operation Awakening which is trying to raise $50,000 for the Semper Fi Fund.  Our detachment was the only unit in Utah that made a contribution.  You can get more information and track his trip on the “Operation Awakening” website.

The committee working to raise funds for the Devil Pups is having a garage sale on June 2.  If you have any saleable items, you are willing to donate, please contact Jim Haney.

The Ball committee has been meeting.  The ballroom at SunRiver has been reserved for Saturday, November 10.  A budget has been reviewed by the staff.  A report and motion will be made at the May meeting.

The golf tournament, our major fund raiser, is less than sixty days away.  A few members are working hard to sell tee signs and find gifts that we can raffle off at the tournament.  Regretfully, it's only a few so far.  We all have an insurance agent, a doctor or other professional whom we can ask to buy a tee sign or to donate a gift.  You just have to get out and ask!;  You should send all art work for tee signs through Clyde Johnston.  We also need golfers to make it a successful event.  Even if you don't play golf, we all know people who do.  Show them our brochure, tell them how we serve the community and ask them to get a group or sign up as a single.  It is a fun tournament.  We use a handicap system which is fair to all types of players.  You don't have to be a “Tiger” to come out and have a fun time.  The fee includes a nice lunch.  The course at SunRiver has been improved greatly and any golfer will enjoy the course.  It is our chance to raise funds to meet our goals and commitments.  Please take the point and let's make this event a huge success.

The date of the golf tournament has been moved from June 2 to June 23 because of a conflict.  Clyde Johnston has sent out an email requesting help with obtaining raffle prizes and selling tee sign sponsorships to locale businesses.  You should advise Clyde Johnston of the persons you will contact to buy a tee sign or to obtain a raffle prize so a number of members don't ask the same people.  It is time everyone gets involved as this is our major fund raiser.  We need golfers to make the tournament successful.  Everyone knows someone who plays golf. You just have to take them a flyer and ask them to help by playing.  You should show them our brochure as it shows the service we provide to the community.  If everyone works on finding nice raffle gift and finding golfers all will have a great time.  Some of us know how to make a fun tournament but we need the people to play.  We all feel good about voting to give funds to a needy person or group so we should all be responsible for raising the funds to give.  If you are willing to work on the golf tournament contact Larry Mineer and become a member of the committee.

We now have about ten members working with Bill Toole and the Devil Pups and nearly the same number working on the next Marine Corps Ball committee.  We now only have three working on the golf committee which is responsible for raising the majority of our funds.  Of the $28.00 you pay in yearly dues, the detachment gets $3.00.  You can see your $3.00 doesn't go very far in supporting our projects.

Steve Ikuta has scheduled Commander Jason Whipple of the St. George Fire Department Bomb Squad as the speaker this month.  If you have not been attending the meetings, you have missed some outstanding informative speakers.

Bryan Butas will handle the May meeting as I have a court hearing in California.  So get to the meeting to support him and the speaker.

Steve Ikuta has scheduled Commander Jason Whipple of the St. George Fire Department Bomb Squad as the speaker this month.  If you have not been attending the meetings, you have missed some outstanding informative speakers.

Well, we have a lot to do so let's get it done!  You should not have to ask a Marine more than once to get something done right.

Be sure to ask a member who has not been attending the meetings to join us at the April meeting.  I hope to see you all there so we can show the State officers how dedicated we are as a detachment.

Carl Kulyk, Commandant