VVA Chapter 96 - Officers

chapter 96 event photos:

The mission Chapter 96 took on began on August 28 when a friend (Bryan “Slim” Smith) of Chapter President Joe West offered the use of his tractor-trailer rig to deliver relief supplies to the Southeast Texas coast who had been hit so hard by Hurricane Harvey. After consulting with VVA Texas State Board 2VP Kerwin Stone a plan was implemented to fill Slim’s 53 foot trailer, with it departing for Texas on Monday, September 11. Texas 2VP Kerwin Stone contacted Joe on the morning of Thursday September 7 asking if he had seen a recent weather forecast, suggesting we divert what we were collecting to a Florida relief effort.

A major boost to collection efforts came when 1st Sgt David Ray and his wife Tammy brought in a 24’ trailer loaded to the max with supplies they had collected on trip down from Ft. Campbell while on Permanent Change of duty station leave. Thanks to 1St Sgt’s Ray’s son a Tallahassee Police Officer and his fellow officers we got it on the trailer and with the help of local radio and television stations the response to our request for supplies was overwhelming. Slim’s 53’ trailer was filled with approx. 38,000 pounds of supplies and was sent to Marathon, Fl on Monday, September 18 to be off loaded at the Marathon DAV Post #112 building with the help of Tom Richards.
Due to the overwhelming response with the assistance of the Florida Stae Council we were able to send a second load of 16,000 lbs on Sunday, September 24 to American Legion Post # 25 in Lake Placid, Fl.

Chapter # 96 was honored to have been able to do a little for those who lost so much.