AVMETS just concluded our 2008 Spring National Executive Committee meeting.  The conference was held in Alexandria, Virginia from 27-29 March.  On 27 March a memorial service was held for PNC Dante Spagnola at headquarters.  Although a Membership Roundtable was held, I was able to meet with many members one on one throughout the three day event.  The Silver Helmet banquet, held Saturday evening, capped off the occasion.  Wounded soldiers from Walter Reed were seated at each table and provided a fitting reminder of who we are and what we are about. 

Various Riders representatives from all over the country met for over four hours on 29 March at the NEC to iron out their CBL and plan for the ride in at the 2008 National Convention in Orlando, FL.

Department officers with Special Access are reminded that they have access to their MAL roster and can contact the Members at Large within their departments.  I suggest a letter informing them of the nearest post and post contact information.  Department rosters can be sorted by city and zip code to assist you.

Also, do not forget to check and print your rosters on or about July 15-20 - any annual member on your roster at that time will be receiving a membership renewal card.   All cards will be sent to the Department.  The traditional format of 1 name per page will again be used.

I want to give Posts and Departments (P/D) 1st Vice Commanders and Renewal contacts a heads up regarding 2009 Membership cards.  To find out which members will be receiving a card in August simply check your roster – only those with an expiration date of 12/31/2008 will receive a card.  The list of members will be provided to the printer on 25 July.  This will allow Post and Dept personnel to know in advance who will be receiving a card.  The cards will be in the old format – 1 card per page.

P/D personnel may enter new members online even if they cannot pay for them.  This makes it much easier for the staff to process the membership once the D&R is received at HQ – simply make a note to indicate the new members have been entered into the data base.  Not only will this allow us to process the D&R faster it will help to ensure correct member spelling.  Simply click on P/D Join and enter the appropriate information.

Reminder, anyone who joins or renews on or after 1 September gets up to 16 months of membership.  For example, anyone who joins on 4 October 2008 would receive a membership that would expire 12/31/2009.

On March 1st, I met with the AMVETS National Finance Committee (NFC) and presented my plans for developing an online Post and Department (P/D) revalidation capability.  The NFC approved the proposal and this capability is now being developed by Avectra.

Among other information, each P/D will be able to enter the name and address of their official mailing contact and renewal contact.  They will be able to enter selected P/D officers and dues amounts.  Each P/D will also be able to designate one member who will receive an email confirmation of each online payment (see below).  

I hope to begin testing this program 1 April and that it will be available to the Posts and Departments by 1 May.  Although revalidating online will be mandatory,    revalidation paperwork will still need to be signed and mailed to National Headquarters.   Here is the approximate timeline:

1 April             testing of the P/D Online capabilities

1 May              program available to the membership

15 July            all post and dept complete revalidation

21 July            member invoices created and sent to printers

28 July            1st renewal notices in the mail

3 November   all 2nd renewal notices in the mail